Hiring a wedding vendor team that works well with each other is like hiring the perfect band playing your favorite songs. Each vendor knows how to work with each other to get you the best wedding experience.
In reality, this is very hard to get. You may be now searching online to gather a team of vendors for your wedding day. Can you trust that they are all going to work well with each other? Are you filtering simply by their review ratings? Or more importantly, as a team, can you be sure they can deliver what you are looking for on your wedding day?
That’s why I want to make things easy for you. I’ve gathered my favorite wedding planner, makeup artist, DJ, cake vendor, musician as well as florist to answer your biggest struggle on your wedding. Even better, after this you are going to know the whole team so you can hire them on your wedding day!
Today, I’m featuring Joyce Lee from Showcase Your Style Event Planning LLC to talk about the top 5 wedding planning tips.
Q: What do you want to tell upcoming Brides that are planning weddings right now?
A: Wedding planning can be overwhelming for newly engaged couples because for most people, this is the first large scale event they are planning. Wedding planning is also an emotionally filled process but we are here to give a few wedding planning tips to steer you to the right direction.
Q: Awesome so what you some planning tips you have for upcoming Brides:
A: Here are my top 5 wedding planning tips!
1) Establish a workable wedding budget
“How much does it cost to have a wedding in Atlanta?” is probably the number one question I am hearing as a wedding planner. Although you can easily search online to see what the average wedding cost is in your city, a workable wedding budget really depends on your guest list, your taste, and your expectations.
For example, inviting 50 guests to a top venue in the city with a major decoration plan from the florist is not going to cost less than a 150-guests wedding in a simpler setting in the suburban area.
Also, please be aware that some “money savings” ideas actually cost more to pull off successfully. My top favorite is “Oh, I just want a simple backyard wedding.” Backyard wedding is only “simple” if you have a small guest list (10-20 or whatever amount of people that can comfortably fit into your house if the weather is not cooperating). If you have a large amount of guests, you will need to rent tables, chairs, outdoor lighting, dance floor, and tent as a starter.
When we meet our potential clients for their complimentary initial consultation with us, we always try to understand what they want for their wedding and then we can advise if the budget they have in mind is workable for their dream wedding or if there are other alternatives that they can consider.
2) Have a guest list before venue shopping
Since venue is likely going to take out the largest portion of your wedding budget, we advise all our clients to have a guest list that they write down before going venue shopping.
You really don’t want to put a deposit down on a venue and then realize that you Mom wants 50 more people added to the guest list. Moving venues almost always means a loss of deposit as most venue contracts will not give you a refund if you decide to go elsewhere due to headcount issue.
On the other hand, if you book a huge venue but you actually do not have that many guests coming, you may end up paying for a very high food and beverage minimum that is hard to reach with your reduced guest count.
We believe the right size venue gives your guests the space to party without feeling like they are cramped as well as avoids the “empty room syndrome” where the party is held in a room so large that people thought half of your guests did not show up!
3) Assemble your wedding team
Wedding is a team work and all the vendors have to work together to make it a successful wedding day for couples. You really want to work with vendors who are able to work well with others!
If you have hired your photographer first, feel free to ask him/her who are the vendors he/she loves to work with. They will give you a few recommendations based on their working experience with them!
Of course, if you decide to hire a planner first, we will be able to suggest vendors whom we have worked with in the past that can meet your style and budget requirements as well as provide quality service.
Hiring reputable and experienced vendors for your wedding does not mean your wedding day will not have any kind of problem but your vendors will know how to resolve the issues without bothering you.
One time we have an arch damaged the week of the wedding due to hurricane coming through. The venue called me on a Tuesday (for a Saturday wedding) to let me know that it will be fixed on time. I called the florist immediately to make sure he would have an arch that he can bring in if there is any construction delay. The only reason the bride even knew about this problem was because I had to inform her to avoid touching the paint on the new arch on my way to her Friday night rehearsal because the construction crew literally just put on a fresh coat of paint on the brand new arch hours before her rehearsal!
4) Always have a Plan B for outdoor weddings
There is no doubt that outdoor weddings have its appeal but no matter how gorgeous your outdoor venue looks on a perfect sunny day, please look at the venue’s suggested plan B location for inclement weather and make sure it is a plan that you are happy with before you book a venue.
I have always told my clients that we can plan for every detail of the wedding day but the weather on the wedding day is always up to God. If your personality does not allow unpredictability in life, my suggestion is to avoid outdoor weddings!
5) Have a wedding coordinator
Even if you plan every aspect of your wedding, we encourage couples to consider having a wedding coordinator. This person needs to be familiar with your wedding day plan enough to coordinate with all the vendors and wedding day helpers. They should also be able to run the rehearsal for you and be your onsite manager for the wedding day. Please be aware that most venue coordinators are only responsible for the venue’s catering function or the venue’s operations and their job is significantly different than your own personal wedding coordinator.
Having your own personal wedding coordinator who is a professional wedding planner makes a huge difference in the execution of your wedding day plan that you have worked so hard on.