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1. Decide what is most important to you and your Fiancé!
Ever since we were young girls we dreamed of our wedding day. Although our wedding day vision has changed over the years! Do you still want the big ball gown you dreamed of as a child? Or are you more of a simple mermaid style girl now? A huge venue on the river, or a more intimate backyard wedding? Sit down with your Fiancé and discuss what must-haves you both want at your big day.
The most important things to me were:
-Dress- DUH!
-Venue
-Awesome Photographer
-Videographer
-DJ
These are all things we felt comfortable spending the most money on.
2. Get a Wedding Planning Binder
I absolutely CANNOT stress this enough!! This helped me stay on track timeline wise during my engagement! When we should book the venue, when to order our wedding bands, save the dates, etc!
Not to mention, it's a great place to store all of my wedding documents! Such as venue agreements, florist and DJ contracts, etc.
Save your RECEIPTS! This is another thing is cannot stress enough! Save every single receipt! Even if it's only for one thing! It all adds up. What I did to keep my receipts organized is to have an envelope for each store I bought something from. One envelope for Target, another for Hobby Lobby. You get the idea! This will make it much easier to return items that weren't used after the wedding is over. No one wants to dig through 300 receipts at the checkout counter.
3. Figure out Ways to Save
I love a good DIY. I also love it when I can save money. We made all of our wedding decorations. Centerpieces, signage, alter and aisle decorations. We even made our own invitations. We needed 300 invitations. After some extensive online shopping we came to the conclusion that it would cost us around $500, which definitely wasn't in our budget. So we bought an invitation template from Etsy, punched in all our info, and printed off 300 invitations. After the cost of the template, paper, ink, and envelopes, we only spent about $120. MUCH cheaper than online!
Wedding favors. Is it worth it? Can you afford for each guest to take home a customized drink koozie or potted succulent? If so- awesome! If not, don't worry about it! Guests will have fun no matter what!
4. Your Bridal Party
One of the most fun parts of your wedding is picking your girls and guys that will stand up at the alter next to you!
Make sure you pick people who are able to attend every piece of your wedding. Make sure they are available for your bridal shower, rehearsal, etc. Nothing is worse than having a bridal party member say that can't make it to an event, or even worse that they can't afford it. Let your guys and gals know the average cost of everything as soon as you can! That way they have time to save or make payments.
5. You are not alone in the wedding planning process!
Throughout your engagement people will say "Let me know if you need help!" "I'm here if you need me!" etc. Trust me when I say take them up on their offer! They truly do want to help, and it will get things done faster! Have your girls over, put on some comfy clothes, pour a drink, and craft away!
Lastly, enjoy every single second of your wedding planning process! It goes by so quick and you will miss it when it is over!