Wedding Planning, 1 month in

So far Joe and I have been engaged FOR A WHOLE MONTH (and 1 day). In this month we’ve picked a date, a venue, a photographer, a videographer, bartenders, colors, a theme, our guest list, the time of our wedding, our wedding party, engagement pictures date, and who is making our cake. What else could we possibly need to pick and plan!? Well, go to a bridal event and you’ll find out you’ve accomplished maybe a tenth of what there is to pick and plan for a wedding. 

This weekend I attended two bridal expos. One at the Lerner Theater in Elkhart and another at the Century Center in South Bend. The Elkhart one had about 15-20 vendors, very small, and a good starter. The Century Center had about 90 vendors, very big, and VERY overwhelming. But both were SO much fun. 

If you’re planning a wedding I suggest going to as MANY bridal expos as you can, and enter into every single prize box you can find. This weekend I won multiple things. Things for myself, for my bridesmaids, for my wedding in general- all in which were very very helpful. From money off my bridal wear, to dress pampering sessions for me and my bridesmaids, and even more to come as the week comes to an end. 

One month in and I really wasn’t taking wedding planning too seriously yet. I mean I have 9 months to plan, that’s a LONG time. Well, truth be told it’s NOT! The next couples weeks are crammed with more wedding stuff. Such as, a taste testing with our caterer, wedding dress shopping, another bridal expo, bridesmaid dress shopping, ANOTHER bridal expo, booking a DJ, booking a caterer, picking out dinnerware, picking our cake flavor, and what we want it to look like, and literally so. much. more. Seriously, mostly within the next month....

Wedding planning can become very overwhelming and you always feel like you’re forgetting something. So here’s my newly engaged wedding planner advice: 

•Accept Help, literally from anyone and everyone. From the internet, from coworkers, family, friends, random people. ANYONE. You can’t possibly think of everything on your own. 

•Write it all down, note everything. Taking notes is important, there is so much to take in, and grasp, and think about, and make final decisions about. Just write it down and come back to it at a later date. I bought a wedding planner as soon as I could and really did not start planning anything until I received it. Keeping everything written down in ONE place in a journal that kind of lays everything out and organizes for you, so beyond helpful. 

•Take it one day at a time, don’t try to get everything done just to be done with it. Plan the important things first. Some stuff literally can be planned two weeks before with no problems, others take MONTHS to even finalize. Make a list of what you need to get done first, and plan an entire day for ONE thing. It seems a little crazy a whole day for just one thing? But I can get more than that done? But trust me....to keep your own sanity, stick with just planning one thing a day. 

For someone who aspired to be an event planner one day, it’s crazy to me how much you don’t realize goes into an event! But this is also such a big learning step for me if I were to pursue event planning one day. I’ve learned so much already and we still have 9 months to go, and I really just can’t wait! 

To everyone getting engaged; Happy Wedding Planning!