5 Mistakes to Avoid When Planning Your Wedding

YAY!  You or your partner has popped the question and you are joyfully starting to plan your wedding. 

Planning your wedding, no matter how much time you have to plan it, can be stressful, especially those final weeks leading up to the big day.  If you are not planning to hire a wedding planner, I highly recommend that you designate others to help you with the wedding planning.

​With that in mind, avoid these 5 most common mistakes when planning your wedding:

Booking Venue and Vendors Without First Establishing a Budget

Determining your wedding budget is crucial before hiring any vendors, which includes booking your venue.  While researching vendors and not booking them can be overwhelming, if you start hiring without considering your budget, it’s going to end up hurting you in the long run.  Wedding expenses can add up quickly!  So if you determine your max budget is $15,000, but you book a venue for $8,000 that means you only have $7,000 left for catering, photographer, DJ, Florist, décor, etc.  Where if you had budgeted, you would have found that your total reception budget was $6,750.  This would have helped you plan accordingly for your venue, décor, catering, cake, and other miscellaneous reception expenses.

Use this Wedding Budget Worksheet to help you allocate your big budget into the appropriate wedding expense categories.  This will ensure your favorite vendors not only align with  your vision, but also your budget.

Wanting to Control Every Aspect

It can be difficult for some couples to hand over the reins.  We get it, this is a big day and you want it to go perfectly!  But it is important to understand that while you know exactly how you want your wedding to look on your big day, you cannot successfully run around the venue before the wedding to ensure everything is perfect and enjoy the moment of the day.  That is why we encourage you to hire professional vendors.  The key word here is professional. 

While Aunt Mary may know how to coordinate a wedding, the fact is she wants to enjoy your day alongside with you.  Just like you aren't able to handle every detail and enjoy the moment, neither can she.

​Professional vendors will have many weddings under their belt and they’ll do whatever they can to help ensure your day is perfect!  If you are still worried about the execution of your big day, be sure to communicate with your vendors.  If you don’t tell them, they won’t know.

Not Consulting a Wedding Planner

I’m not saying that you need to hire a wedding planner, but at least sit down with one and talk about the services they can provide you on your wedding day.  Like so many of our clients, you will be surprised by all that we do to help alleviate stress not just for you as the wedding couple, but also for your family and friends.  Then, if you decide not to hire a planner, you will at least have an idea of all that you have to do on the wedding day so that you can decide which family and friends will be responsible for those tasks.

Not Doing Enough Research

Before hiring vendors, it is vital that you research, research, and research to be sure that the vendor you hire is the right fit for your day.  Be sure to:

• Check out their social media accounts.  Vendors showcase their best work on their websites.  To be sure that their work is consistent, take a look at their social media accounts.  Be sure that you like their style fully and not just their best works.
• Read their reviews.  Do not book a vendor before reading their reviews.  Also be sure that you are checking out multiple platforms for reviews (Google, Wedding Wire, Facebook, etc.) because most of the time people only leave a review on one platform.
• Have a face-to-face meeting.  It’s a good idea to meet with vendors you are considering hiring either in person or over zoom.  This will help you get a feel for their personality and vibes to be sure that they will be a good fit for your day.

After all these are the vendors that are going to  determine whether you have a dynamic wedding day experience and you want to be sure that everyone you choose is going to do whatever they can to bring your vision to life.

Not Hiring Professional Vendors

Hiring professional vendors doesn’t mean you have to hire the most expensive vendors. This is one of the most important days of your life, don’t chance it!  Even if you have a limited budget, hiring wedding professionals over a friend or family member who wants to “practice” their hobby. 
A few examples of a professional vendor will:

• Have experience in weddings
• Get back to you in a timely manner
• Have a professional appearance
• Will uphold a professional attitude not only toward you but to your guest as well

After reading these common mistakes, my best advice is if you are planning your own wedding … hire a wedding coordinator.  This ensures that you spend months planning the perfect wedding day you dream of, you will enjoy your big day without any unnecessary stress of worrying about what is going on in the background.  To learn how our team at Celebrations Remembered can assist you, schedule a FREE 20-minute consultation call.