Anne over at Elizabeth Anne Designs had a great post the other day for all of the newly engaged brides-to-be or brides-to-be that are still early in the planning process. She had 2 tips that I really love.
EAD tip #1: "Find a way to stay organized, with both paper and digital resources." Amen. Might I add, I was SO excited to purchase one of those BIG wedding organizer books...you know Martha Stewart or "Simply Stunning Weddings" books?! I never did buy one and I am SO glad that I saved my money. To be honest, I would have never had the time to write in the book/organizer (especially with this blog!) and the "organizer" doesn't hold enough. I agree with Anne on this one: "Get an accordion file with tabs for easy labeling". It has been a lifesaver. All of my resources are electronic and I file all of my paperwork from vendors in my accordion file. Do the same.
EAD tip #4: "Give yourself a month or two to start feeling your way around without making any decisions." Oh how I wish EAD would have posted this about 6 months ago. I felt SO rushed to book every single vendor within a month or two, max, of getting engaged...even though our engagement period was going to be 11 months long. If I would have forced myself to sit down and wait before signing on the dotted line, I probably would have only gone with about 60% of the vendors that I currently have lined up for our big day.
(a vendor i would not change, our photographer nicole. love the most recent engagement photo shoot she just did!) And now, for my words of wisdom:
JL tip #1: Read blogs. Lots of them. {If you have a friend that is newly engaged, send her a list of your favorite blogs, she will love you forever!} Brides-to-be, former brides, photographers, wedding planners, & others in the wedding industry have SO many good ideas to share on their blogs! I am embarking on projects and incorporating fantastic details into my wedding that I would have NEVER thought of if it weren't for the 81 blogs that I subscribe to thru Google Reader.
JL tip #2: Know that not everyone reads wedding blogs, thinks about weddings 24/7, or even pays attention to detail at the weddings they attend. I know, shocking. Most likely, your guests do not subscribe to blogs like The Brides Cafe, Brooklyn Bride, What Junebug Loves!, the Ritzy Bee, etc thru Google Reader. Out of the 150 people coming to our wedding, I doubt more than 2-5 of them know that having a candy buffet is the "in" thing to do these days. So you cannot stress out about how to make your wedding stand apart from (read: be better than) all the blogging brides-to-be out there or your friends getting married this summer. If you can, limit yourself to only 10 DIY projects. You will be much happier. So will your fiance. And at the end of the big day, this will be you:
9 comments:
JL Tip #2 is the best one. Seriously. At my last wedding, a guest marveled at the idea of the sand ceremony. I always forget that just because I see something all the time doesn't mean that everyone else does.
AHEM! I was just going to write about this, because I did the same thing - I rushed on certain vendors that I probably should have held off on!
These are so right on. I wish I had taken a step back and just enjoyed my engagement for a few weeks before throwing myself into planning. I felt like I had to book the big stuff right away in order to get what I wanted.
Luckily, I got the vendors I wanted and was able to relax after, but it would have been nice just to take it in!
I love the tips. I have a small 3-ring binder (just a plain 1") That I store all of our written contracts and any paper related item in. Otherwise everything is stored on a jump drive or on my flickr account. I have to agree that recommending friends to blogs is the best thing you can do. I had a ton of magazines and only got a few pieces of information or inspiration from each, now I find so much inspiration every day but looking at blogs! Great post!
Thanks for the love! Your tips are fantastic also! Especially about everything "being done" just because we see a lot of pictures of it.
JL Tip #2 is a very helpful reminder! :] These tips are so great; I wish I had them sooner, too! They'll be very helpful to the newly engaged!! :]
Oh Thank you both so much for your great tips! I AM still in the early phase of our planning and I am taking notes. I seriously don't think my planning would be what it is if it weren't for these blogs!Thanks again!
Thanks, Jessica! This is great advice for us just starting out.
Love your blog! ;)
SubBlog:
What do you do when someone in your wedding pictures wants to wear a fireworks/hurricane party top as part of their outfit???
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