Helpful Wedding Tips

Should you hire a wedding planner?

A wedding planner's role can be as limited or as extensive as you need.

She can coordinate and put everything together for you. She can be brought in for certain aspects of the planning that you prefer not to handle. Or you can use her as a sounding board or just have her on board to guide things on the day of the event.

A wedding planner knows the venues and the vendors so she can direct you to the correct people. This is a big time saver as well as a huge money saver. If you are on a budget, it makes particularly good sense to consult with a wedding planner since they know how and where to get things done efficiently.

Keep in mind that certain services are higher at certain times of the year.

You'll spend less money and improve availability and service by keeping this in mind when choosing your wedding date.

Some examples: Dates near Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Christmas affect the cost of flowers for example. Saturdays in December is a peak time for venues, catering, and entertainment due to the amount of holiday events. Travel may be affected around Christmas, New Year's and Thanksgiving.

Your venue sets the tone for everything to follow.

The venue cost (including costs for food, beverage, catering) will be your largest part of your budget. (And if your venue does not include an in-house caterer, you'll need to secure that service as well).

When you are selecting a venue don’t limit yourself only to a banquet hall, hotel ballroom, or country club as venue choices, a wedding reception can take place at an outdoor garden, an elegant mansion, even a winery, many museums and historic buildings rent out their premises for events.

Selecting a theme.

The theme may be as simple as your color scheme, your flowers, a particular pattern, and the style of dress for the wedding party. Or you can go all out and have a set designed and rent period costumes. Your wedding planner can assist you or create it for you.

When to start planning?

Start planning your wedding as soon as possible. The general rule is to start planning 12 to 24 months before the date. By keeping this time frame in mind you will allow yourself to have the wedding of your dreams as well as helping you to keep within your budget. Again hiring a wedding planner will help keep your wedding timeline on track and the budget on target.