Saturday, October 12, 2013

{Wedding Planning 101} Know Your Budget!

{Photo Credit: Rebecca Linh-Rodgers, Gary Guy Photographer}

When planning your wedding, it is easy to get caught up in everything pretty!  How could you not?   With so many wedding inspiration blogs, Wedding TV shows, Pinterest, Etsy, how could you not want everything that is out there?!

{Photo Credit:  Rebecca-Linh Rodgers}

First thing you have to realize, before you can really start the wedding planning, you must set a budget!  I’ll say it again…because it is crucial…SET YOUR BUDGET first!  So…now that we have established that your budget is the first MUST DO for your wedding planning, let’s go into a bit more details, shall we?

Spend Wisely

If there is one other important piece of advice I can give is to not spend your budget in one place!  It is easy to spend most of your budget on your first purchase, only to later find out you have no money left over and are later scrambling to pay for everything else.  So, please...please...spend your money wisely!

Contribution

Money is never a fun subject to talk about, but it is a necessary subject to discuss.  Better to get the money talk out of the way from the beginning, as it sets your boundaries and ensures everyone is on the same page.
Determine who will be contributing to your budget. Will you and your fiancĂ© finance the wedding yourselves?  Will either of your parents contribute?  While tradition always dictates the bride’s parents finance the wedding, in modern times, this rule no longer applies.

Be sure to reach out to all parents involved, ensuring they aren’t feeling left out.  Will you have sponsors?  Now is the time to reach out to them and confirm they will be contributing.  If you and your fiancĂ© will be paying for the wedding, be sure to sit down, review your finances and be realistic on how much to set aside for the wedding.

Having a wedding planner is a huge plus, as he/she will assist you in setting a realistic budget for your wedding, based on what you have in mind.  Your wedding planner will help you determine if your dream wedding will fit within your financial parameters.

 
It’s a Numbers Game

Now that we’ve determined who all is contributing to the wedding budget, it’s time to breakdown your wedding.  Only problem, you don’t really know how much a wedding will cost; you may know the average costs, but not the costs that will be right for your wedding.  Here is where your wedding planner comes into play, as he/she will help you better determine what individual costs run.

We have found a percentage model for wedding budgets work best.  Many wedding planning sites and/or smart phone apps allow you to plug in a budget total, and the program/app just calculates a recommended cost, but will it be right for you?   We have a created a more realistic percentage model breakdown, one we feel will help you determine what each category entails:
Ceremony: 1%Includes your ceremony venue, church coordinator, officiant, cantor.
Reception: 44%Factor in your Venue rental, Food & Beverage costs, Wedding Cake and Desserts, such as dessert stations and chocolate fountains.
Photography | Cinematography: 18%You will want to factor, not just photographer’s costs, but costs of albums, photo enlargements.  For your cinematographer, factor in any extra film footage, and any other film documentations such as Love Stories and Save the Date trailers.
Florals | Décor | Lighting: 12%This includes anything and everything floral, linen and décor rentals, such as lounge furniture, as well as lighting décor for both ceremony and reception.
Stationery: 5%All things paper are to be factored in this category, from invitations to Day Of stationery {Escort & Place cards, Menu Cards, Programs, etc.}.
Entertainment: 4%Factor in your band, DJ and any other entertainment you would like for your reception and ceremony {outside of the church cantor}.
Wedding Planner 9%Well, we think this one is pretty self-explanatory.  :)
Attire | Personal Grooming: 6%Factor in the wedding gown, veil, shoes, as well as groom’s tuxedo, shoes, cufflinks.  Now, most often, many couples choose to exclude the attire from wedding budget and just splurge on themselves.  The choice is yours. Miscellaneous: 1%We like to keep a buffer for any unexpected expenses, extra small items, such as guest favors, out of town welcome baskets, unity candle, cake knife set and sign-in book.

 
{Photo Credit:  Gary Guy Photographer}

Keep in mind, this is OUR recommended percentage breakdown.  If you feel one category is more important than another, you can make the necessary adjustments, as ultimately, we want your wedding budget to work for YOU!  

Happy Planning!
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Friday, October 11, 2013

{Wedding Planning 101} What Role Does Your Wedding Planner Play?

{Photo Credit:  DW Photography, Artwork Credit:  A Day To Remember via SomeECards.com}

Becoming engaged is still one of the most anticipated moments...the excitement of being a fiance, having a fiance, and knowing that soon you will be married!  How exciting! Right?!  Your engagement period is a beautiful journey, filled with anticipating of what is to be, making decisions together as a couple for your highly anticipated wedding!

Almost every bride, and some grooms, are excited to start planning and making sound decisions to make their wedding absolutely perfect and memorable...that is...until you really start planning.  The journey suddenly takes a turn into stress, a sense of overwhelm and even confusion.  What to do?  Hire a professional wedding planner, of course!  I'm sure you've read plenty of articles and blog posts, about why you should hire a wedding planner.  Well, we're not here to repeat what has already been said, but really to bring in some real-life scenarios that actually happened this week with two of our lovely clients!

 

In one scenario, we had an issue with a professional who, for billing and typo errors on both our ends, created an unfortunate situation for our client.  The wedding date was mixed up and this professional was now double booked.  After conversations via phone and text throughout the day, we come up with a plan of action to best benefit our mutual client.  I have to give amazing kudos to this true professional, who really stepped up to the plate.  We are now hoping our client understands and accepts this situation.  
{Side Note:  This professional was someone we highly recommended, and will continue to recommend.}

As I'm having these conversations with our wedding professional, I'm receiving texts from another of our brides asking to call her immediately, as it is an emergency.  I'll be honest, I do receive a number of texts about an emergency, and I take them lightly because I know there is always a simple enough solution.  Well, unfortunately for this lovely bride...it really WAS an emergency.  A certain venue is no longer available for their wedding two months away!  Of course, I immediately call my bride and groom down and assure them we will find a new home for their amazing wedding.
{Side Note:  Our client booked us shortly after booking this venue.}

Needless to say, I'm still reeling in the news about my first bride, whose wedding is in 2.5 weeks and we need to make sure she and her fiance will accept our new plan of action.  I should go back a bit and state that all this took place this past Monday...my day off.  After a long wedding show on Sunday, I was looking forward to taking the day off to relax and re-energize for the week.  I will say that both of these phone calls did definitely get me energized with the adrenaline now pumping through my veins as I go into wedding planner mode.

Emails and phone calls were made and meetings scheduled for the next day to find a new venue.  After a day of site visits, we found a place that was comparable, if not better, than the original choice.  Later that evening, the news to our first bride was delivered to her and she took it like a trooper, and I know mostly because this wedding professional and I ensured we had a resolution to the unfortunate incident.  

If this wasn't enough, after resolving one issue with our first bride, another issue with her quickly arises...with another "professional".  After numerous times to reach out to this individual, it has been nothing short of headaches.  My bride's fiance originally found this person and really wanted this person for their wedding.  Now mind you, ultimately, we will always go with our clients wishes, but not without a fight!  When I met with this person, I didn't feel 100% confident, and I feel my bride didn't either, but wanted to appease her fiance.  Unfortunately, my bride and I were right about this person and with two weeks out, needing to find a replacement.  Fortunately, I was seeing this situation unfold and had already found a wonderful replacement and had made arrangements, so we were able to fire said individual knowing an amazing replacement was lined up.

As a wedding planner, it is my job to anticipate, to be prepared for the unexpected.  Being a member of industry organizations, such as NACE {National Association of Catering and Events} and ABC {Association of Bridal Consultants} has allowed me to better myself, strengthen and elevate my company to higher standards for the benefit of our clients.  Through education and networking, I have the best of the best resources at my fingertips. 

Now, I'm not saying that my clients wouldn't have been able to resolve this situation on their own, had they not hired me, or a wedding planner at all.  I'm sure they would have resolved their situations, because, let's face it, when push comes to shove...well, you're going to make things happen.  But, would they have managed to take care of the situations in the short period of time and not lose time from work, not to mention spending hours on the phone, while still in complete shock of what is unfolding before them?  Probably not.

Both my brides kept saying how they didn't know how they could have done this without me...I was even titled "Ms. Godsent" by one of them!  Now, that to me is the highest form of flattery!  In the end, I've received hugs with tears of happiness because we were able to put out the fires.  This is why I LOVE what I do.  The rewards are inmeasurable in my book.  Knowing I've made someone amazingly happy, really truly is the biggest payoff for me!


So brides and grooms...from the moment you say "I Will", please...PLEASE...hire a Wedding Planner for your "I Do!"

Happy Planning!

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