In the midst of planning my wedding for next year (2020) I am quickly realizing that I may have underestimated the amount of actual work it takes to get everything ready and finalize in time for the actual date of my wedding which Ricky and I are still in the process of trying to book with our desired venue. Here, I will lay out the things I have checked off my list and all the work I have yet to do still.
1. PINTEREST AND CHOOSE COLOR AND THEME.
The good thing about this part of the planning is that I have already decided on my wedding colors and had an idea of what I want my wedding to be and look like for many years. My pinteresting board started a few years back lol considering Ricky and I have been dating for 9 years I figured at some point around that time span it was time to start creating a wedding board. lol for anyone curious our wedding is going to be different shades of purple, green & white.
2. DECIDE ON A BUDGET AND TOUR/BOOK YOUR VENUE
Okay so when it came to deciding on a budget we decided on 15k to maybe 20k if we had to but did not want to go over at all cost. Money and investing is something very important to me and more so than Ricky. I have always been a money saver and always tried to spend my money on only things that are necessary! I've always dreamed of how my wedding would be and look like but let's be honest when it comes to sticking to your budget you have to be realistic. I ended up realizing that I honestly just wanted a beautiful but simple and budget friendly wedding. Some things I thought I would want in my wedding I don't anymore and I know I could be spending my money for something worth spending than for something I absolutely didn't need at my wedding. Ricky and I toured around two to three wedding venues before we found one we both really loved and that it had embodied everything we wanted along with what our parents wanted for our wedding. THIS venue we are currently deciding on a date considering we found it so late and all Saturdays besides a holiday weekend one and Sundays are booked for next year. I knew that venues get booked like crazy during the early Summer which is why I tried to emphasize to Ricky that we needed to look around and book one asap in order to get a date we wanted but it was just our luck that we did not discover this venue until just a month ago (SUPER LATE). So that's that. :)
3. CHOOSING YOUR WEDDING PARTY
This one is not necessarily the third and next part in the process because I technically already knew who I wanted to be my bridesmaids and asked them before all the planning even began. ;D But anyways, this was probably the easiest part of my planning process so far lol I've only had a few girls I've been best best friends with since middle school and have stuck with me ever since so asking and choosing them to be part of my wedding day was not hard at all. I also did not want a huge wedding party so it worked out that I had 6 girls which is exactly the perfect number of bridesmaids in my opinion.
4. PHOTOGRAPHER & VIDEOGRAPHER
Choosing our photographer and videographer is just as IMPORTANT to me (being a photographer myself) as choosing a wedding venue. I know how fast your actual wedding day can go so to be able to look back on everything that happened I think it's extremely important to invest your money in a good photographer and videographer who will be able to capture your day perfectly! I have a few photographers that I love so the next step once we book our venue date is to contact them ASAP to make sure we have one of each for our wedding. ALSO, Ricky and I have yet to take engagement photos which I also need to book asap lol! So so late to the game...
5. WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING
I think shopping for your wedding dress is one of the more exciting and fun things to do during the wedding planning process. I went wedding dress shopping quite soon actually and I was told by my friends to take my time because once you find your dress you can't continue trying on all the beautiful wedding dresses you can. lol I tried taking her advice but ended up finding my wedding dress at the second bridal shop I went to. I honestly did not think finding your wedding dress happened so quick but it did! I absolutely love my dress with some alterations ofcourse. I cannot wait to pick it up and get it altered to my DREAM DRESS. :)
6. SEND OUT INVITATIONS
The next step is to definitely book our venue and once we have our date we will be creating our guest list and sending our invitations as soon as we can so our friends and family can reserve that day to spend it celebrating with us.
I'll be blogging the second part to this once I check off a few more of these things in the wedding planning process. I would love to know what you loved about your wedding and what you wish you would've changed or knew before planning it. :)