Now that I am back into the swing of things I am finally getting around to sharing my wedding planning experience. You hear from past brides that there are so many details involved in planning a wedding but nothing can actually prepare you for when you are the bride and the amount of details you have to consider and plan for.

Looking back, I learned some very important lessons, had a few regrets and also acquired some budget hacks along the way. Since its all still fresh on my mind I wanted to share some tips for the 2023/2024 brides! It is a very exciting yet stressful time but if you plan a little bit as you go it can be an enjoyable experience! After all your wedding is one of the most memorable days of your life! ❤️️

Here are some of my tips I learned and hopefully you can take away from my experience! 🙂

Start planning as early as possible! I was lucky enough to start planning more than 17 months out and this was a key factor in how I was able to budget, have a good selection of vendors and think of/plan out every single detail. Once you book your venue you can start booking your other vendors and by planning a year in advance you will be able to book your vendors at lower prices. (Most) will honor your contracts and the price you booked them. Be sure to read all your vendor contracts very carefully!
Book a venue that includes as many elements as possible. ( i.e. catering, furniture, staff etc.) This will help you immensely in not having to worry about searching and booking for catering, furniture rentals etc. let alone plan the timing of arrivals/set up and departure times. You will be way less stressed by booking a venue that includes these core elements.
Invest in a full wedding planner! Looking back, one of my biggest regrets was not splurging on a full wedding planner to help from the very beginning. I thought I would be able to do all of the planning so I didn’t hire one but I realized the day of, by having someone from the beginning of the process, they would be able to truly understand you, your vision and style so on the actual day you won’t be stressed answering last minute questions on details and set up with a day of coordinator who is stepping in later in the game. Unfortunately I was incredibly stressed the day of right up until the ceremony started and looking back I wished I had just spent the extra money to ensure I had someone I knew better, who would be willing to go above and beyond for tasks that came up and someone who made the effort to really pay attention to the details I requested. Be sure to read the contract carefully and agree upon a set arrival and departure time long before the wedding day.
Budget for all the vendors you plan to hire and try to stay within that range. I called countless vendors, read their reviews and compared pricing. Starting payment plans early on also helps immensely so you aren’t shelling over so much money the week of the wedding! Keep in mind there are tons of last minute costs to account for during the wedding week so the last thing you want to be doing is forking over even more money to pay vendors the week of, plus you just want to fun and enjoy your wedding weekend!
Ask about table settings and china early on! While most venues probably have the standard white china, our venue did not and I realized about 5 months out that the plate colors were not the typical white and their plates were not going to match the aesthetic so I had to frantically find rentals for plates. Since I had booked pretty late the desirable delivery windows were already booked and we had to go pick them up and drop off ourselves which was quite the daunting task in addition to other tasks that needed to be done the weekend of. Overall I have no regrets renting the china since it brought the overall aesthetic together, it is a small detail ( and easy to forget) but it really creates a cohesive look. Thank you to Cort Party Rental for coming to the rescue on our plates! Check out this blog post on all the decor and table scape details!
Wear comfortable shoes the day of! I found a super comfortable pair of low heels from Target that I had worn to another wedding prior and broken in already. It was truly the best decision I had made, granted they didn’t show under my dress so no one knew! I did purchase a pair of Badgley Mischka wedding heels but didn’t wear them and only used for photo purposes.
Make sure your hair and makeup artists stay on track with the hair and makeup schedule and appoint someone as the time keeper. My hair and makeup girls were a chatty bunch and it made us fall behind quite a bit which led to very rushed wedding party and family photos. I missed out on a handful of photo opportunities because we were so behind with hair and makeup.
Take off work the week of the wedding! A friend of mine told me to do this and it was the best decision I made. There are so many last minute details to get done and you will feel so much better knowing you have full days to dedicate on wedding items and relax a little before the big day.
Try to get as much as sleep as you can leading up to the wedding, this is really tough since the excitement and adrenaline is running at an all time high but Michael and I barely slept the week of and by the end we were beyond exhausted. It is the most exhausting yet exciting time and no one tells you how tiring it all is but really try to aim for good sleep, take vitamins and make sure to actually eat leading up to all the festivities!
I highly recommend taking your honeymoon right after the wedding if possible! After such a high (and extreme exhaustion) it was the best feeling for us knowing we had a vacation ahead. Budgeting tip- open a new credit card with an intro bonus and use those bonus miles to book your flights and or hotels! It was a huge help for us and we saved 2k on flights to the DR! Use that credit card to make payments on wedding expenses so you easily rack up the points.
Start on seating arrangements as the RSVPs start coming in. I actually used the seating chart on Wedding Wire. It is a great free online tool, you are able to move names and ‘chairs’ around easily and customize the number of chairs needed per table. Just make sure to ask about table arrangements at your venue because I later found that our venue had a very specific set up and my arrangement was a little off from how I had originally envisioned.
Make itineraries for bridesmaids and groomsmen so they have a general idea of the day of. I made some from Canva and sent out to our wedding party so they were prepared with times and locations of events.

12. Schedule multiple hair trials! I had 3 hair trials and narrowed it down 2 days before the wedding and I wasn’t 100% happy with that trial. Luckily the day of my hair turned out exactly how I wanted but it was a close call!

13. Don’t use the groom’s cuff links, bow tie and other items that are essential for the groom’s attire for a flat lay photo. Made the mistake of having Michael’s bow tie and cuff links for a flat lay photo, which led to him not being ready and incredibly rushed getting his final look together. Side note, flat lay photos take longer than you think so unless your photographer is coming much earlier than the ceremony start time, I would stick to photographing shoes and or a watch for the groom which is much quicker for them to put on.

14. Try on as many wedding dresses as possible! It takes time to find THE dress, so start the dress search as soon as possible. Check out this blog post where I talked about my wedding dress shopping experience. Once you do pick a dress, it usually takes a few months to receive it and then you have to factor in time for alterations. My alterations which were pretty standard took over 3 months to complete! And if you don’t already have an alterations person in mind, research alterations shops in your area and read all their reviews!

15. Highly recommend having sparklers at your wedding! It is the perfect send off and makes for the best photo op! It was a lot of work, I did have to obtain a city permit and written permission from the venue, but it was well worth the trouble! The photos turned out amazing! Huge thanks to Broadway Bridal their sparklers which were absolutely perfect!