Did you miss us?! The past several months have been crazy busy (and we’ve loved every second of it). Now that it’s 2020, we’re ready to get back to the blog. We’ll give you all of our top planning tips throughout the year! Get ready — your wedding planning process is about to get so much easier after knowing the top wedding planning mistakes!
Today we’re talking about the top eight wedding planning mistakes that everyone makes. Okay, maybe not everyone… but a lot of people tend to make the same mistakes when planning.
Look, we get it. There’s a lot that goes into planning a wedding. It would almost be unusual if you didn’t make a mistake or two. That’s why hiring a wedding planner can be a huge relief! We will remember all of those small details that you didn’t even think about.
The Top 8 Wedding Planning Mistakes
Here are the top eight wedding planning mistakes that we see time and time again, and how you can avoid making them for your wedding.
Not setting a strict budget
Your budget should be the very first thing that you have figured out.
Sure, it can be challenging to sit down with your parents or other family members to talk about finances. Talking about money is never fun, but it needs to be done. You need to figure out your budget and how much money everyone will be contributing. If you don’t, you really can’t get anything done to start planning your wedding.
Without a budget, you might start booking things out of excitement. You’ll end up shocked that you blew through all of your money with just your venue, food and beverage, photographer and florist!
Not knowing the average cost of vendors
While figuring out your budget, you should do your research and discover the average cost of vendors in your area. How much does a wedding planner cost? Photographer? DJ? Your dream venue? Florals? Rentals?
Instead of doing all the research yourself, we highly recommend that you hire a planner from the start! We promise to help you set the right budget for each vendor. We will keep you within the maximum number you feel comfortable with. Plus, we have relationships with various vendors. We’ll be able to work closely with them to create a budget that is specific to your needs.
Besides, if you do your own research online to figure out the average price of vendors, you might find that the information isn’t very accurate. A lot of vendors keep their prices offline nowadays to encourage people to reach out to them directly.
For general wedding costs, you can check out WeddingWire’s cost guide here. In my opinion, it’s not entirely accurate, but you can at least get a general ballpark range of how much each vendor could cost you.
The size of your bridal party
If you’re having a smaller wedding, consider having a smaller bridal party. It might be odd to have 10 girls and 10 guys on each side with just 100 guests in total. That would be 20% of your wedding! If a smaller wedding is your style, think about only asking your closest family and friends to be alongside you on your big day. For other friends and family, you can ask them to be involved in another way, such as being an usher, doing a reading, or helping you DIY decor for the reception.
If you’re a very social person with a lot of friends and family, then you might be tempted to have a huge bridal party like myself. Definitely take the time to think about how stressful that can get. You’ll need to choose dress styles and colors that everyone will feel comfortable in, try to fit everyone’s schedule for a bachelorette party and bridal shower, and the costs for bridesmaids bouquets alone can get pricey. From personal experience, there are a few things I would recommend if you decide to have a large bridesmaid party:
- Try and get the girls together a few times to allow them all to mesh and get to know each other.
- Allow the girls to pick the style of their dress. It’s hard to find a dress style that looks good on 2 girls, let along 8+.
- Make sure your MOH is comfortable and confident taking charge of all the activities while juggling the opinions of so many others.
Also, remember that you don’t only have to have women in your bridal party! If your brother or guy friend is the person closest to you, consider having him as your “man of honor” or “bridesman.” Or, if you’d rather only have you and your spouse up there when you say “I do…” there’s no rule saying that you have to have a bridal party!
Not feeding your vendors good food
Keep in mind that your vendors will need to eat, especially the ones that have been there all day long. You don’t want to have a low-energy DJ or an exhausted wedding planner, right?
This might sound silly coming from a vendor myself, but be sure to include your vendors’ meals into your catering and budget for a hot meal. There’s nothing worse than having an 8+ hour day and sitting down to a cold bagged lunch. Most wedding vendors will include a hot meal as a stipulation in their contract. The most common vendor meals include your planner, photographer, videographer, DJ or band, photobooth attendant and any assistants that they have with them.
Your caterer will typically take care of their own staff. Your florist and ceremony musicians most likely won’t need a meal, as they leave well before dinner begins.
Not hiring a wedding planner
Planning a wedding without professional help is overwhelming and stressful… to say the least! Even if you don’t want to hire a full-on wedding planner, you should at least consider hiring a month-of coordinator or better yet, a unique package we have called E-planning!
A planner will assist in coordinating all of the vendors for your wedding day in the weeks leading up to it. They will manage a day-of timeline for you and execute the entire day so that you can relax while getting ready, rather than having to stress about all of the small details!
No matter how big of a planner you think you are, trust us when we say that you do not want to be in charge of fully planning your own wedding. It will cause you more stress than you need!
Letting too many people influence your decisions
Try not to let everyone get their opinion involved in how your wedding day goes. Ultimately, all of the decisions should be up to the couple. If others are paying, then they typically get some sort of say, but final decisions should ultimately be up to you.
Let your future spouse, parents, and best friend be the only ones to have an opinion on your wedding day. You don’t need to ask everyone to have a voice! Let them enjoy being a guest at your wedding and seeing everything that you dreamed of come to life.
Stressing over the tiny details
Of course, even small details are incredibly important pieces for your wedding day. Just try not to completely stress yourself out over them. Pinterest is the biggest culprit of adding stress! Will anyone really remember every sign that you had during your reception? We will but probably not your guests. Try not to let these small details ruin the fun experience of planning your wedding!
Not going with the flow
A lot can happen to alter the timeline of the day of your wedding — weather, issues with a vendor, and more can all affect your wedding day. In other words, we as your planner may need to adjust the timeline a bit. We’ll absolutely do our best to keep your day as you imagined it, but trust us and go with the flow. We promise you’ll enjoy more of your day that way!
What to Keep in Mind
Again, all of these wedding planning mistakes can easily be avoided when you hire a wedding planner. Plus, they can keep you in check and ensure that your wedding day goes as smoothly as possible.
If you’re in the Maryland area, then check out the planning services we have to offer at Moore and Co.! As we mentioned above, we even offer an e-planning package, for those of you that are looking for some assistance virtually.
Contact us for more information on the services that we have to offer!