we’re having a WEDDING Planning party!

Not literally but it does feel like I’m running a wedding marathon right now. 2018 just arrived and it’s already FLYING BY. 

Wedding planning has officially taken over all of my free time (no complaints though!). Both Jon and myself are head deep into planning mode. It’s time for us to make some decisions and pull the trigger on things we’ve been putting off.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when planning a wedding,

or a huge event of any kind for that matter, but a wedding especially. There are so many options. Do you want it to be a big wedding, small wedding, have a welcome party, morning after brunch, have welcome baskets for your guests…? And the list goes on to the million different options for cutlery, plates, candle stick holders, lighting options, etc.

The process is way easier if you have secretly been planning your wedding for years prior but for me, that was not the case.

Not even by a little bit. I know what I like but I had never spent time pinning away ideas on Pinterest and really honing in on exact details of what I would want for my wedding. So I started from scratch, both exciting and daunting.

Because this is a very broad subject, I’m going to layout 10 steps that helped me prioritize and stay organized:

1. Budget
2. Size of wedding and location 
3. Guest list
4. Getting your team together
5. Deciding on the theme: color scheme & style
6. Invitations! Save the Dates, Wedding & Bridal Shower invites 
7. Wedding party attire
8. Wedding gown shopping 
9. Mapping out our venue
10. Table settings & flowers

OK! Here we go.

1. Budget.

Pro tip: get help from someone that has already planned a wedding.

Weddings are shockingly expensive and if you don’t properly plan it out from the beginning you’ll be hit with extra expenses in the end that can be super stressful so it pays off (literally and figuratively) to put together a budget.

Don’t skimp on this stuff. If you know you want a lot of flowers and that’s a big thing for you, then dedicate a sufficient amount of your budget to flowers. I suggest going through your budget one time and go to the max on everything. Imagine the most it can cost and put it down and then the second time you go through it you can eliminate or cut down in certain areas after having the whole picture in mind.

In addition to getting someone’s help that’s been through planning a wedding you can also google “list of wedding expenses” and you’ll get some great tips. Creating an excel spreadsheet or use Google Sheets to stay organized.

There are a lot of things that you don’t think of when making your budget like: How much money per person are we able to spend for food? That will determine how decadent you can make your dinner. How much for table settings, chairs, linens, candles, lounge furniture? Travel expenses for anyone? Rehearsal dinner outfit and accessories? Start putting it all down. Make sure to USE this spreadsheet as you start the booking process. You could end up going with a venue that’s $5K more than what you planned on but it’s perfect so you’ll have to adjust things.

2. Size of wedding and location.

This goes hand in hand with your budget. Almost everything else you do will grow from this choice.

Jon and I wanted to have a more intimate wedding and be in a place where everyone in attendance was pushed out of their normal routine. It’s so easy to go for a weekend trip but never disconnect from technology or work so it was important to us that we were in a space that transported us to quite literally, a different world. We also wanted to create a very classic and romantic atmosphere. Jon and I appreciate an artistic and well taken care of space with attention to detail. Traditional Parisian architecture embodies this and we came to the conclusion pretty fast that we would love to celebrate our marriage in this magical country. For some, this can be a tricky decision and if that’s the case I always suggest making a pro’s and con’s list to help you figure out what to do.

I highly suggest creating a spreadsheet that helps you to categorize everything. If you try to keep it all in your head I can assure you, it’ll drive you nuts. Something like: Wedding venue name, location, contact info, how many people it can hold, and of course price. Pro tip: put in any links to photos of the location so you can easily access them as a reference.

3. Guest list.

I probably sound like a broken record at this point but it’s time to create another spreadsheet.

Google Sheets is amazing for this stuff because you and your fiancé will be working on this list together so instead of sending a spreadsheet back and forth, google keeps it all in one place but both of you can have access and change things so it’s always up to date.

We used Postable to collect peoples addresses which made it SO easy. You can email a link to whomever you need info from and they fill it out and you’re done. Woohoo!

Also, we decided to go digital with our RSVPs which was extremely easy to do with our wedding website with Minted.

4. Getting your dream team together.

This would include your wedding planner, caterer, photographer, videographer, florist, DJ, make up artist and hair stylist.

I’m a huge fan of referrals for this type of stuff. Also, another huge asset is Instagram. Insta is perfect for checking out the work of anyone in the visual arts. It’s like their online portfolio (definitely go to their website as well) so you can ensure that their work is up to the standard that you are looking for.

The rule of three was always stabilizing for me. I wanted to have three options for everything so that I could compare and go from there.

{featuring our florist, Krissy Price of Boston Pollen and our photographer, Amanda K}

5. Deciding on the theme: color scheme and vibe (i.e. vintage, modern, classic, elegant).

This may be a no brainer to you. A lot of people already have their colors in mind because they’re drawn to a certain color scheme. Amazing! This should be fairly simple for you then.

If you aren’t quite ready to commit to a certain color scheme and style head on over to Pinterest AKA your new best friend. Pinterest is amazing and better than using Instagram for this portion of planning because you can create boards specific to the subject you’re working on. So you can have one called ‘Color Scheme’ or ‘Style’ and on and on. I probably have 5 different boards now!

On Pinterest you can search ‘Navy Blue Wedding’ and a million pictures will pop up. It’s crazy how specific you can get. You can find almost anything on Pinterest especially when it comes to weddings. It’s like the ultimate resource.

The below mood board was made by our amazing florist, Krissy Price of Boston Pollen.

6. Invitations! Save the Dates, Wedding & Bridal Shower invites.

We were extremely lucky to work with Minted on our wedding suite. They have an amazing assortment of stunning pre-made invitations that you can choose from but you can also create a fully customized wedding suite which is what we did for our wedding invitations.

For our Save the Dates we went with the CUTEST tandem bike card which screamed France! It was perfection.

Minted supports independent artists from around the world to make their designs so you can work with one of them on your design or you can work with another artist and take the files and bring them to minted to fine tune and put on the finishing touches before printing.

We did a mix of both!

For our personalized wedding crest and filigree we decided to work with Juliana Nahas-Viilo of Veraly & Co. I met Juliana about 4 years ago when I was doing an event in my hometown, Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was selling her beautiful prints and I was selling my jewelry. I was an instant fan of her work and we stayed in touch after the event. When Juliana reached out about her wedding stationary line I knew she was the perfect person to work with for the custom work we wanted done. Although we can’t disclose our final invites at this time below are a few pictures of Juliana’s gorgeous work!

After the final touches were put on the crest and filigree from Juliana we took our vector files to Minted and started working with their pro design team on the placement of the body text and we also did our Wedding Events Card and personalized Map with the artists on the Minted team. I can’t wait to share our full suite after our wedding! Here’s a little inspo for the time being.

7. Wedding party attire. Again, for some people this is a super easy step… like it was for me!

I’m very lucky to have a friend who serendipitously happened to be just starting a brilliant company called Birdy Grey. A company with the main purpose: being a fashionable bridesmaid …economically! Her amazing line is made up of bridal gowns all for $100 and if you want to donate your dress after, she works with The Princess Project LA that helps dress teens in need for prom.

I already knew the color scheme that I wanted because I had decided earlier in the planning process so it was literally as easy as sending my bridesmaids to her website and having them pick their dresses.

8. Wedding gown shopping. I enjoyed this way more than I expected!

At first I was not excited about trying on a million gowns but it was actually really fun. Overall I went to 10 places – YUP. You read that right – TEN PLACES. It didn’t help that I had no idea what I wanted in a gown. So I was trying on lots of different styles. But it’s just something you have to do in order to know what you like and what you don’t like.

Don’t be disheartened if you don’t find anything the first two or three times you try on dresses. I didn’t feel like I was on to something until the 5th appointment and after that I found a lot of great dresses. It wasn’t until I knew what I was looking for that I started to find the ones that I truly considered could be the one.

I packed my bridal visits into two days with my Mama which was SO much fun. It’s also really easy to go from one place to the next with a team of two. It keeps things fast and uncomplicated. But by all means, take your girl gang if that’s your thing but beware of everyone’s opinions coming in at you. That can be hard to handle when you’re making such a big decision.

Make sure you get enough sleep the night before, eat the morning of your appointments and bring snacks and water to keep you fueled throughout the day.

TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES. This was key for me deciding which dress to go with.

Also, go back and try on any contenders. This is a huge purchase so don’t make your choice light heartedly.

Lastly, know that you can always make alterations if something isn’t exactly how you like it. Get the details from the wedding specialists at the bridal boutiques. Normally they’ve been in the industry a while so let them give you their wise words.

Here are some super informal photos from my bridal appointments. Check out some of the dresses that didn’t make the cut but that I still admired!

{I tried on this one at one of my all time favorite places, The Wedding Party in Berkeley. My appointments were with Clara and I ended up getting my rehearsal dinner gown from her!}

{the fabric on this gown was so luxurious. I loved how soft it was. This one I tried on at And Something Blue Bridal Boutique in San Francisco}

p.s. this is a list of my favorite bridal boutiques that I went to. Some of them have multiple locations throughout the US so check them out!

Lovely Bride

The Wedding Party

LoHo Bride

And Something Blue

Emerald City Gowns

Alt Brides

9. Mapping out our venue.

We’re staying at our wedding venue for 4 days along with our wedding party and immediate family. Our objective was to take full advantage of the beautiful grounds.

Our wedding events include a welcome party, rehearsal dinner, the ceremony, reception and a farewell brunch. Everything except for the rehearsal dinner are being held on the property of our venue. If you have the option of doing this, I recommend it because things are going to be crazy enough as it is. Cutting out driving time to different locations makes it much smoother, making your days as stress-free as possible.

Also, for us it was important to create a classy yet cozy and warm environment for our wedding. When mapping out our venue and where all of our events would be held we focused on making each location it’s own dedicated space to whatever we wanted to do in that space.

Here’s a sneak peek of our wedding location map and how we are divvying up the space.

10. Table settings, flowers.

A lot in this step! Pinterest will (again) be your BFF when it comes to the visual inspiration for your table settings and flowers.

If you did a thorough job in step five (deciding on your theme and style) then this step may be very straightforward. Gather as many photos as possible to help you clearly communicate what you want though. I suggest making two separate Pinterest boards for each topic. One for Table Settings and another for Flowers. That way you can get really specific on what you want.

Since our florist is based in Boston and our table decor is being sourced in Europe, there was no way for us to see everything in person. I took my planning one step further by making a diagram on Keynote with the specific elements I had picked out for table settings. I copy and pasted the images and links of each item so that I could see them altogether in one place. It’s the second best thing to seeing them in real life.

And that’s about it ladies!

Of course, there are more and more things that get added to your to-do list throughout the planning process but this is where the majority of my time has be devoted to.

Feel free to leave me any questions or comments below! Always love hearing from YOU. <3

xoxo, Katie