TIPS TO PLAN A WEDDING - Part 3. Dress Shopping, Trials & Meeting with your Vendors

Now that you have your big things locked in and your bridal party selected, it’s the time we’ve all been waiting for… dress shopping!! So, get out your Pintrest board and rally the troops for a shopping trip!

When it comes to wedding dress shopping, everyone is different. Some brides want the full bridal boutique experience (think - Say Yes to the Dress). Some brides buy a simple white dress from their local department store. Some brides buy a gown second-hand online or have one custom-made. There are no real “rules” when it comes to wedding dress shopping. My advice is, to keep an open mind when you’re trying on different styles because 90% of my brides (myself included) ended up buying a dress that was completely different from what they imagined themselves in.
If we are specifically talking about a traditional wedding boutique shopping experience, please remember that most gowns can take anywhere between 3-9 months to order in, so don’t leave shopping too late. And please don’t put too much pressure on yourself to have that magical, emotional ‘moment’ when you find your ‘perfect dress’. I think this leads brides to continue trying on dozens of dresses, always thinking there is something better at the next boutique. I went to one bridal store, tried on about 7 dresses, and chose a dress that looked great on me, and ticked all the boxes in terms of comfort, practicality for my venue, and budget. Speaking of budget! never forget the golden rule of wedding dress shopping - DON’T try on any dresses that you can’t afford! This never ends well…

Once you have your dress ordered, you can start brainstorming for your bridal party, make sure you choose colours that are complementary to your dress, your fiance’s outfit, and the overall feel of the wedding. It’s also really trendy nowadays to choose a colour palette, and let your bridesmaids choose their own outfit, allowing them all to be unique and comfortable.

Meeting up with your vendors can be a fantastic way to make sure you click well before booking them in or to make sure you’re on the same page in the lead-up to the wedding. This is particularly common when booking celebrants, photographers & wedding planners/ coordinators, or any other vendors who have a lot to do with you and your guests on the wedding day. Some vendors require multiple meetings. For example, we met our celebrant once before we confirmed our booking, and once again via skype in the days leading up to the wedding to finalise the running order of the ceremony. When we are talking food - you’ll most likely go and to a tasting to select the menu for your wedding dinner. In terms of hair & makeup artists, it’s also completely fine to meet your H&MUA for a Bridal Trial to meet in person, discuss your chosen look, and trial this look so that you know you are completely happy before paying your deposit. I would say, about 30% of my brides do a trial before officially locking in their date. The other 70% are happy to book without doing a trial, and choose to do their trial closer to their weding date. I always recommend having a hair & makeup trial, as it gives you the opportunity to make tweaks and perfect the look before the day. However, it does come at an additional cost, so a small percentage of my brides choose to go without. This could be for a few reasons; maybe they didn’t factor a trial into their budget, maybe they love what they have seen online and feel comfortable going with the flow on the day, or maybe they have had their hair & makeup done by me in the past and they know they will be happy without a trial. Just be aware the wedding day is not for trialing looks, so if you choose to go without a trial, it’s best to have a clear idea of what you would like. We don’t allow time for experimentation on the wedding day!

It’s important to have a good relationship with your vendors, and having meetings & trials is a great way to become friendly with your vendors. It’s much more pleasant being surrounded by familiar faces on your wedding day!

TIPS TO PLAN A WEDDING - Part 2. Bridal Party & Vendors

So, you’ve decided on the basics of your wedding, and locked in the date & venue, YAY!

Time to choose your bridal party… if you want a bridal party that is! There can be a lot of pressure and stress around choosing a bridal party, and my biggest recommendation is to surround yourself with loving & useful people who will be there for you and help you throughout the wedding planning process as well as the wedding day. Don’t stress about needing to include your partner’s sibling or friends that had you in their bridal party 7 years ago, or adding someone purely for the sake of having even numbers. It all boils down to just having your ride or die people! And if it’s all too hard, don’t have any… it’s actually really trendy in 2021 to have very informal weddings with minimal fuss. On our wedding day, I had 3 bridesmaids and my husband had 2 groomsmen, and do you know how many people cared that we had uneven numbers?… NONE.

Now it’s time to start looking at vendors, and all of the little details that go into making your dream a reality. There is no rule on how far out from your wedding you need to book in your vendors. My advice is, that if you have the money to leave a deposit, just book it in. Some people plan a wedding over 2 years, others in 3 months, but the sooner you book things in, the more likely you are to secure your preferred vendors. Proiritise your vendors according to how popular they are, and whether they are a solo business or a part of a big company. Eg, if your videographer is a sole trader, chances are, they will only book one wedding per day (or weekend) so once they are booked, they are gone, and you’ll have to go with your second or third choice. If your catering company has multiple staff and can take on more than one wedding per day, then you can probably get away with booking them a little later.

I prioritised our vendors and booked in our absolute must-haves first; our celebrant, videographer, photographer, hair/ makeup artist, and caravan bar. The rest of the vendors I had multiple options for, so I had time to save some more money to pay them at a later date. Everyone is different, so there is no real rule around who you need to book first! Don’t be afraid to ask your vendors for their minimum deposit required, the further you can stretch your money in the early days of wedding planning, the more amazing vendors you can lock-in. For example, I used to take a 50% deposit to secure a wedding date, however, there were plenty of times I dropped it down to 25% for bigger weddings or brides who didn’t quite have the funds but didn’t want to miss out. Vendors are always happy to be flexible if it means we have your wedding locked in.

Once you start locking in vendors, it’s helpful to create a spreadsheet to keep track of vendor details, deposits paid, balances owing and the dates that payments are due. It’s also very important to save original quotes and contracts between you and your vendors. incase you need to review them down the track. It’s easy to lose emails and correspondence in the 12+ months between engagement and wedding date, and it’s handy to have your ducks in a row in case something goes wrong. And although it’s not the quickest way to communicate, I always prefer to communicate via email so that I have all details in writing.

So you’ve got your favorite vendors locked in! It’s time to start ticking off some jobs in that wedding planner!

TIPS TO PLAN A WEDDING - Part 1. Engagement, Basics & Booking a Venue

After working in the wedding industry for 5 years, and recently getting married myself, I wanted to put together a series of blogs to pass on some knowledge and help you plan your wedding day!

So you’re engaged? YAYYYYY! This is a very exciting and overwhelming time, and I bet you’ve had a dozen people ask (within the first 24hrs) if you’ve set a date yet?

After basking in your newly engaged bliss for a while, it’s time to do a few things; I started by creating a wedding email address to keep all of our wedding correspondence in one place. Then I got myself a binder folder for inspo pics, scribbling notes, keeping track of the budget/ guests/ run sheet, etc. I also got myself a beautiful wedding planner from The Twine Junction to put all of my final details in and have as a keepsake. You can pick up one of these amazing planners here - www.instagram.com/thetwinejunction/?hl=en

Next, its time to sit down with your Fiance and nut out the basics. We started by making a draft guest list. Some venues have a minimum or maximum number required for a wedding, so before you go venue hunting, it’s best that you have a rough idea of how many guests you’ll have. This rough number also comes in handy when you’re getting quotes down the track for catering, invitations, cake, etc. You also need to decide on what you want the feel of your wedding to be. Do you want a super casual backyard wedding? A rustic barn? Or a formal hotel setting? You want to choose a venue that suits you as a couple! You also need to talk about your budget, and how you’re going to find the money to pay for your wedding. With the average Australian wedding costing aprox $35,000 - $40,000, you need to discuss what you’re comfortable spending. We hadn’t started saving for a wedding when we got engaged, so we set our date far enough away that we had time to comfortably save our designated amount. It’s always good to budget a little bit of a buffer because little things do come up here & there during the planning process. Make sure your budget reflects the ideas you have for your wedding and the number of guests you’re planning on inviting.

Once you’ve got a rough guest list, a budget and an idea of the feel of your wedding, it’s time to start looking for a venue and choose a date!

This is where things get fun, and once you set a date, everything else seems to fall into place. Start by looking up venues that suit your vision. We wanted to go for a relaxed, farm style wedding, with everything in one place; accommodation, ceremony & reception. Organise private viewings of some venues, attend their open days and take a list of questions so that you can make sure the venue fits everything you need. Once you find a venue that fits your vision and is available for your chosen date, lock it in!

GET EXCITED! You’ve just made it through the first few steps of planning. And now you have an answer for all of those people who keep asking “have you set a date?”. YAAASSSS