At first glance, wedding planning can look easy and fun, spending time putting together Pinterest boards and looking at floral samples. Yes, planning a wedding is all of the above and more, but under the surface planning a wedding is hard simply because most have not done it before. There is a level of stress that comes with the time, energy and unknowns that come with planning. The benefit to bringing a planner on board is that they have a wealth of knowledge about the intricacies of planning and can work with you to ease any stress or uncertainty to ultimately make planning your wedding a fun and exciting process.
Certainly, you have your own work lives, skills and strengths that will help lead you to make logical assumptions about how a certain vendor or piece to the process works. Often times these assumptions, however logical they may seem, can be misleading. We have found that, despite some common similarities, every industry is not the same. Setting up a tent is not the same as constructing a building and designing a wedding is not exactly the same as designing a home. A planner will guide you through the elements of planning that may seem unfamiliar and fight for your wedding vision from start to finish.
Below we share 6 common misconceptions about wedding planning.
ONE: It is less costly to host your wedding at home.
Yes, at first glance hosting your wedding in your backyard may appear less expensive, but when you boil down all of the costs in 90% of cases hosting your wedding at home will end up costing you more than a venue. When comparing wedding venues, it is important to know all of the underlying costs associated with each option, and a planner can help you uncover those costs.
Unless your alternative venue is a tented event site that charges a site fee and does not come with a tent nor anything else, hosting at home may make more sense for you both. You will also have fewer parameters to adhere to planning at home. If you are in fact considering a wedding at home take the following into account. If 150 people come together for a dollar meal and need cocktails, wine, soft drinks, plates, utensils, a chair or two, and a wait staff to serve that meal, it is going to cost more than you may think. Planning at home does not have to be daunting if you understand what to account for and the steps to take in order to make for a beautiful celebration. Weddings at private residences are some of our favorite.
TWO: Substituting candles for florals may lower your floral bill.
Contrary to popular belief, candles can actually be quite expensive. Unless you are blanketing your wedding with candles in glass cylinders from the dollar store and your distant cousin is prepping them, putting them out and cleaning them up afterwards, adding more candles won’t put as large a dent in your floral bill than most expect. Candles, especially pillar candles, cost a pretty penny. And the vessels or lanterns they go in will add to that cost. Replacing the majority of your florals with candles is tricky because most of the time when a wedding begins it is not dark enough for the candles to even have any effect on the ambiance. However, there is certainly a way to design your wedding to include both candles and floral elements that is true to your vision. Putting costs aside, we love a ton of candles in conversation pieces and incorporated into focal points.
THREE: Booking your vendors is the bulk of planning.
Actually, booking your vendors is only the start of planning, there is much more that comes down the line once your vendors are booked. Many couples feel that once they’ve booked all of their vendors they have done most everything already and only need a planner to bring all of the pieces together. This is what planners hear all the time and it could not be further from the truth. Planners have a lot to offer you in regard to insight during the process of booking your vendors and negotiating their contracts. You may find yourselves booking vendors while not necessarily knowing what is ahead in the process and what other costs may arise depending upon which vendors you booked. When you book a vendor, in any category, their work is not done once you’ve signed the contract with them. For instance, when you book your florist, your entire design is not final when you are presented with your contract to sign. You will likely meet with your florist several times over the course of the planning process and revise your design after each meeting, until you have a design you are completely comfortable with. Some florists really don’t design but focus just on the flowers and its your planner that makes sure all the elements of your wedding are taken into consideration, are cohesive and true to your own vision. Booking your vendors is really just the start to the process and bringing everything together is the bulk of planning a well-executed, beautiful event.
FOUR: A casual wedding will cost me less
Quality and volume influence the cost of your wedding more than the type of ambiance you are trying to create. Every detail has to be accounted for whether a wedding’s dress code is black tie or cocktail attire, or even more casual with guests in their summer whites and sandals.
FIVE: You can wait on the rain plan tent.
If you know you will need a plan for rain, address that early in the planning process. Waiting until the last minute to secure a rain plan is a scary idea for a planner. We have been down this road in the past and learned our lesson. That’s why you hired us - lessons already learned! All tenting companies are not made the same and tenting companies only have so many staff members, let alone tents. Next year, and perhaps the year after, tent companies are going to be busier than ever with many people planning outdoor weddings that otherwise may have been indoors. They may have tents left in their warehouses, but they need their trained staff to install them, run the event and conduct breakdown in a timely fashion. When you add a rain plan tent you are reserving the company’s time along with the tent itself. A planner will walk through the intricacies of a rain plan with you to help determine your the best course of action.
SIX: You can hold off on booking a videographer since it does not matter as much as a photographer.
If you know you want a videographer at your wedding, then you should plan to book them at the start of planning and perhaps in tandem with your photographer. You may, however, not want a videographer, which is just fine and common enough for our clients but contracting a videographer that is not of the same quality and professionalism as your photographer is the wrong way to go. We have countless examples between our own weddings, and weddings done by friends in the industry, in which videographers were contracted in the last hour and got in the way of the photographer, planner and the couple as well.If you want a videographer, we recommend asking your photographer and planner for recommendations at the start. It pains a planner to have a client who regrets any one of their vendors.
There are many misconceptions that come with planning a wedding that only become evident once you get into the height of planning. As planners we have seen our fair share of weddings and will be able to work with you to address these misconceptions from the start and make for an enjoyable planning process and seamless wedding day. Weddings are expensive no matter your budget. Spend wisely and hire a planner.
Happy Planning,
Ashley + Team
