WEDDING PLANNING

I am not one of those girls who has been dreaming of her wedding day since she’s 5 years old. It’s the pure, honest truth! I grew up watching my mom raise 2 daughters by herself and for a long time I didn’t believe in marriage. A little grim you might think? Not at all! The experience thought me how to be independent, hard working & perseverant. It also thought me good judgment! And so I met my bf. A sweet, caring & thoughtful man who was kind and honest & who seemed to love me more than words can describe. So when he surprised me with a proposal in the middle of Central Park in NYC 5 years later, it teared up my eyes and even though I still needed to crack a joke “what are you doing”?! (lol) the answer was a resounding YES! I have never been surprised like this in my entire life! And just like that, his presence in my life has changed my mind. Suddenly, the thought of shopping for a wedding gown, finding the perfect venue or a great photographer to capture the magic seemed to preoccupy my mind and it all got exciting real fast! And then it got stressful. So many details to think about and I am a control freak when it comes to those kind of things! I quickly realized that with work, the blog, 2 charities involvement AND a wedding to plan, I could get lost real fast. So instead I decided to enjoy the process. Take it all in, one step at a time and find the right vendors with whom I found a deep connection and who would make my wedding day extra special!

I decided to put together 5 things I learnt since I started my planning process to help you ladies ease the pressure:

1- THIS IS YOUR DAY! It’s the most extravagant party you will ever throw (hopefully lol) and it’s all to celebrate YOU & your boo. All your loved ones under one roof, you best to enjoy it! So plan everything well and trust your vendors will take care of everything (hence why you should choose the ones you connect with).

2- A wedding is expensive if you want it your way. So accept it now that you will most likely go over your budget a little bit. Accept it or scale down a bit. But make sure that you won’t have any regrets, b/c there are no do overs :P

3- When choosing the venue, check out many options, especially if you’re not sure if you want a traditional wedding, a rustic wedding, a glam wedding or an out of the box wedding! It will give you a lot of inspo and trust me, when you visit a venue, you know right away if it works for you or not. Get the venue down 1st b/c these things get booked FAST! And besides, everything else you plan will revolve around the venue!

4- When looking for vendors, do your research. I don’t believe in quantity, I believe in quality. Go meet the ones that deep in your gut feel right. The ones that have great reviews, the ones friends highly recommended or the ones whose work simply speaks to you! Yes it’s important to shop around, but it’s more important to find the right fit in my opinion. Yes, negotiate, but don’t stress about it too much, I don’t think $100 +/- will break the bank but it could be the difference b/w a successful party or a mediocre one! Think about what’s worth splurging on and what’s best to save on!

5- The dress. My favorite part; or is it? SO many choices out there! Everyone always says that you never end up with what you imagined in your mind. Well, it’s TRUE! The style you pictured might not suit your body as well as another. You might be set on mermaid, but then you try on a princess gown and it hugs you in all the right places. Or, you might think you hated lace but it looks AH-mazing on you! At the same time, don’t over do it! If you set your heart on a given style, try on a few but don’t get lost in the choices. Most importantly, don’t make rash decisions and don’t be intimidated by the sales people. It’s totally fine if you need to sleep on it! Even if you sleep on it for months (like me….hehe)

So far, I have my venue & photographer down and I have 9 months to go….I think I’m in good shape! I’m working on getting the DJ & florist before the New Year and those are pretty much the biggest things to take care of quickly. Then you can plan out your theme, colors, etc!

Oh and of course some wedding planning doesn’t hurt! Studio Wed Box acts like a wedding planner by sending you monthly subscription boxes that help us brides through the wedding process! Their items are super cute & helpful! I received a box a few weeks ago filled with honeymoon things, which reminded me that I seriously need to start thinking about where we would like to go! Check below for details on how to win a box filled with their favourites!