Why You Need A planning a wedding checklist
6 Stumbling Blocks Every Bride Faces When Planning A Wedding!
63% of brides say they feel immense pressure to have the perfect wedding!
Planning a wedding is challenging enough without adding the additional pressures of perfection. Pressure can be our friend and it can be our most feared enemy. It can be a great driving force that motivates us and prevents us from procrastinating.
But, often times, it causes us to make illogical and unsound decisions. Unfortunately, pressure with wedding planning generally leads to the latter.
Many brides begin their planning by creating a "Planning A Wedding Checklist." It's a great idea and one I recommend, but does a checklist prevent you from making mistakes? In 2016, over 13,000 brides were surveyed and we discovered there are 6 stumbling blocks every will face when planning a wedding. In this article, we are going to identify these trouble areas and provide you with some great tips for crushing them!
6 Stumbling Blocks!
Before we jump in with both feet, let's first identify the 6 stumbling blocks.
1. Determining a budget
2. Determining guest size
3. Making decisions
4. Tracking expenses
5. Knowing you're on the right track with your planning
6. Finding quality wedding vendors
1. determining a budget
If you're like most couples, this is the first time you've ever had to plan a wedding and it's a daunting task. The mere thought of determining a budget can make you feel incredibly anxious!
Don't panic yet - Let's take a look at a logical way of approaching it in 4 simple steps!
1. Determine the money you and your partner currently have available to dedicate to your wedding expenses
2. Determine the money you and your partner can save from now until the wedding
3. Speak with each set of parents to determine what they can contribute towards wedding expenses
4. Consider a small personal loan
Traditionally speaking, the bride's parents paid for the wedding expenses. However, due to the rising cost of weddings, both families are coming together to share the costs.
If you need to consider a personal loan, be cautious about how much debt you take on. If you're approved for $40,0000, that doesn't mean you need to spend $40,000. Also, be sure to shop around to ensure you get the best repayment terms available.
[Wedding Guest List Is Critical And Has A Huge Impact On Wedding Budget]
2. determining guest size
Having a wedding that is too large is one of the biggest regrets couples have every year.
Your guest list is also the quickest way to increase or decrease your overall wedding costs. The average wedding in 2016 had 124 guests and the average guest will cost you around $240. Cut just 5 people from your guest list and you're looking at saving a minimum of $1,200! Having less guests means you will also save money on favors, centerpieces (less tables), etc.
You wouldn't think making a guest list would be so difficult, but it's actually pretty complex when you weigh all the factors.
With that being said, let's begin your guest list by separating it into 3 categories:
1. Must Invite
2. Possible Invite
3. People on the "possible invite" list that take priority
Okay, we're off to a great start! Now let's take a look at some of the variable that make creating a guest list challenging.
PARENTS
When it comes to making a guest list, at some point, you will need to sit down with both sets of parents to get their insight. This can be difficult for many couples because parents often have their own agenda when it comes to the guest list. If your parents are paying for the entire or a large portion of the wedding, you may have to make some concessions. However, if you're taking on the brunt of the costs, you will have a little more flexibility.
Parents often want to invite family and/or friends you haven't seen in years, and they can make you feel obligated to invite them. A great way to combat situations like this is to set some boundaries to keep the guest list in check. For example, you could make a rule that if you haven't seen or spoken to someone in the past 6 months, they don't receive an invite. This is a strategy many brides have successfully used in the past.
Many couples find themselves inviting people because they feel obligated or guilty if they don't. While it can be difficult, you want to try to avoid this at all costs.
CHILDREN
Many couples don't want children at their wedding. They, of course, want to avoid possible tempter tantrums during the ceremony or hissy fits at the reception because they don't want to eat their dinner. This is perfectly reasonable.
Prepare yourself!
Most of your guests will understand and respect your position, however, there will always be a couple or two that can't imagine why you wouldn't want their little angel at your wedding. They take it very personally.
A wedding is an adult event and it's an event in which you're investing a lot of money. If you want to implement a "no children" policy, you don't need to feel bad about it.
The next step is determining the cut off age. Many couples use 16 or 18, but you can make it whatever you want - whatever works best for your wedding!
PLUS 1
This is another topic that can create some controversy and it's sure to upset someone. Unfortunately, you can't make everyone happy, so don't worry about trying.
A simple way of handling the "plus 1" is to only allow couples who are married or living together to bring a date. This means your 16 year old niece will be upset because she can't bring the love of her life, but it's just one night.
3. making decisions
Planning a wedding requires you to make a lot of difficult decisions and it's common to feel overwhelmed. Are you spending too much? Does it look cheap? Is it the right color? Is this the best option or can you find something better?
You're bound to experience at least a little self-doubt.
Knowledge is power. It's a lot easier to make good decisions when they are well informed. It might take a little longer to make your choices, but you feel a lot more confident with your final decisions.
4. tracking your expenses
Before you begin planning your wedding, you must bet organized! Organization is vital to the success of your planning and it's essential in the tracking of your expenses.
When it comes to organization, you have a couple different options. You can make your own system using a computer or you can actually purchase a wedding organizer from Amazon. Either one is fine, but setting up your own system will require a little more work.
5. KNOWING YOU'RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK WITH YOUR WEDDING PLANNING
This can be a question that haunts you!
How can you tell if you're on the right track with your wedding planning?
Have a blueprint. Avoid guessing or assuming everything is in order. Trying to keep everything organized in your head is a recipe for disaster! A wedding has way too many details to consider and worry about.
What is a wedding blueprint? As a general rule, this is the general blueprint for allocating your wedding budget:
Wedding Venue 45-50%
Ceremony 2-3%
Attire 7-10%
Flowers 7-10%
DJ 7-10%
Photographer 10-15%
Videographer 7-10%
Stationary 2-3%
Rings 2-3%
Transportation 2-3%
Gifts 2-3%
Emergency 5%
6. hiring quality wedding vendors
"I want great, but budget friendly wedding vendors."
This is a common thought shared by many couples. A reasonable thought, but it's also very subjective. "Budget friendly" has a different meaning for all of us. You might have a budget of $10,000 for your wedding photographer, while another bride has $3,000. What's budget friendly to one person is outrageous to another.
82% of brides regret how they planned their wedding and their biggest regrets include:
1. Scrimping on wedding photography
2. Not hiring a videographer
3. Not hiring a professional DJ
"Budget friendly" or "cheap" wedding vendors are rarely considered "quality" vendors. They will promise you the world and paint you a pretty picture, but in the end they pull the rug from under your feet. It's nothing more than a magic show.......without the magic.