Wedding Planning 101

When deciding to plan an event such as your wedding you need to think about the following factors that are key to taking on an event planning roll, and they are:

1) Time

2) Skills

The reason why TIME is one of the key factors in planning a wedding is that it is estimated to take a minimum of 250 hours to plan you wedding, which to some of you may not be a lot of time but when you take into account the amount of time we spend at work, school, sleep, dinner, lunch, breakfast, children, friends, family and life there may not be to many hours left in a day or week to do key planning of your event. Also keep note that the 250 hours don't include traveling time to meet vendors, make purchases or do research on the internet.

The reason why SKILLS are another important factor in planning your special day, is that if you are not an organized person naturally or you lack confidence when it comes to negotiating contracts with key vendors; the lack of this skill could end up costing you hundreds or thousands of dollars more for your reception hall venue, photographer, florist, gown, cake, ect, than you would if you had a professional to assist you.

Before a couple makes the decision to go down the road of planning and/or executing their special day themselves, or contemplates whether an event/wedding planner is worth the expense. They should seriously ask themselves the following questions before they commitment to taking on this task:

1) Am I a person who has excellent organizational skills? (you need to answer this question honestly as this one could cause you the most stress if you're not)

2) Do I personally handle stress well (physically or emotionally) and is the stress and possible strain on relationships worth it?

3) Do I have the ability to negotiate contracts confidently?

4) Does my lifestyle (job, school, family and friends) permit me the luxury of time to plan all the details and execute the wedding?

5) Do I want my family and friends to have happy memories of my special day or memories of executing the day?

If after answering these questions honestly you are not feeling comfortable planning your wedding or would like not to execute the special day but funds are limited you should consider hiring a "Day of Event/Wedding Planner".

(Read the next module if you need help deciding whether or not to hire a event/wedding planner)

Contemplating whether an event/wedding planner is worth the expense. A couple should seriously ask themselves the following questions before they commitment to taking on this task themselves:

1) Am I a person who has excellent organizational skills? (you need to answer this question honestly as this one could cause you the most stress if you're not)

2) Do I personally handle stress well (physically or emotionally) and is the stress and possible strain on relationships worth it?

3) Do I have the ability to negotiate contracts confidently?

4) Does my lifestyle (job, school, family and friends) permit me the luxury of time to plan all the details and execute the wedding?

5) Do I want my family and friends to have happy memories of my special day or memories of executing the day?

If after answering these questions honestly you are not feeling comfortable planning your wedding or would like not to execute the special day but funds are limited you should consider hiring a "Day of Event/Wedding Planner".

A Day of Planner - Is an individual who is not emotionally attached to the day. They are hired to meet with you and your fiancé a minimum of 10 days before your wedding to get to know both of you as a couple and hear about your vision for your special day. Then review your negotiated contracts to attain the key information needed (if possible make photocopies for them of all contracts and the business cards of vendors involved in your special day, as the planner you hire may need to contact them).

On the day of your wedding your "Day of Planner" will ensure your written instructions and contracts are executed as you requested. If you choose they may also do the final payment to all vendors when they show up to execute the contract at the end of the night or when a vendor requests. A service like this could cost anywhere from $1000 to $2000 depending on the size of your wedding (please note that event/wedding planners are self employed and can make their rate whatever is appropriate for the details of your day and market demand for service where you live.)

If you are feeling overwhelmed and believes the stress would not be good for you with your personal life situation. Then the following type of planner's dependant on your budget would be best for you:

Full Service Event Planners - cost about 10% to 20% of your final wedding budget and may have additional fees for services that the couple would like the planner to be involved in but is not a key part of the wedding planning process (e.g. - making favors, making invitations, packaging and mailing invitations, decorating church and hall, wedding dress selection, sending out thank you cards to guest, settling family disputes, flower arranging, etc.)

Special Services Event/Wedding Coordinator - This type of planning service cost can vary anywhere from a couple hundred of dollars to thousands as some planners/coordinators will charge you a set fee for specific planning services that you may want the assistance of an professional with.

An example is that a bride and groom may feel confident with planning some phases of their wedding such as theme selection, gown and tux vendors, wedding cake vendor, transportation vendor and floral vendor but would like a professional planner's assistance with negotiating a photographer/videographer and reception venue contract as well as perform the execution of the rehearsal dinner and/or just the wedding day.

Whether or not you decide to use the services of an event/wedding planner for your special day. You must understand that there are 4 Priority #1 decisions that must be made before you proceed with the planning of any fine details and they are as follows:

1) Date

2) Cash Budget Amount

3) Estimated Guest List Number

4) Ceremony and Reception Venues and Location

These four things are the most important aspects a couple should focus on first before starting to plan the rest of their wedding.

1) The Date - is important as it decides the time of year you wedding will take place and that affects the budget.

2) Cash Budget - This number is the actual cash that the bride and the groom actually have saved up in a savings account.

Please note that this cash budget number should not include any cash available on your credit cards, personal lines of credit, personal loans, a Registered Retirement Plans -401K plan (U.S.A) or R.R.S.P's (Canadian) that you plan to cash out, or cash you plan to get from your parents. This number must be actual cash you have saved for the purpose of your wedding.

When you know the cash budget it will affect how you navigate through the planning of the fine details. A couple should only spend about 5% to 10% of the cash budget combined between the both of them on a credit card.

Also never calculate what cash gifts you believe you will get the day of your wedding to pay for everything as not all guest give a cash gift and may decide to send a gift/cash a few months after the wedding has taken place or no gift at all if their finances don't permit them to.

3) The Estimated Guest List - This number is very important to figure out (please note that this is a ball park figure that you need to try not be off by a few dozen guest up or down).

This number is important as you will need it before you start sourcing a ceremony and reception hall vendor. Being wrong on this number could cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars more, as venues for receptions usually set the venue fees for the hall square footage and room capacity size.

4) The Ceremony and Reception Venues and Location - the type of venue you select for your ceremony and reception can drastically affect your budget. If you decide to hold your wedding and reception out of the local area where you live, then you must consider lodging and transportation expenses unrelated to the wedding transportation cost. A couple may be considering holding their wedding outdoors and that decision will affect their budget significantly if they decide to rent a tent.

Wedding Cost Savings Tips

Did you know that the time of year you decide to get married can increase or decrease your budget by 20% to 50% , as in the wedding industry there is a high season and a low season.

May to September is considered high season

October to April is considered low season
(prices may increase slightly in December
as there is competition with corporate Christmas
parties and new years day for a venue)

Making your invitations yourself could save you hundreds of dollars but will require and investment of time.

Making your guest favors yourself can also save you hundreds of dollars or using your event/wedding planner's contacts to get key guest favors supplies at a significantly reduced retail price. Could save you a couple hundred dollars

A large majority of couples could reduce their wedding budget by thousands of dollars by not having an open bar for alcohol and liquor. The reality in most cases is that a majority of your guests are very happy with the wine provided at dinner. If alcohol is a debate/argument with your partner or family, do a count on how many friends and family drink a lot and would be angry with you if they had to pay. Then consider providing all guest with one complimentary custom made alcohol beverage ticket and only have soda, water, juice and wine (if you like) on an open bar tab for the remainder of the reception.

See if you have any family members, personal friends or friends of your parent who are professional cake makers, photographers, dress makers, florist who can either donate their service/product for free or at a significant discount in exchange for an invitation to the wedding and/or reception. This can save you thousands of dollars in expenses.

Stress Reducer Tip

A couple should decide together once they get the 4 priority #1 details sorted. The vision/theme they want for their special day. The best way to accomplish this is to start with a core value that is important to both of you, that may be: culture, a love of movies, family, love of nature (green wedding) or over coming a near death illness or accident.

Using your core values to set your theme for your wedding will help both of you as a couple clarify you decision or defend any challenges you may encounter once family decided to give their opinions or demands on modifications for cash contributions.

It is highly recommend that you not get caught up in celebrity weddings and themes especially if you don't have the cash budget to bring it to fruition.

When you try to duplicate a wealthy celebrities vision of their day (and trust me they paid cash for their entire wedding) could start your married life off in significant debt.