Advice
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- Prioritize. Early on, sit down with your fiancé and decide what is most important to you. Spend most of your time and money on these things. Don't worry too much about the rest.
- Get and stay organized.
I started a lot of things early on and then kind of let things slide. I
wish I had stayed on top of things because it would have made the last
couple of weeks before the wedding a lot less stressful. Also, don't forget to look over your lists the day before your wedding! I completely forgot about our photo list which made for a somewhat chaotic formal photo session. It was the first thing on my last-minute to-do checklist and would have been done had I just looked it over.
- Get sleep the night before your wedding day. This sort of goes with the previous advice. I ended up only getting 4 hours of sleep because I had to finish some last-minute projects. These were things I could have done earlier and just didn't.
- Ask for discounts. Some vendors outright offer a discount for off-season or non-Saturday weddings. If there isn't one advertised, ask. The worst they can say is no. Also, if there is a vendor you love but don't think you can afford or a vendor whose packages aren't quite what you're looking for, ask them what they can do for you. Many vendors (especially independent ones) want your business and will work with you and your needs.
- Use your vendors.
I found my seamstress through our coordinator and our videographer
through our photographer. My seamstress did a lot with my dress and even
made a jacket and earrings to go with it. The best part is she charged me what I had
been quoted by the bridal shop for just a hem and bustle. Our videographer was amazing as well. We got high-quality work for a really great price thanks to our photographer's referral!
- Look online for deals. I was able to get a veil for $6 from an eBay seller in China. It wasn't as high quality as more expensive veils. However, it was only going to be used once and it still looked beautiful in pictures.
- Check Craigslist. I found our photographer here. It took a lot of searching through low-quality photographers with no wedding experience, but I finally found a photographer who had shot a couple of weddings and whose portfolio we loved. Since he was just starting out on his own, I was able to get the coverage we wanted for a price we could afford.
- Ask your local board. I found our coordinator, florist, makeup artist, and hairstylist through the Chicago board. All were less expensive vendors who do quality work and were highly recommended by other brides.
- Lean on your month board. These people will all be going through the same ups and downs as you at pretty much the same time. Your friends and family may get sick of talk about the wedding. Go and vent or brag to your month board.
- Be prepared for inclement weather. This is especially important for winter brides. I bought boots and we both bought nice coats to wear in case of snow. The whole month before our wedding, the temperatures were in the 40s and 50s with hardly any snow. We started to think our wedding day would be just as nice and the boots and coats would be unnecessary. The two days before our wedding, it snowed a lot and those boots and coats were put to good use.
- Take time to enjoy your day! Make sure you take a few minutes to spend alone with your husband. Things will go by so quickly and it's easy to get lost in it. We decided to spend some time during the cocktail hour alone in the bridal room at our venue. It was nice to be able to sit and talk and just really let it sink in that we were married.
- Don't stress on your wedding day. A lot of things went wrong on our wedding day. Some minor and some pretty major. Even with all the mishaps, I still feel our day was perfect. In the end, I had the most wonderful day and married to the love of my life.