Opinions? No thanks I have my own...

Whew! Sorry I haven’t written in a while! But it has been crazy with work and wedding planning and the holidays! I was recently on spring break and was able to get a ton of things done for the wedding! But now I am less than four months away and really starting to panic. Soooo I thought what better way to calm down but to post about something every bride deals with, pushy people’s opinions. I don't care who you are, you definitely have someone trying to telling you how to plan/throw YOUR wedding. It could be your mother or worse future mother-in-laws (I have 2 of them!!!) other relatives, wedding planner, friends, or even just some random person who heard you are getting married. Here is my next recommendation, whenever someone says something that makes you cringe inside, simply say, "thanks for the idea, I will look into that". Now if they keep persisting, you will have to be more forceful, "sorry no way that's happening" might be a little much but "that is really not what I have planned for my wedding day" is perfectly acceptable and will hopefully after a while help your opinionated friends or relatives will get the idea and leave you alone, for the most part. I have had people comment on who I invited to the wedding. Guess what? That was my decision and I can invite who I want. Remember it’s your day! If you don’t stand up for yourself, you may regret it in the future.

Have you checked out...

Okay ladies, unless you have been living under a rock, you might have heard about ETSY and Pinterest. Let me say I absolutely love them both. And I have gotten so many cheap, inexpensiev ideas and items for my wedding. Pinterest.com is more for the DIY girl. There are tons of cute ideas such as having all your bridesmaids write a little note to you on the bottom of your shoes in blue or creating an "I love you because list" about your fiance to display at your reception. When you click on the pins, they take you to a website and tell you how to make it! It is amazing, very inexpensive and super cute. You need an "invitation" to join the site so if you aren'y on there and want to be, let me know I will shoot you an invite and you can pin away!

Then there is Etsy.com, this is where all the other DIY girls in the world help out the people who can't draw a straight line or have zero creativeity. Please sell items that they will custom make for you! So far off of etsy, I have ordered my favors, headband to match my dress, save the dates, engagement party invites, cake topper, I DO! stickers for my shoes, jewelry for my brides maids, a mother of bride hanger for my Mom for x-mas, and my guest book. And I can almost guarentee I will order more before the wedding. And all of these items were extreemly reasonabily priced. So, recomendation #5 is to check out these sites ASAP!! Use the links below to go there now!


www.pinterest.com


www.etsy.com

Vendors...

So, you’ve picked a venue. They next big step is finding all your vendors. Again this can be very overwhelming but once you have secured them, I promise things really do start to fall in place. You need to consider: Photography, videographer, DJ/Band, Flowers, Limos, Caterers (If you’re venue does not have on-site catering), and these are just the basics. Now you can go theknot.com and weddingwire.com, trust me I did but it can be EXTREMELY OVERWHELMING! Here is my recommendation #4, ask your friends. One of my best friends flat out told me NOT to use her photographer. Using other people’s suggestions really helps and gives you a place to start that won’t bring back 3,292 results. Also, use what you have personally seen. I went to a wedding were the DJ was terrible so I knew not to contact them. You have to actually go and MEET the vendors. Do not do it all online. Anyone can look good on paper. But actually going and meeting with them gives you more of a personal (or maybe not so personal) feeling. You will know really fast if you like someone or not. I ended up getting a female DJ. I never would have picked a female DJ but since I went and sat down and actually met her, I really liked what she portrayed and her personality. Also, these people are in the wedding business, once you have picked a vendor or 2, feel free to ask them for suggestions. Vendors have been around long enough to know who is worth calling and who isn’t. Most venues will even give you a list of their recommended vendors who have worked at the location before. I only found one vendor absolutely on my own. Everyone was suggestions from either friends or other vendors.
You also can’t be afraid to shop around for a price that works in your budget. I found a DJ for 4 hours at only $750. I have a friend you paid almost $2,000 for hers. Be honest about your budget and see if they will work with you. You don’t need to be paying absurd prices when there are so many people to choose from. Feel free to look at my recommended vendor list, there are some great suggestions there. 

So proud to be a Marylander!!!

Today at 5pm, my Governor Martin O'Malley, will sign the Civil Marriage Protection Act into law. I could not be more proud of what my state is doing. Everyone deserves the right to marry whomever we choose. Way to go Maryland!

Happy Leap Day!

Here is some fun information, in Ireland, it is a tradition that on Leap Day woman are able to propose marriage to their favorite handsome gentleman! AND if the man denies the proposal, he has to give the woman some sort of compensation. This can be anything from a kiss, money, or a new pair of gloves (lucky lady!!). However in Greece it is considered unlucky to be married in a Leap Year and many couples will plan their weddings around a Leap Year. I knew about the marriage proposals in Ireland (mainly due to the movie Leap Year, which i LOVED!!) but not about Greece. OOOPs, good thing I am not Greek ;).

Just a little something extra! If you are waiting on the special someone to pop a certian question, maybe you could do it instead!

Enjoy the rest of your extra day!

Finding a site… (Be prepared this is a long one but it was one of the hardest decisions for me so I learned a lot)

Well hopefully you have picked your date and have an idea with about how many people you want to invite.  Now you need to decide where you have your wedding! You will have some idea of where you want to get married or what type of setting.  Use friends, bridal shows, magazines, the internet, anywhere to get ideas.  BUT be careful! There will be hundreds of places for you to choose from, this is where your guest list number comes in handy.  Do your research, find out what is the capacity for a banquet at venues you are interested in using.  If your guest list is 150 but the venue holds 125, it’s a no go.  Be careful also of venues trying to be sneaky.  I went to a reception venue which said it could hold 200 people.  Once I got there I was informed that yes, 200 people could fit but the dance floor was moved outside on an adjacent deck.  There was no way I was risking that in middle of the summer.  All I needed was sweaty, smelly guest who might be drenched by a quick evening shower due to the August humidity.  No thank you! But if that interests you, message me and I’ll give you some information.  It really was a beautiful venue in downtown Baltimore.

 Before you start calling/emailing venue sites, (here is recommendation #3) create a wedding email address.  Go to gmail, yahoo, or your email of choice and create one. It can be as simple as powersscottwedding@whatever.com. This way all of your wedding information will be in the same place.  Any correspondence between vendors, venues, anything will be together and much easier to manage.  Both my Mom and I had access to my wedding email and it was great!

When contacting venues make sure you tell them both your guest count and your date.  They will let you know if they are available or not and set up a time to meet with you.  I would also ask for pricing information.  This will let you be able to go over their prices before meeting and can give you an idea if you are interested or not.  I visited most places after work during the week.  We did double book a couple days.  Just make sure you give yourself a good hour to visit and see the venue (Especially if it is a hotel.  If you are visiting a reception hall it would take less time)

After you have visited a couple venues, you will realize what you really want at your reception and what you could live without.  MAKE A LIST!! It seems silly but it really helps.  All places will have the same basics, options for head table, white linens, but does this site offer Chivari chairs or do you have to pay extra? Are they willing to work with you to customize the menu and menu options or is the number of appetizers, etc. set in stone? And then there is the cost, why your budget is so important.  Most reception venues will give you prices per guest.  I have seen prices ranging from $17 all the way to above $250.  Some places will give you inclusive prices (this includes taxes and gratuities) and some will give you the price without.  If you just have the base price, be able to add about 20-25 more dollars for each meal depending on where you live.  I live in Maryland and we have pretty high food and beverage taxes. 
  You also have to decide if you are getting married and having a reception in the same place.  Every venue I looked at had an area I could use for my marriage ceremony, if that is what I wanted.  Many venues charged a flat rate for usage of this space however some had the price included already.  This is just another question to ask while visiting sites. 

Whew! That was a lot for one blog.  I will post more about reception venues later but this is a quick what to do!  If you have specific questions please feel free to leave comments and I will get back as soon as I can!

Budget and guest list…..where most of the fights begin

You picked a date? Perfect now you can start planning everything else right? Eh, first you need to have a few conversations.  Unless you are a descendent of the Rockefeller or Vanderbilt, you will have some type of budget.  It does not matter who is paying, there is always some type of budget.   You also need to determine about how many guests you will be having at your wedding.  You don’t HAVE to create the actual guest list right now but it helps.  My guests would be at 200 MAX.  Even though everyone in the wedding world says about 25% RSVP no, what if they don’t? I know some people feel that 200 is a huge wedding but I have a lot of family and my parents were footing the bill and they had friends they wanted to invite so that was my number.  Absolutely no more than 200 invitations were going to be sent out and anyone who we wanted to invite after those 200 were on the B list (more about this drama in a future post).  So these are 2 huge things that need to be done before you begin looking at reception venues and talking to vendors, I don’t care when or where your wedding is going to take place.  You can have an absolutely gorgeous wedding at any budget! Yes any budget!  So there it is recommendation #2 once you get a date, determine your budget and max guest number ASAP!

Take a deep breath, you just got engaged! Now where do you start?

Congratulations!!!! If it is anything like when I got engaged, you probably tried to ruin your fiancés plans and I don’t know go to a baseball game with your friends instead of the romantic dinner he had planned.  But alas, he prevailed and you are now engaged to be married.  Now where to begin??? It is important to know around when and where you want to get married.  I got engaged August 26, 2011 and dreamed of getting married on March 17, 2012.  I know I am crazy right?? Well close your jaw that’s not happening.  Even though I had a dream of a specific church and reception site, I quickly realized that the dates were not going to work out. So had I had to choose.  I hate to be the one to break it to you ladies but not everything you want will come true for your dream wedding.  You might have to make some compromises. (Might being the key word, if you get everything you absolutely want, I am truly happy for you) It was more important for me to get married at Loyola College Chapel than to have my reception at Ravens Stadium so we picked a date based on when was good for my teaching schedule and when the church was available.  August 4, 2012 was now W-Day and I should have realized that I would repeat that date more than a million times over the next 11 months.  Once you determine what day you are gonna tie the knot, it actually becomes easier! So there is my recommendation #1.  Pick a date ASAP and don’t change it.  If your 3rd cousin can’t come that day oh well.  This is YOUR day and you need to remember that.  (Trust me, my sister has had to remind 50 times and I still forget) Picking a date before anything else actually helps a lot with decision making. When looking for a reception venue, if one is booked, you move on to the next one. It took me all of 3 days to realize how big the wedding industry is and despite the current economic state, it is still booming! Pick your date and it will help you narrow things down slightly.

Introduction...

Okay, so I know this is very cliché but I have always wanted to write a blog. I have never considered myself a writer but I figured with what is going on in my crazy life right now, might as well! (Although I can’t imagine anyone will read it) So on top of being a teacher, just completing grad school, and living with a boy(come on ladies we know that’s a full time job), I am also recently engaged and in the process of planning a wedding. I have always enjoyed planning parties and consider myself creative and organized so why couldn’t my Mom and I do this ourselves…famous last words right? Well it is definitely coming along easier than I ever imagined but it would have helped having someone give me some pointers, instead of all those books, magazines, and websites. I won’t lie, they help a lot, but are extremely overwhelming. So here I am writing this to help all of you out there (well in my mind at least) do it all, including planning a wedding.