Well, it’s happening. You’re in the thick of prepping for your big day, and you don’t want to make any wedding planning mistakes. Whether you’ve been planning your own wedding for a while, or you are just beginning your journey. Welcome! Here are 9 extremely common wedding planning mistakes you should avoid.
Spending More Than You Can Afford
Weddings are expensive. I’m the first one to admit it. Weddings have always been expensive, but it seems that social media and the internet have taken the pressure for extravagant weddings to a whole new level. Let me be the one to emphasize it: your budget is important. Please don’t set an unrealistic budget in the first place, and try to resist the temptation every step of the way to exceed what you can spend. This is one of the most common wedding planning mistakes I see couples make.
Your wedding will last one day. Your marriage will last a lifetime. Please don’t give in to the pressure to have the PERFECT dress, the PERFECT flowers, the PERFECT venue, in exchange for months — possibly years? — of financial debt down the road. There are tons of ways to save money on your wedding.
Ignoring the Ceremony
Everyone loves wedding receptions, and it’s no surprise why. Good food, friends & family, and a dance party are hard to beat. But have you take a step back to remember why you’re planning a wedding in the first place? It’s about you & your fiancé and the commitment you are making to each other. Putting minimal thought into your ceremony is one of the more heartbreaking wedding planning mistakes, though all too common.
It doesn’t have to be over the top. Adding touches like personal vows, honoring your family members in unique ways, or putting a goofy twist on your first kiss: these gestures can all add up to make your wedding ceremony meaningful, interesting, and memorable.
Skimping on Wedding Photography
Please, please, for the love of pete — do not skimp on your wedding photography budget. The sad truth is, once the sub-par photographer is hired, there’s nothing that can be done about the disappointing photos.
Your wedding is one day, once in your life. After all is said and done, the flowers will be gone. The venue will be gone. The cake, music, stationary, and dress will be a thing of the past. The photos, however, are what you have to remember your day forever. The effects of skimping on your wedding photography are probably the longest-lasting out of all other wedding photography mistakes.
Wasting Time
The internet can be a beautiful thing. It can provide tons of inspiration, and help you avoid wedding planning mistakes. Unfortunately, it can also create unrealistic expectations for your big day. Try to limit the amount of time you spend on wedding blogs, wedding-related Instagram accounts, Pinterest, and the like. The photos and events being posted on these sites are literally the best moments out from the best weddings. A large percentage of the images aren’t even from real weddings. They’re from “styled shoots” where vendors get together to contribute their best ideas for a “fake wedding” photo. Do yourself a favor and try to limit wedding media leading up to the big day. It will make your own wedding that much more special, I promise.
Forgetting Your Wedding Party
It’s all too easy to get caught up in the planning process, and let your relationships fall to the wayside. Some of this isn’t preventable with the increased workload, but some relationships are worth maintaining. Your wedding party is excited to be part of your day, so don’t forget to include them in the planning process. Try including different wedding party members in different areas of wedding planning. If you include your wedding party in the planning process, it will help you from feeling overwhelmed, too.
An Unrealistic Timeline
Your wedding day is going to fly by. Planning an unrealistic timeline is all too common on the realm of wedding planning mistakes. Always, always, always plan more time than you think you need. There are bound to be curve balls thrown in: hair & makeup takes longer than expected, the shuttle driver is late, etc. The best way to be able to sit back & enjoy your wedding day is to be realistic about the timeline.
Neglecting Your Relationship
Planning a wedding can take over your life. Before you know it, your schedule, your finances, and your relationships are all falling to the wayside. This mistake can be prevented, of course, with consciousness. It’s important that you & your fiancé actively plan wedding-free time where you can just focus on you as a couple.
Sacrificing Your Guests’ Comfort
Ignoring guests’ comfort is another one of the wedding planning mistakes that can have enormous effects. The wedding day is about the bride & groom, no doubt. But the bride & groom have a responsibility, when planning their event, to make every effort to ensure their guests’ comfort.
Outdoor ceremonies can be beautiful — but if it’s too cold, no one will remember the scenery. The same goes for feeding your guests. Don’t make them wait. There’s no point in spending tens of thousands of dollars to put on a party, where people only remember how uncomfortable they were. Make sure your friends & family are happy, comfortable, and fed. It’s better for everyone — including you two — in the long run.
“Hiring” a Friend Instead of a Pro
One would think that hiring professionals would be a no-brainer, but this isn’t always true. Sometimes you just want to spend as little as possible, and so you resort to trying to find “alternatives” for the usual wedding services. And some of these “alternatives” usually end up involving having a friend or family member or friend of a friend or distant cousin do something instead of hiring a professional. In fact, there are even wedding planning sites out there that will tell you to not hire professionals in order to save money. Well friends, that is NOT the kind of wedding planning site DYW&E is. If you ask me, not hiring professionals is a recipe for disaster! Hiring a friend would end up causing way more issues than paying for a professional would… and yes, you get what you pay for!
Do you have any pressing concerns that are weighing you down? Contact us and let me know how we can help!
Happy Planning,
Marsha
