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Where Do I Start Planning My Wedding? – Ask The Wedding Expert Answer

July 30, 2009 By 1 Comment

Question from Carrie:

We are planning a May 2010 wedding in Toronto Ontario and have no idea where to start. My church is covering the cost of the service and we are looking into reception halls but can’t find one that suits our needs and budget.  Once we do find one, what is the next step? How early is to early to send out invitations? How much time do I have before the vendors will expect payment? Our budget is not very high and since we are paying for everything ourselves we are looking for all the help we can get.

Answer from Wedding Expert Angela:

Hi Carrie, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.  Check out this article I wrote on how to choose your wedding reception site.  It will give you points and tips on what you should be looking for.  Usually, when you book a site, you are expected to put some money down to confirm your booking.  Each venue has it’s own rules for when they want the rest of the payment, so you will need to ask them what their payment policy is.

One of the important things to decide, especially on a limited budget, is what kind of wedding reception you want.  You have a choice of a meal reception or a non-meal reception.

MEAL WEDDING RECEPTIONS

Your typical choices for meal wedding receptions are: Breakfast (9 am to 11 am), Lunch (11 am to 2 pm), Brunch (10 am to 3 pm) and Dinner (6 pm to 9 pm).  Sunrise weddings or early morning weddings are gaining popularity because it allows a full day for activities from the formal breakfast or lunch reception, flowing into unique ways to celebrate the wedding that flow into the evening.  Depending upon the character of the couple, other activities range from a theme park romp in the evening, to more classic events like a opera or musical, to a home-style fire pit complete with musicians, dancing and a sing-a-long.

NON MEAL WEDDING RECEPTIONS

Then you have your non-meal wedding receptions which is the easiest way to save money on your wedding, and still enjoy a great celebration.  Some couples might choose a Tea or High Tea Reception (3 pm to 5 pm), a Cocktail Reception (5 pm to 7 pm), or a Dessert Reception (9 pm to midnight).  The evening wedding at 7 pm, followed by a “Champagne and Dessert Reception” with dancing well into the night has become much more popular, and is less costly than a meal reception.

WEDDING PLANNING TIMELINE

Your wedding planning timeline is of prime importance, and this wedding planning checklist should get you started.  This video I made on the wedding planning timeline will also help.

The most important thing you can do with your fiance is to sit down a talk about your wedding vision—how you’ve both always thought your wedding would be.  Yes, men have wedding dreams too, so be sure to ask what he has always dreamed of.  If you plan your wedding vision thoroughly, it will make the rest of your wedding plans so much easier because the major decisions will have already been made.  The wedding planning checklist above gives you the timeline for ordering wedding invitations, and mailing them out.

Good luck, and if you have further questions, feel free to ask.

Angela Fiebelkorn, Wedding Planner

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Where Do I Start My Wedding Planning? – Ask The Wedding Expert Answer

June 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Question from Kristie:

When can I start planning and what can I start buying?

Answer from Wedding Expert Angela:

Hi Kristie, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.  It takes about 250 hours to plan a wedding—more if you are planning a formal affair, less if it is informal.  You can start your wedding planning any time you like.  You can start purchasing your wedding things whenever you want to.  This wedding planning checklist might help you with your wedding planning timeline. 

If you have specific questions along the way, please feel free to email again.

Angela Fiebelkorn, Ask The Wedding Expert

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Wedding Lists, Checklist and Actionlist

May 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

This how-to video is about wedding planning lists, checklists, actionlists and so forth. The Wedding Expert explains in simple terms how to get organized with lists for your upcoming wedding. Part of a FREE wedding planning series.


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What Should We Do To Plan Our Wedding? – Ask The Expert Answer

March 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Question from Sherif/Nourhan:

Our wedding is arranged to be 15 july 2009, please advice on what should we be doing in order to get ready for this day.  Please note that it will be my birthday too.

Answer from Bridal Expert Angela:

Hi, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.  The first thing you should do is get a good wedding planner.  These checklists are found in most bridal magazines.  There are many great wedding planning books for sale in your local book store, and also online. 

This article covers the first things to start with in planning your wedding.

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Wedding Planning Budgets

January 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment
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When you start to plan your wedding, it is easy to get caught up in the fun of shopping, and designing your overall theme, but wedding planning needs to start with your budget.  When you first start planning your wedding, it is important to speak to your family to see what they are willing to contribute to the overall budget. 

There are costs that are traditionally paid for by the bride’s family, the groom’s family, and by the bride and groom themselves.  The bride’s family traditionally pays for the engagement party, newspaper notices, music, photography, invitations, ceremony site, flowers for decorations and bridesmaids, and reception expenses (except for the alcohol), to name the main ones.

The groom and his family pays for the groom’s attire, marriage license, accommodations for out of town guests, alcohol for the reception, bride’s bouquet, corsages, boutonnieres, and officiant’s fee to name the main costs. 

The bride pays for thank you notes, guest book, gifts for her attendants, and beauty appointments for her attendants and herself.  The groom pays for gifts for his attendants, contributes to costs paid for by his family, as well paying for the honeymoon.

The average cost of a wedding in Canada in 2007 was $18,500, but ranged anywhere from $10,000 to over $30,000.  The largest cost for a wedding is the reception/catering (42%), followed by the rings (20%), photography (8%), apparel (7%), video (5%), flowers (5%), music (3%), ceremony (3%), cake (3%), invitations (2%), limo (1%) and miscellaneous (4%). 

It is important to get a great wedding planning checklist and stick to the timeline.  I have witnessed weddings being postponed due to the wedding dress and bridemaid dresses not arriving in time.  Everything takes longer than you think when planning your wedding.  Sticking to your budget is the most important thing when going through your wedding planning.  There are many ways to cut costs. 

Since the reception costs take the greatest part of your budget, it is easy to try to cut your costs there.  It is true, there are some great ways to save money on reception costs, but you might consider eliminating some other costs like the videography, or the limousine.  A family member, or even a number of family members could take video at the wedding and reception, or a family friend might have a beautiful car that can be the wedding car. 

Whatever your plans, define your budget, and be clear on your timeline and follow it.  Get input from your family on what they are interested in paying for, and plan your budget accordingly.  Just because there are traditional costs, doesn’t mean they will actually pay for all those costs.  Be gracious for all offers of assistance to your wedding budget.

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How Do I Find A Wedding Planner? – Ask The Wedding Expert Answer

January 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Question from Carra:

Hello, I live in Victoria, BC and I am planning on getting married next year, and a friend of mine gave me her planner from 2006 and I was wondering where we can get one for 2009.

Answer from The Wedding Expert:

Hi Carra, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.  There are many wedding planners available on the market, but they usually come in four styles.  First, you can find wedding planning checklists all over the internet if you search for them.  I suggest looking at more than one list, because each list is slightly different and this will give you more ideas for your wedding.  You can print the list(s) and keep everything organized in a binder for yourself.

The second type of wedding planner that I have regularly seen is the kind often available at bridal shows.  These are usually created locally and have suggestions for local vendors who specialize in weddings.  I suggest you attend your local bridal shows to see what is available in your area.

The third type of wedding planner is commercial style books/albums/keepsakes that are available in all the major bookstores, and of course, can be found on-line with a ‘wedding planner book’ search.  These planners are often quite different from each other, each giving information in a different way.  Some of these planners become a keepsake book for you at the end of the wedding process.

The fourth type of wedding planner is to hire a wedding planner to look after all the details for you.  Many brides discount this option as being too expensive, but consider hiring a wedding planner to do only part of your wedding process.  For example, the most common problem brides have is deciding how to decorate their reception space to create the feeling that they want.  By hiring a wedding planner to only ‘decorate the reception space’ you will get the best of both worlds—cost savings by doing most of the planning yourself, and wisely spending money on the part of the wedding planning process that is too much for you.

I suggest you check to see who published the wedding planner that was lent to you.  There might be a phone number or contact information if it is locally produced, or if it is a commercial style, you can ask at a bookstore to see if that publisher has a 2009 version of the wedding planner. 

The wedding planning process should be a joyful time, but can get stressful.  Your bridal party is there to help you, your family and friends can help out, and you can hire people to do all or part of the work.  You have many options.  Enjoy the memories you are creating!

Angela Fiebelkorn, The Wedding Expert

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