The Ultimate Wedding Guideline For Planning Your Beautiful Day

by Alli

Are you planning a wedding soon? If not, do you know someone who IS planning a wedding? WeddingWire was kind enough to share their Wedding Guideline with me . . . and you! It takes the big sting out of planning a wedding.

Ultimate Guideline for Planning Your Wedding

I’ve planned my fair share of weddings and I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed it. My favorite part of planning a wedding is the cake tasting. May I have a do-over? My daughter’s nautical wedding cake tasted as good as it looks.

Wedding Cake - Nautical Wedding

Ultimate Wedding Guideline

How Far in Advance Should I Book Vendors?

As soon as you get that ring on your finger, you need to find and book the venue for your wedding and reception. You can wait a few days. Ideally, you should have your venues booked at least 12 months in advance.

True Story

When daughter #2 got engaged a year before her wedding, her reception venue was already booked for the date she wanted to get married. We had to change the wedding date (a week later) to secure the venue of her dreams.

wedding venue - Wedding vendors for brides - ultimate wedding guideline

Helpful Hint: Check out these top wedding venues in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles!

Wedding Planner – Do or Don’t?

When my first two daughters were married, I played the part of the Wedding Planner. It’s hard to be a wedding planner, director, etc. and the mother of the bride. When my 3rd daughter got married this past May, I splurged on a wedding planner and if I had to do it all over, I would have had a planner for all three weddings.

Centerpiece - Nautical Wedding Ideas

By the time daughter #3’s wedding was over, I wanted to adopt the wedding planner and call her my own.  Daughter #3 was married in Charleston and our wedding planner knew all the best caterers, florists, bakeries and more. Plus, we were able to choose linens, etc. online. That meant we didn’t have to drive back and forth to Charleston too often. Of course, a trip to Charleston is never a bad thing.

Complete Wedding Guideline

 

Pros and Cons of Hiring a Wedding Planner

Pros:

  • Wedding Planners sweat the small stuff so you don’t have to.
  • They know the market inside and out.
  • Wedding Planners handle difficult situations and people.
  • They keep up with the timeline and everything else.

Cons:

  • The cost (worth every penny in my opinion).
  • If you’re a control freak like me, you have to let it go.

Helpful Hint: Ultimately, it’s your wedding! Whether you want a small, intimate affair (my personal fave) or an over-the-top social event of the decade, it’s your wedding and it should reflect you.

If you have any wedding planning questions, leave a comment or drop me a line at [email protected]

Also, this handy dandy wedding guideline infographic will help you plan your wedding with ease.

Wedding Vendor Booking Timeline

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Planning a wedding? I've got details, photos and more. I've included links to the best vendors including floral, catering, bakery and more. Click the photo to learn more or pin and save for later.

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33 comments

Angelic Sinova March 31, 2017 - 9:23 am

I am obsessed with weddings (although I’ve only ever been to two wedding in my life!). I don’t have any friends/family who are planning weddings (at the moment) but this is awesome.

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Katie Kinsley March 31, 2017 - 9:41 am

I had been thinking that I wanted to hire a wedding planner, but I decided against it. We got married within two weeks because I wanted to be married before I move. Now I’m planning a reception to invite family to this fall AND still stressing about details.

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candy March 31, 2017 - 10:08 am

There are so many different ways to have a wedding. Venues, destination wedding, you name it. Keep it simple and do what you want and forget about anyone else.

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heather March 31, 2017 - 10:25 am

My niece is getting married this summer – I’m going to pass this along! So excited!!! I love planning a wedding

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Jeanette March 31, 2017 - 1:55 pm

Planning a wedding is overwhelming. There were so many details that I had not thought about when I first started planning mine. I think something like this would have been very handy! So much great information all in one place!

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Kristen Jauregui March 31, 2017 - 5:39 pm

Planning my best friends wedding was a huge headache, but as her maid of honor I just went along for the ride. Looking back I wish she had hired a wedding planner, my sister did and it felt like she didn’t have to do a thing until it came down to picking invitations, tasting foods, and the cake. She knew her reception location from the start which made everything that much easier.

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Pam March 31, 2017 - 8:22 pm

I planned my daughters wedding but it was an extremely small affair. If it had been bigger then a planner might have been considered.

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valmg @ Mom Knows It All March 31, 2017 - 9:48 pm

I haven’t been to a wedding in many, many years. I’ve never known anyone that used a wedding planner, I’m sure it’s a great fit for some.

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ricci March 31, 2017 - 10:13 pm

These are all great wedding planning tips! I remember seeing photos from your last daughter’s big day and it looked spectacular!!

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adriana March 31, 2017 - 10:18 pm

These pictures and tips are so great!!! I LOVE that cake, it’s so unique and pretty! Love this!

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Rebecca Swenor March 31, 2017 - 10:48 pm

These are all great wedding guidelines and tips. A wedding is something every girl dreams about. It is always nice to have ideas and tips from others. Thanks for sharing these awesome tips.

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Jamie H April 1, 2017 - 1:12 am

I love that first cake, it’s absolutely gorgeous. Crazy enough, my husband and I got married 5 months after our first date, so by the time I got the ring on my finger, I didn’t have time to do any of these things. Having a wedding planner was a huge help to me! I don’t know that I could have pulled it all together (and I’m sure I would have forgotten some important things) if it wasn’t for her.

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Emily April 1, 2017 - 2:59 am

These are all great tips! I got married ten years ago, but we’re we’re engaged for almost two years. It was nice to have that time to plan the wedding, I still felt like it was a rush at the end though!

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Annemarie LeBlanc April 1, 2017 - 9:34 am

I agree with you about hiring a wedding planner. It may seem a bit costly, but the stress they take off of your hands is so worth it. And because they know their business very well, you can be assured that the wedding will be beautiful.

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Agnes April 1, 2017 - 11:34 am

I am getting married next year and I am surprised at how fast the time is flying. If I could I would have a wedding planner but they are really pricey.

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Peachy @ The Peach Kitchen April 2, 2017 - 9:30 pm

I love the tips and the infographics in this post. This is gonna be helpful to those who are planning their weddings.

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Esther Diaz April 3, 2017 - 5:43 am

Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m newly engaged just this march. Now we are currently planning about it. Anyways, I will surely use this method. Thank you so much!

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Allison April 3, 2017 - 2:13 pm

I love your photos, especially the table setting. My taste. Sometimes I want a big wedding but then I realize I don’t want the stress. I could apply these same tips to a smaller wedding though for sure.

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Kiwi April 6, 2017 - 4:43 am

Super great time I need to pin this on my future wedding board. I already know the stresses of planning a wedding but definitely plan way way way in advance!

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McKenzie April 20, 2017 - 12:10 pm

Love this post! Thank you for providing such amazing information for planning the big day!

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Heather May 15, 2017 - 2:55 pm

It’s really gracious of you to plan your first two daughters’ weddings! I completely understand hiring a planner for the third though, it is a lot of work!

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Kathleen Calado July 5, 2017 - 3:10 am

It’s really heartbreaking to see a love of your life being wed but you know it’s natural since there will come a time that they will move away and form their own family. Anyways, great read and I hope your daughters are happy now. Keep sharing!

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Hayden Stewart September 25, 2017 - 5:17 pm

I think it’s a great idea to hire a wedding planner. We had for our wedding and I think it really took a ton of the weight off my mom and allowed her to enjoy the experience all the more and therefore allowed us to enjoy even more. Thanks for sharing!

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Kelvin Terryson December 7, 2017 - 7:07 am

To celebrate a perfect wedding at an affordable price, the first and most important step determine the expenditure for the wedding arrangement and find the best venue for the wedding event. Perfect wedding theme makes your wedding event more attractive and memorable.Thanks for sharing such useful guild with us.

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Adam Wills January 18, 2018 - 5:59 am

Thanks for sharing this amazing article with us.When you think of wedding destinations, people dream of far off places like Bali, Costa Rica, Thailand and other locations. Those are all beautiful romantic wedding destinations. Now you can find wonderful wedding destinations just around the corner.

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wedding destinations February 14, 2018 - 1:34 am

Avail a cheap yet awesome vacation package for you and your love ones.

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Emily April 12, 2018 - 7:16 pm

That’s true. Cost of hiring a wedding planner is high and the wedding budget increase a lot with different activities suggested. And even the planners can’t control the cost. I suggest the planners to go for VAs instead of direct work force. That would be cheaper and reliable and also reduce the cost. I have a VA at Habiliss who can actually work on anything required and strict at schedules.

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corporate event planners in hyderabad December 27, 2018 - 7:04 am

Thank you for Sharing such an informative article

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Jeffrey M Lonon January 14, 2019 - 6:19 am

This is really awesome and informative article. Everyone should read this article.

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Penelope Smith January 28, 2019 - 10:54 pm

I liked what you said about how you should think about the wedding planner. It might be very smart to do that if you are having a hard time finding a wedding reception. Also, getting one might help speed up the planning process.

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jeffrey lonon March 10, 2019 - 11:05 am

The article was great. This is very helpful for us.

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Mark Smith October 22, 2019 - 8:00 am

This is awesome, I love to plan the wedding as I did for my own.

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