Christmas 2009 I got the greatest surprise and the greatest gift I have ever received. My boyfriend, gave me an engagement ring. With that ring he also gave me a future, a family, and a lifetime christmases to look forward too. After the initial excitement wore off I quickly realized I had sooooo much to do and I had nooooo money to do it with. Since I run a bridal department I had some wonderful ideas of how I wanted my wedding to be and what i most definitely did not want it to be. I researched and price compared and spent hours scavenging the internet looking for the best deals. I realized what was really important to us and what truly mattered when it came to our wedding. I wrote about that in another blog. you can view that here http://spiritualhigh777.xanga.com/719679338/let-the-wedding-plans-begin/.
The first thing we had to do was set an approximate date. This seemed like an easiest enough thing to do, right?? well... no.
There were so many things we had to consider. I really wanted an outdoor wedding. My best friend got married a couple of years ago and her wedding was outdoors in may, and we were miserable because it was sooooo hot. So i knew that if i wanted to have a wedding outdoors it would be best to have it during a cooler part of the year. I didn't have to worry about my guests having a heat stroke or make-up running. The only problem with having a wedding in the fall was my fiance is a huge college football fan. An Ole Miss fan to be exact. As well as the rest of his friends and family. We had to schedule our wedding around the Ole Miss football schedule. (you think I am kidding, but i most certainly am not) If we had dared scheduled our wedding during an Ole Miss Home game.. our guests be minimal. Yes... people would choose to go to the game instead of our wedding. Believe me when i tell you this was an issue. So... after looking at the football schedule and the general tendency of the weather.. we narrowed it down to three possible weekends. We could't officially set the date until we determined where the ceremony would take place. We had to make sure our weekends didn't interfere with anything already scheduled at the church.
Another reason we decided to go with a fall wedding so we could have enough time to fund the wedding. Since we both were strapped for cash, we really needed the 9 months to save and budget for the overall cost of the wedding. We decided the date would be October 23rd, 2010. :) perfect..
tips/suggestions:
I have discovered that setting a date outside of bridal season (March-August) saves you a lot of money if you decide to rent a place out for the ceremony/reception. The dates are more flexible because they wont have every weekend booked up. Reception halls generally have the cheapest rates during the fall/winter.
The best thing i discovered about using a date outside of bridal season is you get to take advantage of all the bridal sales during the summer and you don't want to pull your hair out when you are trying to rent things, or order in large quanities, and you have 50,000,000 other brides wanting the same things as you on the same day as you. HOW DARE THEY CHOOSE YOUR WEDDING DAY TO GET MARRIED! OF ALL THE TERRIBLE THINGS TO DO TO YOU! :) You will find you have much more patience when you discover products on back-order or the waiting period to rent items is 4 months. etc. etc. etc.
the key to wedding planning is to start EARLY. did you hear me procrastinators!!! DID YOU!! DID YOU!?!?! Waiting until the last minute to do anything only causes added stress to you and to the people you are working with. I have found that i am much more willing to help a bride that is calmer and not 'pushing' me around because they decided to ask about renting ceremony equipment two weeks before their wedding. Brides get flustered when their dates have already been booked. and in the business and retail world it's first come first serve. There are usually added fees to brides to request services to close to their wedding dates or change their minds. so keep that in mind when you are planning a wedding. It's never to early to get quotes or estimates on catering, decorators, etc.
The traditional 'engagement period' is usually between 4-6 months depending on the couple. Of course every situation is different. Setting the date during an 'off month' will generally save you some money for those couples on a tight budget.
After the engagement. sit down with your fiance and determine when you generally want the wedding. spring? Summer? Fall? Winter? Make sure to take into consideration family. Are there better times of the year for different family members. such as.. If you have accountants in your family... tax season would not be ideal time to get married. You cannot accommodate everyone but try your best to be mindful of people's situations.
Future Mrs. Crowson
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