With all the suggestions in Instagram, Pinterest, different wedding pages & FB groups did it help you, or did you become more confused and lost where to start?
Well, weddings should not be overwhelming. At ALTUZ events we understand and we're here to serve you by giving practical tips on how to solve your worries and how to handle your feeeeelings.
Let's G!
Dream
You are not alone. Bombarded with wedding information and tangled by design suggestions can make anyone feel lost. Helpful tips may seem not helpful at all when you consider your budget, preferences, and your current situation. Does this make sense to you?
The best and foremost thing to do is to dream. You heard it right, so take a pause and be in a relaxed mode, go to your hiding place or your favorite place where your mind can breathe and feel the freedom of being you. Our aim here is for you to know your real self, your preference, and what makes your soul happy. Not to make anybody pleased and not to make anyone agree or disagree.
Dreaming makes you creative and gives you a thrill in your planning. Not only that, it is healthy as it produces happy hormones in you.
Now, dream of what you want to see, what you want to feel, hear and even smell on your wedding day! Write all these on your notes.
Accept
What to accept?
At this stage, you must highly consider both you and your future husband/wife the "eligibility to marry". Make sure both on your side, legal and document wise, are clear and no pending cases. Otherwise, you will encounter a big problem along the way. Settle any issues the soonest or 1 year before, if there is.
What's the truth about a wedding? An officiate, a bride and groom, and 2 witnesses makes the wedding legal. Like in a meal, this is the main course, and anything added are just gravy and side dishes - like flowers, foods, photographer, etc.
Real love means sacrifice and most of the time hurts. Meaning there are many things you have to accept, sacrifice, and let go of. If you apply this before planning starts it will not be difficult for you to handle things that may come along the way. Accept the fact that you and your fiancé may experience such as financial limitations, unexpected situations, and/or unavailability of your wedding day needs. So, prepare your contingency plan up to 3rd solutions, if possible.
Please don't get us wrong, we want you to have a beautiful wedding, we just want you and your partner to realize how blessed you are if you have more than the main course :)
Acceptance helps you to fully know what really matters and keeps you out of worries and save you from nervous breakdowns.
Budget
Being said, considering your dream and what you have already accepted, both of you should set a budget and consider these tips:
Go local -
It's always practical and advisable to get local vendors and items near you or near the wedding venue. Not all but most of the time it's cheaper, you don’t need to pay for the Out of Town fee, no expenses to arrange the accommodation and transfer of your vendors. But if you have a preferred vendor like photo & video, coordinator, event stylist, etc. add a budget for their transportation and/or accommodation.
Trimmed your Guests-
The lesser the guests the lesser the expenses, this is generic but it makes sense. Simple math, if your budget per person is 1k multiplied by 50 pax, it has a big difference if you will multiply 1k by 70pax.
Petty expenses -
You will always hear "stick to your budget". One of the unforeseen expenses by couples are those petty expenses that if you sum it up, it will blow your budget, normally this will arise 1 month up to your big day. Tip for you, whenever you add an activity, a style, or a vendor to your wedding, surely there are hidden and unexpected small-small expenses clinging to it. So to lessen the petty expenses (not petty actually) you know what to do.
Consider a Planner -
Getting a professional help especially for those living abroad or who don't have the accessibility to plan, is a wise decision. By this period you can set a budget for an experienced & well-crafted wedding planner to be your partner, your hands, feet, and your eyes in doing all the physical tasks which you cannot do since you and/or your fiancé are not around to do it. Expert Wedding Planners are well trained to stick to your budget, know where to get the right & legit vendors, transparent & updated when making decisions, plus they have plenty of networks to contact once contingency calls.
BFF -
If it's not possible to get professional help, your best friend forever may be more excited than you, he/she can help you in the whole process of research, bargaining, and do the errands you cannot handle. He or She's a great critique and coach when it comes to budgeting, balancing your personal and family situation, etc.… cross-fingers we are right :)
Simple doesn’t mean Cheap -
Fyi, not because you have a simple wedding it's a low-cost budget. The truth is even simple weddings may mean big bucks, 300k to some is a low key but to others, it's a huge amount. Budget always depends on you and your partner. Agree up to what point you are allowed to spend.
Contingencies -
Set 10-15% Contingency Expenses based on your total budget. Why? A wise man always set incidentals. Many unexpected expenses are not obvious at the start of planning, but they will surprise you along the way up to the event itself, such as tent if it becomes rainy the week before, additional guests, delivery & corkage, etc.
We know this is very challenging and taxing. However, and otherwise, you can get wedding planner to save your sanity.
Wedding Board & Mood
According to your dream, what you had accepted, and with the budget you set, now you become more realistic in planning. And the good thing here is, you and your partner's disappointments will be lesser. This is the right time to create a wedding mood board. Put your color palette, motif, style & design on a drive that you can share with anyone (this is fun!) this will be your guiding star in searching for the right suppliers.
Research
Yes it's exhausting to do research on whose vendors can accommodate your requirements, it's worth the task thou. Check recommendations, ask friends and families. This will be easier for you now, because you have set your budget and accept your preferences and situations already.
Filter
After getting all your preferred vendors, filter by talking to them be it personal or online. Our tip for you- gut feeling helps in finding the right suppliers, feel when you communicate with each vendors, ask as much as you can to know them and what they can suggest to your wedding styles & plan.
Versatile Excel Sheet
Your very handy and friendly companion, who will be with you throughout your planning is Mr. Google Sheet that you can put on your drive, which you can share with your suppliers accordingly, especially your wedding planner/coordinator. Encode all your info there and get the benefit of its accessibility and its versatility. If you know of any other free app like this, we'll be pleased if you share it with us :)
Expectation vs. Reality
Remember, one week before your big day the time flies. When you need to do some wedding work for 1hr, give a 3hrs work allowance (e.g. I need to buy this, I need to record that, etc.). The planning and coordinating should be finished 1 week before your date, this 7 days left must be used only for those petty concerns.
Many couples don’t know that unexpected things show up and mostly concerns pop up 1 week before. We as event organizers have been on this point many times. So to save you from stress and rush, please take this advice.
And for you to enjoy your most awaited dream, let the On the Day Wedding Coordinators take care of the details, don't be a hero! Find an experienced one or a friend that can give your personal touch and execute your plan accordingly.
I therefore say...
For more than 6years of handling various weddings, we at ALTUZ events can conclude that there's no such thing as a perfect wedding. Let me explain, a couple may have all the details of what they dream for their wedding but their loved ones, like parents, are not with them during their special day. There are weddings that are not glamorous plus with some glitches but all their loved ones are around celebrating with them. One of our clients has both but unfortunately didn't get what was fully expected because of natural calamity and uncontrollable scenarios.
Ichigo Ichie - meaning find happiness by living fully in the present- the Japanese art of making the most of every moment.
Our conclusion, embrace what you have right now and live the moment. Know what really matters most.
At the end of the day, as we always advise our couple, that marriage is more important than the wedding and marriage is the one that should be planned more.
XOXO,
#ALTUZevents - "We exist to serve"
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We love to serve and we want to hear from you! Send us a message about your big day planning concerns :) FB | IG | Bridestory | Bride & Breakfast | Bridalpod
Email: altuzevents@gmail.com
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