Real Bride Blogger, Denise – 6 Months Til I Do, Planning the Small Details
If you’re like the majority of brides, you started off the planning process with a lot of steam! All the excitement of your engagement had you making lists, doing research, collecting magazines, and scheduling planning sessions with your friends. But now that you’re a few months in, your checklists may look never-ending. Check in with our Real Bride Blogger, Denise, as she recaps what she’s done and what she still has to do with 6 months to go!
It’s been a few months since I’ve shared last, but here’s a quick recap of how it’s going:
Vendors Booked: ALL (with the exception of Mike’s suit fitting next month)
Save-the-Dates Sent: 163
Number of guests who have RSVPed already: 21
Christmas Cookies Eaten Before First Dress Fitting: Too Many
Bridal Shows Attended: 1
That’s right! My girls and I were in town for the Today’s Bride Show at Embassy Suites in October. We talked to some amazing wedding professionals & had some laughs snapping photos throughout our visit. Case in point:
I’m learning that wedding planning is so much more than just hiring vendors. Despite having all of our vendors booked, the wedding planning software we’re using claims we’re only 43 percent done. Oy vey!
You might be asking … okay, so what else is on that to-do list? The other 57 percent is …? To answer that, I’ve put together this comprehensive list:
Shopping Extravaganza
A lot of our extra tasks revolve around making smaller purchases – favors, thank you cards, gifts, a card box, etc. You name it, and we’re probably buying it right now. Thankfully our software breaks this down as part of our timeline to make it more manageable. If you’re not already using a similar checklist I recommend finding one or whipping up a list of all the little trinkets you’ll need. You can always add to the list, but it helps to think ahead as opposed to doing this all last-minute.
Creating Wish Lists
Remember how I said hiring your vendors is half the battle? The other half is communicating your desires. Honestly, when you hire professionals it’s a breath of fresh air. They’re seasoned, so they don’t need a ton of direction. But, let’s face it, no photographer wants to copy your Pinterest board image for image. There should be continuous communication with your vendors on everything from flower colors to beverage choices to your never-ending playlist.
Pro tip: Store these requests somewhere where you can come back to them when questions arise in the future! Mike and I do this both online and by physically storing notes & important emails in our wedding binder.
Follow-Up
On a similar note, after hiring vendors you may have follow-up appointments to tend to as well. We’ve already done a venue walk through with our florist and just added the catering tasting to our calendar for February. Next up? Getting the hair trial and dress fittings scheduled.
Travel & Accommodations
Mike and I were fortunate enough to duck out of hotel blocks considering so many of our guests live locally. However, that’s something most couples would want to consider at this stage of the planning – or earlier! This is actually a destination wedding for us, so we’ve instead been focusing on making arrangements for our wedding party (done!) and ourselves (soon!) Again, book as early as possible! I’ve already noticed rates climbing on the hotel we’re eyeing, so Mike and I plan to make our reservations right after the holiday.
Find Local GUEST ACCOMMODATIONS:
Timing is Everything
As you start communicating with your vendors more, questions about the timing of the day will arise. Since your invitations will state the ceremony time, start there and work backward. Are you doing a First Look or photos before the ceremony? Make sure you wrap up hair & makeup in plenty of time to do so. For the ceremony itself, with about 6 months out, you should start considering personalization & timing of how you want everything to play out.
For a tentative day-of schedule, check out this blog!
For now, I’m back to my to-do list. But I’ll catch you all soon – and hopefully with some fun updates as the final details come together!
1 Comment
Enjoyed reading this! Im 6months away from my big day.