Hey blog!
This time around I’m going to be catching you up on my wedding planning thus far, a topic that has been hot here lately. I’ve had a lot of fun with my planning so far and I’m excited to share how it has been going!
WEEK 0 - Initial Stages
My first weeks of wedding planning with my soon to be husband were more so filled with discussions around what our wedding was going to be. We had discussed riding off to Vegas to hit up Taco Bell Cantina or just having something very small with our immediate family. Ultimately though, after making PowerPoint presentations and pro/con lists with my therapist, I made the call that I would like to have a larger, though still intimate, affair with our friends and some extended family. My sweet fiancé said I can have what I want, which was really nice of him.
It was at this point I dove into venue and budget research to begin the first real stages of planning, along with Pinterest-Ing my vision and design.
WEEK 1 - A Venue, A Date, A Budget, A Guest List, A DJ, Oh My!
This first week was a whirlwind, buckle up.
I have always loved the idea of a garden wedding, and somehow I found the perfect venue only ~10 minutes from our house. Rockledge Gardens is a local plant nursery that has expanded into events over the past couple years and has a wedding venue as a part of it. The venue had everything that was really on the non-negotiable list for me: an open vendor policy, a decent price, and a rain back up plan that I actually wouldn’t mind.
When we toured, there was one Saturday left in the Spring, so it felt like it was meant to be. Booked!
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| There had just been a wedding so there were these cute flowers up here, not included |
With that booking, the official count down clock began, as did the real planning.
My next step was to write up a budget. My approach to our wedding budget wasn’t to set the bar really low, but to find an average-high cost of what things would be, as more of the ceiling of what we could be prepared to spend. My goal from there hasn’t been to work towards the budget, but to actively come in under budget. Within the budget, we also thought about the things we wanted to splurge on and that were most important to us. For me, this was photography most of all, which I budgeted quite a high amount for. We also together decided on things that didn’t matter to us, like a videographer.
We’ve done a great job so far staying way under our ceiling budget, and we’re on track for things to stay that way, with the way I’ve most certainly over budgeted on the remaining expenses. It has been hard knowing what things will cost in central Florida honestly until we actually get quotes.
This was an inquiry filled week as well as I decided the first place to start would be locking down major vendors. In the first week, we booked our DJ. I got 3 different quotes from DJs, and this one was the lowest, most inclusive, and the guy I liked the best. Big win!
WEEK 2 - Photography, Save the Dates, Wedding Dress Shopping
Getting a great photographer I really liked was a high priority and highly budgeted for. I initially reached out to a different photographer whose work I really liked, but she was already booked out next Spring. Everything happens for a reason, because I’m really happy with the photographers we ended up booking. This week, we had a zoom meeting with this second photographer I had found and went forward with them. It is a local husband and wife with the chillest vibe and really, really nice pictures.
We also finalized the guest list and made big moves on getting our save the dates out there. I designed our save the dates myself on Canva, and had them printed at Staples. Lucas lovingly put them together, including hand-writing the addresses. With cute envelopes from Amazon and stamps, the cost of all of our save the dates came to about $110, which was a DIY I was feeling great about. Getting that list finalized and those sent out was a big milestone.
I went wedding dress shopping this week for my first (and only) time. My mother and sister were in attendance with me. Though I had other appointments lined up, I ended up finding a dress I really liked on a sample sale at the first dress store. Major budget and convenience win!
I also bought a veil
WEEK 3 - Coordination
Our venue requires a day of coordinator, and honestly, I wouldn’t go without one. Because they require one, they had a deal with one locally to do weddings for them at a discounted rate. This is the coordinator we ended up going with. She’s doing weddings there all the time, so I trust her to do a fine job… and Another major budget win.
WEEK 4 - Bartender and First Tastings
We locked down our bartenders this week. We’ll be doing open beer, wine, and two signature drinks TBD to help keep alcohol costs reasonable. If you have any opinions on what the provided alcohol will be, feel free to pass along, though no promises they will be considered. Doing this package rather than a full open bar was great for the budget, and we didn’t feel like a full bar was necessary with the number of options still available.
This week we also did our first food tasting with Two Chicks and A Pot and our cake tasting. Read more in Lucas’ blog from a while back.
WEEK 5 - More Tasting and Cake
This week I dragged Lucas out to Mt. Dora for our second food tasting - read more in Lucas’ blog from a while back.
We finalized our cake choices this week as well and booked that. We’ll be having a small, cutting cake and three different cupcake choices. You’ll have to wait and see what the choices will be. As an additional treat and activity option, our venue has a fire pit they will turn on and we can do s’mores at, so that will most certainly be in play.
WEEK 6 - Food Booked and Planning Ahead
In week 6, we made our catering decision, check out Lucas’ blog for further details.
With that, most of our major vendors were booked so I was generally feeling great, but still a bit overwhelmed. I went ahead and created a schedule for myself to plan specific tasks across the next few months. The May list was done, and it was onto June and July! Writing all the wedding related tasks out and spreading them across the next year or so was definitely good for any stress I was feeling. Though it is a lot, only focusing on a few things at a time is a great way to keep it manageable. And of course, I have plenty of help if I ever want it.
So, here we are now. It has been about a month since I properly focused up on planning the wedding, taking a small break for some vacations. We have a list for June and July that I’ve started working on again, mainly focusing on design and thinking about what I may want to scour sales and Facebook marketplace for.
So, that’s it! The wedding planning so far! Tune in next time (maybe) for what we’ve done next.
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