10 Wedding Plan Mistakes to Avoid
10 Wedding Plan Mistakes to Avoid
Being engaged might be one of the most exciting times of your life, but take a step back before you do anything wedding-related. Rushing into things and not thinking about the big picture could cause you extra stress or money.
From beginning to end, here are 10 wedding-planning mistakes that brides all-too-commonly get caught in.
1. Getting caught up in the details. Yes, this is the biggest day of your life, but you’re probably the only one who’ll notice if the invitations and the table runners are different shades of purple. Don’t break down if the bouquet doesn’t have the exact exotic flower you asked for. A tearful bride is probably not a happy bride, so let it all go and focus on what’s important: You’re getting married.2. Doing anything before you finalize the guest list. Before you can do anything, you need to know how many people are going to be at the wedding. About all you can do before determining the guest list is go shopping for the wedding dress. Get the guest list out of the way, and you’ll be good to go.
3. Assuming the sun will be shining. If you’re getting married outdoors, you need a solid backup plan, whether it be a tented area or an indoor space at the same location. Even if you’re not getting married outdoors, you need to take Mother Nature into consideration and pack umbrellas, appropriate shoes and extra make-up (that humidity can cause it to slide right off).
4. Forgetting the groom is involved, too. Just because fiancee isn’t quite as excited as you about the centerpieces doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be involved at all. There’s a delicate line to tread when it comes to involving your man in wedding planning: You want him to have an opinion, but don’t want to overwhelm him. Instead of bombarding him every other night with minute details, sit him down at the beginning of the planning process. Ask him how much he wants to be involved, and what’s important to him. He might be devastated if a live band isn’t playing at his wedding, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never know.
5. Drinking too much the night before the wedding. The days surrounding the wedding are bound to be a celebration, but keep the majority of your celebrating to the night of the actual wedding. Think about how you feel after a night of drying: Tired, dehydrated, headachy, nauseated…do you really want to feel like that as you want down the aisle?
6. Ordering a dress too small. It happens time and time again – a bride thinks she’ll be successful in losing weight before her wedding. Then the dress arrives, and it’s entirely too small. Order the size you are now. Taking a dress in is much easier than letting it out.
7. Refusing to delegate. Bridesmaids exist for a reason. You’re not superwoman, and it’s OK if you hire a wedding planner (or at least a day-of coordinator).
8. Not researching the rules, religious or legal. This is a two-part tip, and the first is religious. If you’re getting married in a house of worship, check to see what is and isn’t allowed, both in terms of attire (they may front on the beautiful strapless dress you chose because it bares too much skin) and events (the candle-lighting ceremony might be x-nayed because of the open flame).
The second part is legal – marriage licenses can be tricky, so figure out what needs to be done to ensure your marriage will be valid in the eyes of the government. There are waiting periods or possibly blood tests, depending on the state.
9. Underpaying wedding postage. 42 cents — or whatever postage is these days — probably won’t cut it for the bulky, strangely shaped packages that wedding invitations so often are. Instead of slapping a stamp on the envelope and sticking it in the shoot of the little blue box, take them to the post office and do a proper job of mailing them off.
10. Asking friends to be vendors. There is a rare sort of person that would rather work than attend a wedding of a friend, but typically, your friends want to celebrate your wedding the same way you do: Partying it up. Not only does asking a friend to do work for you (such as if a cousin is a florist or a coworker is a photographer on the side), it brings up the awkward question of how much you should pay. They might feel obligated to give you a discount when they really can’t afford to, and you might be slighted that they aren’t giving you the service for free. Just avoid the entire uncomfortable situation and hired all professionals from outside your regular circle.
