I’m continuing my Tips for Brides series with wedding planning advice from my brides and Blair is up next! She’s sharing her experience with budgeting and staying organized. Blair & Mark had such a FUN wedding Norfolk wedding with a reception at the Norfolk Yacht and Country Club. Read Blair’s advice for brides below!
From Blair
“My advice for brides/grooms planning their wedding would be know your budget and stay organized. I had an extremely tight budget for a large wedding. The funds for my wedding were not available in one lump sum. They had to be saved throughout our 14 month-long engagement. With that in mind, staying organized was key. I broke down my budget by what was most important to me. I valued a reception venue that could accommodate a seated 200 person dinner without being cramped. My food budget was also high on my list. Knowing this at the beginning, I was able to put the deposit down on my reception venue first (after my church of course!). I then chose 4 different types of dinner options based on different price points and then put them away until I had my final number. My wedding dress I bought during a flash sale at my bridal boutique when I was just searching. I got it for over $2000 less than its price which in turn added funds to my budget.
These are just examples to trick yourself into staying on budget. The truth is, the smartest thing I did was keep a schedule and did my research. I learned that venues in my area typically book 1 year to 1.5 in advance. Knowing that, I booked my venue 13 months before my wedding. My mother was coming in from out of town and I had her on weekends pretty much once every two months. Knowing that, I had contacted and narrowed down all of my vendors to make best use of mine and my mother’s time together. I was open and honest with my mom. Before she would come in town she would say, “Ok, this next trip I have $2,500 or $3000 to spend.” I would then look at what we had left on my list and chose something that would work with that budget at that time. Ok, $3000? Perfect, let’s go pick out flowers next trip and take care of the cake. That allowed my mom and I to enjoy our time together and feel productive because we were accomplishing things. We weren’t just looking at flowers and then leaving without booking because the funds weren’t available yet. That can be extremely discouraging. Breaking it down month by month and from one financial goal to the next really helps. Plus, since we knew we were walking in with our full budgets for each item, and I refuse to pay full-price, we ended up saving a ton of money and were able to use our high-end dinner menu for our guests. Yum!
Another suggestion for brides, especially if your family lives out of town from where you live, is to get your mother-in-law to be involved. There were so many moments (like my first dress fitting) that I desperately wanted my mother there and she just couldn’t be. Instead, I asked my mother-in-law to join. Not only did she feel honored, but it also helped her and I grow closer and she and my mother. My mother was happy and secure knowing that she was there for me and it gave them something to bond over when my mother was in town.”
