3 Keys to Unlock Your Dream Wedding

If you’d rather listen to this blog post, here is a link for the video playlist:

1. Celebrate your engagement!

Take the time to celebrate the fact that you are getting married! It doesn’t have to be a huge event with a hundred people coming in unless that’s your jam. It can also be simple and laid back, whatever floats your boat as long as you’re celebrating it with your nearest and dearest. According to Maria, a local wedding planner from Felicity Events, the importance of celebrating your engagement is that this sets a good positive tone before your actual wedding planning. She says it’s good to plan in the next three months so you can give yourself ample time to celebrate then slowly transition into planning. Traditionally, the bride’s parents throw the engagement party, but Maria has shared that one of her client’s friends threw the engaged couple a party in their backyard, and everyone brought something nice to eat.

2. Decide on a date, budget, & type.

When do you want your big day to be on? Do you want it on your anniversary or close to it? Or are you more specific on the weather or season you want it to be? Just a quick story, my husband and I got married on November 20th, which is close to our anniversary on November 11th when we started officially dating. Sounds cute, right? Well, not when you’re in the middle of the cold weather and now you're finding things to do either indoors or traveling to a different state with a warmer weather. See, we’re not a very “wintery” couple, although I do love watching the snow fall, but we're not the type to go skiing or snowboarding so a wedding anniversary close to winter doesn’t really make sense. We’re thinking of renewing our vows in a few years and choosing a warmer season, but you should really think about your date that makes the most sense to you.

Maria says the most popular months to get married are from May to October, that's also according to a study don recently. She also mentioned that September or any Autumn season month has been popular locally because we do get beautiful fall colors here in Idaho. As for the budget, the national average is $35,000. Regardless of your budget, whether it’s $5k or $100k, your budget is part of your vision.

An exercise Maria likes her couples to do is do a date night where each would list down their top 3 priorities individually. This can be later talked about with a wedding planner or maybe on your date night itself. Ask yourself, "what do you want you and your guests to remember?

Also, do you want an elopement, a small intimate wedding with just a few friends and family members, or do you want a classic wedding with the dj, cakes, and a lot of guests? Or maybe you want to elope first then have a reception later? Whatever you want, your dream wedding should reflect you and your significant other.

This leads us to our next key:

3. Hire your wedding planner ASAP.

“BUT MARIA, WHAT IF I DON’T KNOW WHAT MY WEDDING VISION IS YET?”

This is where your wedding planner comes in. If you don’t want to get lost in a sea of opinions and thousands of wedding inspirational photos on Pinterest, a part of a wedding planner’s job is to keep you grounded in what matters to you most and to not steer you away from your budget. Among Maria's experiences, she said that people really know what wedding they want but they’re just scared to say it. You just need to be true to yourselves because this is going to be a part of your core memory. Ultimately, what you want is to be intentional and to have no regrets after you’ve spent a lot of money on your wedding.

If you’re not ready to hire a wedding planner yet, then at least have a consultation call.

[WHAT IS A CONSULTATION?? What are the things you can talk about?]

If you ARE ready, then it’s time for you and your wedding planner to get into the nitty gritty of things and get to the fun stuff! Among many other things, your wedding planners can find the right vendors for you, communicate with them personally, and narrow down your vision so everything is crisp and clear but still have room for more creativity if you want some.

Remember that there are different vendors for different things. Some may only serve small weddings; others serve big ones. Some only serve a certain food menu, and some may not operate outdoors. An advantage you get with wedding planners is they’ve met with tons of different vendors that they also worked with in the past. They vet these vendors for you because your wedding deserves the best, and if there are no vendors that will meet what you want, they have tons of other resources.

So, are you ready to achieve your dream wedding?

Here are some notes you can download for FREE to help you get started:

• Free PDF download of 3 Keys to Unlock your Dream Wedding

• Free phone wallpaper of 3 Keys to Unlick your Dream Wedding