Its now a new year and as the holiday hangover subsideds the reality that you still have a wedding to plan is setting back in!  Before you jump back in head first, take this as an opportunity to do a bit of planning assessment on the work that has already been done.  As we go about planning, it is often far too easy to get caught up in the mini-fires we have to put out at every turn, get off track chasing a piece of decor down the rabbit hole, lining up meetings with vendors  and so on that we often forget to come up for air & assess the big picture.   One of the key secrets to planning any sort of large event is taking a step back from time to time to make sure your still on track and more importantly assess where you might need some help to get the job done properly.  Below are few areas to aid in your review of the planning progress, helping you to get your mind back on the big picture before moving forward again!

 

A Honest Chat With Yourself Regarding Your Wedding Planning Process http://storyboardwedding.com/starting-the-new-year-off-with-an-honest-wedding-chat-with-you/

*Photograph by BPosh Photography via Storyboard Wedding

Is This Still US

You’d be surprised how easily something can get off track and you dont even realize it.  When one sets out to plan a wedding, we start with a pretty good idea of what we visualize at the end of the road, on the big day.  Each day that we break off into little tasks that remove us from seeing things as a whole, we ultimately run the risk of veering off track without even realizing it.  With the advent of Pinterest & by default the widening exposure to the plethera of wedding pundants,  comes a never ending onslaught of the newest best prettiest most amazing thing.  While new ideas are always welcome and often provide us with a fresh way of making something work, taking a step back to check in with yourself helps to ensure that you’re still executing your vision at the end of the day.  Right now is the perfect time for a reality check.  Check in with yourself, has the work to achieve your vision gotten away from you & evolved into something else?  Changing your mind throughout the process is most certainly OK, just make sure you are indeed actually on board with your own changes, that they fit the whole picture and most importantly that your are where you’d hope to be & pleased!

 

A Honest Chat With Yourself Regarding Your Wedding Planning Process http://storyboardwedding.com/starting-the-new-year-off-with-an-honest-wedding-chat-with-you/ A Honest Chat With Yourself Regarding Your Wedding Planning Process http://storyboardwedding.com/starting-the-new-year-off-with-an-honest-wedding-chat-with-you/

*Photograph by Blest Photography via Storyboard Wedding

Practice The Chanel Rule of Getting Dressed

One of my all time favorite iconic quotes is from Chanel in which she says: “When accessorizing always take off the last thing that you put on” In essence what Chanel is saying is less is more. Decor for a wedding can easily become TOO MUCH.  I had to have a very honest conversion with myself about the decor plan for our wedding.  The decor ‘To-Do’ folder that I had erected was simply out of control, not only did it have the potential to look like design vomit, could it really all get done {DIY projects} and sourced {buy the pieces that were needed} in the time & budget that we had???   If there is one thing you take from this feature, let it be this.  Decor is a beast and its far too easy to like just about everything that you see and want to figure out some way of making it happen on your wedding day.  The truth is, too much can simply be too much.  A good way to go about picking the right pieces to run vs those to leave on your Pinterest board, is if you can very literally understand exactly where & how each element would be used.  A place for everything and everything in its place, if you will.  Anything that is a gray area is gray because in truth it probably isnt fitting the day.  As those that feature weddings, we LOVE the details, so I am not at all suggesting you do very little, I am simply suggesting you employ the Goldilocks rule, make sure what you have is what you need and that it is juuuuuuuust right, for you.

 

A Honest Chat With Yourself Regarding Your Wedding Planning Process http://storyboardwedding.com/starting-the-new-year-off-with-an-honest-wedding-chat-with-you/

*Photograph by Misty Miotto Photography via Storyboard Wedding

Is Making The Dream A Reality Really Worth It

Before you clam up on me and think what do you mean is it worth it, its my dream, my day, my vision…. hear me out.  For our own wedding we choose a triple linen for our table, meaning we had 3 layers going on our tables.  A basic ivory, followed by a dusty pink mid layer topped with an ivory lace finishing  layer.  A little realized fact going into wedding planning is just how expensive linens really are, multiply that by the number of tables your having and added layers and well, your going to get smacked with some pretty hefty sticker shock.  The moment I got our estimate back from rentals I started thinking of a better mouse trap if you will.  It seems we were pretty committed to this look, but how on earth could I stomach the price tag that got us there.  After coming back down from wedding stressor 1,763, I started looking around for ways to do it better.  Right out of the gate I found that I could actually purchase the first layer ivory linens cheaper then we would rent them for, so that was a no brainer.  The trick however was the mid-layer and this is where we were faced with a dream vs reality decision.  While what we choose was a nice dusty pink, slight texture and so forth, for the life of me, I could not find it anywhere, at least not any cheaper then what it was being rented for.  The same place that I was purchasing our ivory linens from however, offered me something I would have been a fool to pass up.  For literally $6/table, I found a pretty damn bold shiny as hell pink satin type table cloth.  It wasnt the pink I wanted and I really didnt like the satin pink, but when comparing the potential of $1000 vs $100, thats right, $900 less, it was time to let go of that particular dream.  This wasnt really a matter of not fitting into our budget per say, it was simply a numbers game and I’d felt I’d rather buy something for our home that we needed down the line vs some pretty table cloths that were in my life for a few hours.  While having your wedding day become everything and anything you dream it to be, the reality is there are things that just arent worth it.  When I look back at my wedding I could give a care about the table cloths, yes there were shiny but you know what I saved so much  money, I could careless!

 

A Honest Chat With Yourself Regarding Your Wedding Planning Process http://storyboardwedding.com/starting-the-new-year-off-with-an-honest-wedding-chat-with-you/ A Honest Chat With Yourself Regarding Your Wedding Planning Process http://storyboardwedding.com/starting-the-new-year-off-with-an-honest-wedding-chat-with-you/

*Photograph by Nicole Ryan Photography via Storyboard Wedding

Taking Care of The Guests

While your wedding day is most certainly about you & your love, it is a party none the less and hostess responsibilities still apply.  When you take a step back from your wedding planning, also consider the needs of your guests & not only are they being met, but served in the best way possible?  A while back I wrote a feature about 3 Pre-Ceremony ‘To Haves’ that will change the game for you, if you have not already checked it out, please do.  In addition to making sure that your guests are more then adequately hydrated & fed, consider the timing of your day.  One big kiss of death to guests is when a day doesn’t flow and there is a lot of ’empty space’ with nothing really going on.  Timing is an art, so take the time that you have now to properly hash out a flow for the day that keeps things moving right along.  From the moment your guests arrive to the moment the cake is cut and time to dance is obvious, your basically on the clock to provide the entertainment of the day.  Guests should arrive no more then 20-30 mins before the ceremony & be properly provided for in terms of beverages & snacks to kill the waiting time.  A ceremony should flow from the moment the music starts to the recessional.  After the ceremony  is over, make sure it is clear to your guests what the next step is.  Are they relocating, is the relocation plan obvious?  As guests arrive at cocktail hour, food & beverages should already be flowing, there should not be a 10+min wait period for the carter to now kick into action.  Timing carries over to your dinner experience as well, the biggest offenders being the pace of the dances & speeches, meaning the time in between each, the breaks in the action.  I cant stress enough how paramount it is to keep a constant flow between each dance & speech.  If one goes off and then there is a break, we are left feeling like we saw a firework accidentally explode ahead of the rest of the show and feel the wait time that much longer in anticipation.  The flow of the day & keeping your guests happy will in turn make your day that much more light & amazing, believe me!

No matter how you go about taking a step back and reviewing where you are at in your planning process, I promise that the time will be well spent!  Getting in line with not only your vision but executing it in the best way possible, ensuring that the day flows, will reap the best rewards.  Have a honest conversation about what you have done so far, does it fit, & is there structure.  Once you are able to clear out any wedding planning confusion, you’ll find not only the confidence that you need to go forward but that the passion & excitement will return re-energizing you to make it to the big day!

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