Tips on how to save money and view your wedding at a glance before jumping into the fray.

Your Wedding At A Glance
By T. L. Gray
© 2000

There’s always a degree of insanity when planning a wedding. The closer that all-important-date looms, the crazier things get. There’s finding the perfect wedding gown, coordinating colors, bridesmaids dresses, music, flowers, guest list, caterer, invitations, church and reception availability, plus a hundred other details you have yet to think of. You feel like your brain is about explode. Don’t stress out, there are ways to relieve your overtaxed brain of its burden.

Organization is the key. Anyone who has ever had the eye-opening experience planning a wedding will tell you to give yourself plenty of time to pull everything together—particularly if you’re doing most of the detailing and executing yourself. A good time frame is anywhere from six months to a year. It sounds like a long time, but once you immerse yourself in the actual planning, time will slip away.

Think of it as sort of a portfolio, filled with ideas, samples, pictures, estimates, and important information you can’t afford to forget or lose. Basically, your wedding at a glance. Traditionally, the bride’s family foots the bill the wedding, but nowadays many successful, independent women are pitching in to help with the cost. Some couples are even planning and paying for the whole shebang themselves. Regardless, as the bride-to-be, you naturally want to be involved in arranging and realizing of your dream wedding. If, instead, you’ve hired a wedding coordinator, this book will help guide him/her in making choices for your approval. Don’t be afraid to delegate authority. There’s no law against bad taste, but using a few people you trust—who, naturally, have excellent taste— to help finalize arrangements will leave you free to focus on the other issues. Sit down with them and discuss your ideas, make them aware of what you want and what you don’t want. Delegates can save your sanity. And, of course, whip out your handy-dandy binder to avoid confusion.

Start with a list of everything you’ll need to make your wedding day a success. A good way to do this is to use a binder or folder, where you can keep track of progress in each area. Use one sheet for each item; wedding gown, bridesmaids list, church and reception areas, music, flowers, etc. Now you can begin obtaining estimates, making notes, and collecting samples that will assist in making your day perfect, plus keeping track of expense. See a gown you adore in a bridal magazine? Cut it out and add it to the binder. Like an idea a friend or relative used at their wedding? Jot it down. Can’t decide between a band and a DJ? Record estimates to refer to later. The gilded invitation or no frills? Get samples.

Things you should include in your wedding binder: Estimates, samples, ideas, confirmation dates, times, places, appointments, payments due, wedding party needs (including measurements and title), final decisions on decorating, delegate responsibilities, receipts, guest list, errands, basically anything that has to do with your wedding. It can also include details for the honeymoon, such as airline/hotel reservations, departure/arrival times, itineraries, list of vacation apparel, brochures. The possibilities are endless.

Finding the perfect gown requires the tenacity of a pit bull. Start early. Visit shops, peruse the Internet, scour magazines. Make a list of designers/shops that carry the type gown you want and the prices. From there you can make weekly or monthly appointments to try on the gowns and make comparisons. The same goes for bridesmaid’s dresses. You may have already chosen the color and design you want, but finding that dress in five different sizes is another matter altogether—especially if you’re considering ordering the dresses from a catalog. Also, do yourself a favor and consider the coloring, height, and build of your bridesmaids’. Remember, these women are putting out money to be in your wedding. You want them looking their best when the photographer says smile!

While you’re doing all this, your delegate is out hunting down the perfect candleholders, bunting, table skirts, and all necessary items for centerpieces.

You’ve made your guest list, ordered invitations, estimated a head count, and consulted with a your caterer. But did you ever consider asking Aunt Ida--who makes the best meatballs in four states—to lend her cooking expertise to the pot? And if you’re on a really tight budget, recruiting waiters from the teenage sector of the family can lend an air of familiarity to the proceedings.

Music is another area that requires planning. You want everyone to have a good time, old and young, so it only makes good sense to pick tunes most are familiar with. Decide on specific songs ahead of time instead of relying on the bandleader or DJ to “read the crowd.” Things will go much smoother if he/she knows exactly what’s expected of them. You should also go over how you want your introduction as a couple to be handled, along with chosen songs for special dances.

Decorating is yet another area where delegates can be indispensable. Visit the reception hall ahead of time, study the layout, and draw up a seating plan along with decorating instructions. Armed with your diagram, they can oversee the operation with little or no hassle. And do you really have time to be there anyway? Shouldn’t you be getting your hair done? Ditto for the church decorations. Diagram the layout with instructions for flower placement, special seating, candles, etc.
Finally, your delegate(s) will arrive at the church early to help organize and prepare the wedding party, oversee the seating of guests, direct the photographer to his assigned room where he can set up, direct attendants as they begin their decent down the aisle, straighten you train, and fluff your veil. Meanwhile, other delegates have arrived at the reception hall to deal with last minute emergencies with caterers, bartenders, and servers.

What’s left for you to do? Show up and enjoy the festivities.