NEW Wedding Planning Blog Series

Are you getting married? CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT! I bet you're excited to get started planning, but maybe feeling a bit overwhelmed or even unsure. Don't stress out planning your own wedding! This is supposed to be fun. Luckily, I've typed up a blog series to help. My name is Giselle Smith and I have planned / coordinated roughly 120 successful weddings plus designed florals for over 400 gorgeous weddings. I am excited to help you along the road to planning the wedding of your dreams and have narrowed the process down to a science with the majority of planning complete in just under two months so you can relax and enjoy being engaged.

While we always suggest making hiring a wedding planner a priority if you can afford it (weddings over $20k can usually afford someone), we get that some couples can't afford a professional planner though and that others who can may just want to plan things themselves and opt for a coordinator. Either way, planning your own wedding shouldn't be scary and can be really fun if you have a solid game plan in place.

When you first get engaged, you might want to run out and book vendors OR make Pinterest boards of hundreds of images that may or may not cohesively fit together / fit with your budget OR go to Hobby Lobby and buy all the things that hopefully will (although maybe won't) pair with your vision... RESIST THE URGES. There is a precise order in which wedding planning pieces should come together. In a hurry? That's okay. A perfect, stress-free wedding can be planned in as little as three months, but you have to go in order. Why is careful planning important:

Unless you have unlimited funds, going over budget is easy but not fun.
Choosing the right venue makes all the difference in the style of your wedding.
Choosing the right photographer is even more important because when it's all said and done, all you have left are the pictures!
You don't want your wedding to be like everyone else's and may not know who to follow online for the most up-to-date inspiration OR even worse, you could have a "Pinterest fail" scenario on your hands.
Booking vendors you don't know just because they're the cheapest or seemed nice or someone you know used them once, could result is complete disaster or constant stress.
If guest experience is important to you, you need to prioritize the look and feel of your event, so you want to be sure you have all of the bases covered.
Everyone forgets cake plates plus a ton of other tiny details!
Pulling all of the pieces together in order and then hiring an experienced coordinator allows you to enjoy your wedding day stress free.

Here is what the Lovely Leaves Wedding Planning blog series will include:

Three Big Questions: Budget, Guest Count & Date
Venue Choice Affects Overall Wedding Style
Where to Find Your Wedding Style & Where to Find Updated Inspiration
Hiring a Pro Photographer
How to Choose the Right Coordinator
A Tried & True Timeline Outline
Vendors to Fit Your Budget
Everyone Forgets Cake Plates
Day of Coordination Basics
Finishing Touches & Planning for the Weather

Every Tuesday a new post will release beginning on February 5, 2019. Be sure to subscribe to the blog to receive monthly email updates with popular topics and to get your FREE Wedding Design Outline PDF when it releases on February 19. You can print this neat outline, hole-punch it and pop it into a binder with your vendor contracts to keep your inspiration in order.

Thanks so much for tuning in and Happy Planning! XOXO