1st Things First!

It may seem overwhelming when you are first starting out with wedding planning. There are so many things to do, and you have NO idea where to start. Don't worry. Every bride feels that way.

There is no specific formula that you have to follow, but there are some things that need to be done, or at least should be done, before you move on to other things. From my own personal experience, I would recommend three first steps.

1. Choose a date

2. Choose a Venue

3. Get a wedding planner

Now, I am going to elaborate on these three steps. First of all, choosing the date and the venue kind of go hand in hand, as the venue has to have an opening on the date that you have in mind. In order to find a venue, I would recommend looking on some wonderful networking websites. The first is called theknot.com, and I also loved weddingwire.com. They both have MANY MANY resources available for your planning process. Example: Venue options! You can browse through venues and look at other brides comments and reviews. It is pretty cool. I live in Colorado, so for Colorado brides there is a catalog that contains a ton of venues and the price range, which is where I found my venue. The catalog is called wedding sites and services. If you are in another state, I would encourage you to find out whether or not your city offers something like this.

You are not just limited to venues that are designed or cater to wedding. It does make it easier, but there are other options. Many brides use a beautiful backyard, a park, or a housing development clubhouse. So, while you are in your search for a venue, keep that in mind. Paying per head can be expensive, and sometimes it makes it less to go this route.

Next, the date. The way that I selected my wedding date, which was August ninth, 2010 was sort of random, but I went with it. My husband and I started out by looking for dates in August, and then decided that the beginning would be better to avoid our college friends being out of town and back at school, as they would be in the later part of the month. Next we went for a cute date 8.9.10. It happened to be on a MONDAY. Weekday pricing is ALWAYS cheaper, for everything. You will get a discount on vendors, venue, everything! So, if you are willing to have a weekday wedding, I highly recommend that. We liked monday because we had the weekend before it to get ready.

Now, for the third step. The wedding planner. I actually used the wedding planner off of the knot.com. I printed it out and put it into my wedding notebook. Then, as I accomplished things, I checked them off my list. It worked wonderfully. They have the most detailed checklist! You won't forget a thing. The other cool thing about their list is that it breaks it down on a timeline.

I hope that these tips have helped you with the initial stages. Please check back in for my next blog, where I will be talking about engagement parties!!!