10 Month Wedding Planning Update
10 Month Wedding Planning Update
Wow, wow, wow. I can’t believe I’m doing my 10 month wedding update this week for Wedding Wednesdays. It seems like just yesterday I was posting this Instagram about finally hitting the one year mark! ICYMI: You can read all about my NYC proposal story here to get a better idea of how long we’ve been engaged (November of 2016). We’re finally getting down into the real wedding planning so I thought it would be a great time to start doing these monthly wedding planning updates.
We have already accomplished a lot because of the fact that we’ve been engaged for a while. Justin and I knew we would be getting married fairly close to his graduation so we made sure to lock down our ceremony and reception venue pretty early on. Our venue also is pretty inclusive so there were a few things we don’t have to go out and look for such as caterers and a cake shop.
Side note, I’ll also be doing a Q + A segment with each monthly update and you can submit your questions by clicking the banner below!
June and July were pretty minimal on the wedding planning front. Justin was away for most of June so we didn’t accomplish much other than getting in our Save-the-Dates which we got from Minted. With July, Justin was finally back so I immediately set up a to-do list for the month of some of the things we needed to get done. My approach to wedding planning, due to how busy the weeks before our wedding will be because of Justin’s graduation from West Point, has always been to do as much as possible as soon as possible so here’s what we tried to get done in July:
Meet with Florist | We had our initial meeting with a florist I had found and decided to officially book her! Her prices were amazing and she has experience working with Disney which is incredible. She totally got the vibe we’re going for and she totally loved the ideas I already had but also made suggestions so that those ideas would be more budget friendly.
Find Hairstylist | I got super lucky with my hairstylist. I was totally freaking out because after a few months of trying, I had been unable to find someone who was budget friendly that would come to my location in order to do my hair for the wedding. My mom and I are probably the only ones getting their hair done and our wedding is during the week, so most hairstylist don’t want to or can’t work events like that. I dug through ziplock baggie full of business cards that I’ve picked up from previous bridal shows and sent some emails. A few days later, I went into Ulta to get my hair trimmed by my go-to girl… who happens to be a partner in one of the businesses I emailed. Talk about luck! I’m so excited to be having someone I trust doing my wedding day hair.
Research DJs | We have been putting off DJs. If I’m being completely honest, DJs give me the creeps and I have no idea why. Maybe some repressed horror story from middle school dances is behind this but regardless, it’s crunch time to secure a DJ. Getting a DJ for our wedding is really the only big vendor we have left to lock down. I put Justin in charge of speaking to one (which wasn’t very successful) so after that discussion fell through I made a running list of DJs that were recommended to me and have started emailing about pricing.
Research Rehearsal Dinner Venues | Finding a rehearsal dinner venue was honestly one of the items I was most concerned about because of the Memorial Day holiday. I was trying to find venues that wouldn’t cost a fortune since Justin’s parents will be taking care of the rehearsal dinner. Thankfully, my future in-laws are amazing people and literally one day after Justin got to Alaska, we had a rehearsal dinner venue!
Bridal Shower Venue | My family dynamic is a little weird due to locale and my parent’s divorce. Finding a time and venue for my bridal shower was seriously stressing me out. We chose one of my favorite hometown restaurants and a long weekend in January. I’m actually really excited about the fact that it’s in January though because we’ve decided to do a whole Sweater Weather theme! My bridesmaids and I have already started planning decorations and invites and I can’t wait to share them with you guys!
Order Wedding Dress | If you haven’t been following me on social media, you wouldn’t know that I actually already have a wedding dress. I bought it in February and then in May, I realized that I hated it. When I went to Morgantown for my WVU Master’s graduation, my mom and maid of honor took me to a local bridal boutique and I found THE ONE. Seriously y’all, there were tears and everything. I’ll be talking more about my wedding dress shopping experience in an upcoming post so let me know if you’d like to see that sooner than later! Anyways, this coming weekend I actually have to go back to that boutique to finalize my dress order! I’m so excited to try the dress on again and maybe find a veil while I’m there! (PS: I’ll be vlogging so make sure you subscribe to my vlog channel and turn on the notifications so you know when this weekend’s vlog goes up!).
Guest List Addresses | I have all of the guest addresses for everyone on my list, we’re just waiting for Justin’s side of the family. Collecting addresses is seriously such a hassle. Luckily, my mom is getting married in October so she already had a lot of the addresses I needed. I used a combination of The Knot’s address feature and harassing family members to get the rest of the ones I needed. Once we have the rest of Justin’s addresses I’ll be able to start working on our Save-the-Dates!
That pretty much wraps up July. I can’t believe July is practically over! The next three months are going to be crazy for us with two weddings, a few West Point events, and more so it’s going to be pretty stressful to try and plan a wedding around all of that.
August/September To-Do List
Send Out Save-the-Dates
Interview DJs
Research Cake Ideas
Make Cake Appointment
Bridesmaid Dresses
Research Hotel Blocks
Wow, this post was a lot longer than I figured it would have been. Like I said, the last Wedding Wednesday in each month will be dedicated to a wedding update so stay tuned for those. Also, let me know what other wedding related topics you want me to cover in the next 10 months! If you’ve recently got married, leave some advice for us bride-to-bes in the comments as well!
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