Wedding Planning

You're engaged, now what??

Congratulations, you’re engaged! You said yes and now you get spend the rest of your life with your soulmate. It’s an awesome time in both of your lives and you’re super stoked, but now what?

You’re filled with excitement, joy, love, etc.., awesome, but when you come down from that high, you’re going to have an “oh sh*t” moment when you realize that you get to plan a wedding now. And that’s why I’m writing this article to hopefully guide you in the right direction.

Before I get started, I just want to be clear, I’m not a wedding planner nor do I pretend to be one, but having worked in the wedding industry for quite some time, I think I know a little bit about the process. So, here’s my take on some things you should think about when you’re ready to start planning your big day.

First and foremost, figure out your budget. Before you start creating your Pinterest boards (I’m sure you already started this though), looking at venues, photographers, and invitations, you have to have a serious talk about money with your spouse and family. It’s usually everyone’s least favorite thing to do and can be uncomfortable, but it’s extremely important to be on the same page when it comes to how much you want to invest on your wedding. Once your budget ballpark is set, you can start your search for the more fun parts of your wedding planning.

Now that you have your financials in order, it’s time to pick a date. If you’re in Orange County, Los Angeles, or really anywhere in Southern California, you’re pretty safe on picking any date from February through October. It’s really whatever time of year or date you prefer, just make sure you give yourself enough time to get everything else in order, I’d say at least 6-8 months. When you have your desired date set, be flexible, because a venue may already be booked on that day, so you may have to lock a date a week before or after what you had originally planned.

That leads us to booking the venue! Like with most good wedding vendors, great venues book up fast, so try not to drag your feet here. There is an endless amount of wedding locations in southern California, so get on it! Once you have your venue locked in, you can move on to my favorite step, finding your wedding photographer!

Securing your wedding photographer is one of the most important and sometimes stressful part of the wedding planning process. There are so damn many of us, I know. And while I can sit here and dedicate this paragraph to shameless plugging and telling you how much and why you should book me, I won’t, because I don’t think every photographer fits every couple. When searching and booking your photographer, make sure you hire one that absolutely fits the both of you. You’re going to spend a lot of time with your wedding photographer, so choose wisely. Budget is important, but don’t let that be the only determining factor in hiring your photographer. Make sure you click with your photographer; it’ll make a world of difference at the end of the day.

I hope that helps you out a bit as your venture out into your wedding planning process. Cheers!

If you've already booked your venue and want to chat about your wedding photography, hit me up! I'd love to hear from you!