New Metal Choice for Wedding Rings – Stainless Steel
Photo credit: Paul Willetts Photography
Today’s post is going to be a little different.
As you know, at Shoot The Piano Player Wedding Videos, we like to blog about a wide range of issues facing newly engaged couples. We hope that by adding tips and resources here, we can make our client’s lives easier, as well as non-client readers of this blog from near and far.
For today’s post, I decided to ask four notable wedding experts what they think are the most important decisions brides make when planning their weddings.
All four of the women who’s responses you’ll read below are experts who have popular blogs covering wedding themes are of kinds. As they all have a solid grasp of the kind of questions brides ask themselves in the lead-up to their big day, I thought this might offer something of a consensus on the three central questions.
If nothing else, it’s a great jumping off point for further discussion.
I think these responses help to answer lots of questions that brides have and I hope it stands as something of a guiding post for engaged couples
So without further ado, here’s the question I asked:
“What are the three most important decisions brides make when planning their wedding?”
Here’s Meghan Ely:
There are a number of considerations when planning your Big Day. One of the biggest will be the finances.
1. Oftentimes couples focus on how much they have to spend but instead, I’d want one of their first decisions to be regarding what they value most – whether it be food, entertainment, the venue or decor.
Every couple is going to be different and it’s imperative that no matter how much they have to spend, they agree on where they’d like to make the biggest impact.
2. Another decision to quickly follow will be how involved they’d like to have their family and friends.
In years past, parents have traditionally chipped in but now we’re seeing a significant shift where couples are financing the day themselves.
Should they have friends or family offering to help, it’s vital to keep the lines of communication open and make sure everyone is on the same page about the contributions.
3. Finally, another decision made early would be that of the guest list, which significantly affects the wedding day budget.
It’s imperative for the couple to sit down together and decide what they envision for their big day – a large soiree with every single person who has touched their lives or a more intimate affair with close family and friends.”
Meghan Ely from OFD Consulting
Here’s Stephanie Padovani:
1. Deciding what is most important to you.
I’ve worked with close to a thousand couples, and nothing breaks my heart more than seeing a couple get to the point where they “just want the wedding to be over.”
I recently came across this quote: “You can have anything you want, but you can’t have everything.”
The most important decision a couple can make together is prioritizing what’s most important for the wedding.
List the items (location, guest experience, dress, decor, flowers, entertainment, food, photography, ceremony, etc.) and put them in order from most to least important.
Compromises will have to be made somewhere, especially when the family gets involved. But clearly communicating what’s most important to the two of you will make all your budget-related decisions much easier.
2. Deciding on a budget.
I hate mentioning this because it’s such a buzz kill. But if you don’t have a budget before you start booking for your wedding, you’re going to go over it.
This means you need to:- Decide how much the two of you are willing to spend.
– Decide how much you’re willing to borrow/save.
– Talk to the parents about how much they’d like to contribute.
And do this before you book a date or location. You need to have the “money talk” as soon as possible. That and your prioritized list is an essential guide in all your decision-making.
3. Deciding the date and time of the wedding.
Once you know your priorities and your budget, then you can explore your date with your given parameters. This has a huge impact on the overall experience and how closely it matches your priorities.
Too many couples get stuck on a particular date and miss opportunities or make choices that aren’t going to work for the experience they want.
For example, couples who are inviting local guests to a Sunday night wedding are probably not going to get a crazy, late night dancing party. They’re going to want to go home early because they have to work the next day. A Friday or Saturday night works much better.
Before you set the date, do yourself a favor and talk to some local wedding pros about the experience you want.
Find out the pros and cons so that you choose a day that gives you the experience you want.
Stephanie Padovani from Book More Brides, marketing solutions for wedding businesses
Here’s Phoebe:
Three most important decisions –
1. Choosing a date – it is something they will remember for the rest of their lives. It is even better if it means something.
2. The dress – the most important dress a woman wears in her life.
3. What is said during the vows – whether you write them or use the bible, they are the foundations of your marriage and you have to mean every word spoken.
Phoebe from So You’re Getting Married
Here’s Quinn Savard:
1. The old real estate adage of location, location, location is true for weddings too!
Choosing the venue is one of the most important decisions a makes when planning a wedding. Once you decide the fundamentals of church, then it’s time to choose between tent, open field, your parent’s backyard, and you’ve laid the foundation for what the rest of the wedding will be.
Just make sure to be authentic to who you are as a couple and choose a venue that really makes sense to the two of you!
2. Another of the most important decisions a bride makes is the feel of the wedding.
This includes the color story, flowers and table settings that are all influenced by what the feel of the wedding is.
Do you want your wedding to be modern rustic full of natural elements or something more vintage romantic full of flowers and gold accents?!
The feel of your wedding speaks to the whole day so be sure it truly speaks to who you are!
3. Ahhh to be cliche…the dress!
It really is such a key component to the wedding day. It’s the dress you will wear when you present yourself to the person you have decided to spend the rest of your life with!
It also fits in with the look and feel of the wedding as a whole. Make sure it’s truly “your” dress, the one that makes you feel beautiful, the one you can’t wait to wear, the one you don’t ever want to take off!
Quinn Savard from I Love Farm Weddings
As you can see, there are a number of different decisions brides make when planning their wedding. It’s hard to come up with the absolute key 3, as every bride and every wedding has different requirements and variables.
I hope this coming together of wedding experts has been helpful and that this article can help you in tackling some of the decisions you’ll be making for your wedding early on.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
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Good advice by all! I wonder how this compares to what brides/grooms think are the most important decisions about the wedding? And if that differs before or after?
For me personally, the dress and the theme would be lower down the list. But then again, I’m the anti-chick. 🙂
Thanks again for contributing, Stephanie!
As for what the grooms think are the most important decisions, that could very well be the next article here! 🙂
Thank you for this article. It helps a lot when someone is planning to get married. Helps the couple to decide what type of wedding they want to choose.