|
Sabrina has some great advice!
I will throw in something about letting bridesmaids pick their own dresses -
I gave my bridesmaids complete freedom, allowed them to pick out anything they wanted, as long as they wore the same thing. They couldn't organize themselves, couldn't figure it out. Four months after telling them they could pick, it became a large stress for a couple of the bridesmaids. I ended up walking into a bridal store with one bridesmaid, had her try a bunch on, and chose the dress. All of my bridesmaids told me they loved the dress, and were even more happy that I removed some of their stress by choosing for them.
Things that I learned very quickly: The groom became overwhelmed easily with wedding planning. He originally wanted to work with all of the vendors and sort things out on the technicalities. He gave up that task when he realized there was far too much to keep track of. He did help out a lot with little tasks like picking up the rentals two days before the wedding, helping to set up the reception site, and keeping me calm amid plans.
The guy in charge of music at the church where we were married made choosing the music an easy task.
Hiring a good caterer is worth it. Soooo much less hassle.
Don't depend on family friends for any of the necessities such as flowers, makeup, hair, cake, or catering unless you personally are intimately familiar with their work and know you will be happy with the result. Don't let your family pressure you into any particular vendor. You will most likely not be happy with the result.
Do yourself a favor and book a decadent honeymoon. No matter how much you enjoy roughing it or the outdoors, if you're planning your own wedding there's so much stress in those last few weeks that you'll need a bit of pampering when it's all through.
Oh! And... don't plan a wedding while working on your last year of university, applying to graduate schools, and dealing with serious family illnesses. Yeah. That made for a cruddy, cruddy year. If stuff like that comes up - even if you've been engaged for two years and have the wedding half-planned... just put the wedding off. It's really not worth it to try and do everything at once.
__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq
"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy
|