Things I wish I had done when planning my wedding

I love everything about weddings.  I had been planing and dreaming about mine for years before I got married. My pinterest boards were curated to perfection of beautiful wedding images. I knew exactly what I wanted and figured planning would be a breeze.

However, I bit off a bit more than I could chew. Wedding planning takes a lot of work, even if you aren’t working or in school, and I was doing all three. Looking back on it, there are a few things I would have changed that would have made life less stressful. If you are planning a wedding, for yourself, your daughter, or a friend, these tips will help make your life a lot easier.

Make a checklist

It is hard to stay organized and remember every small detail you need to take care of when planning. Start out by making a list of everything that needs to be done. It helps to list in order of importance. Some things like the venue may need to be booked really early in order to get the date you want, while other things like wedding favors or accessories can be done later.

See what things on your list you can delegate to other people like your mom or the groom to lighten the load.

Create a wedding website

When I got married there really wasn’t an easy or quick way to do this, but creating a wedding website with GoDaddy GoCentral makes it super easy for anyone. You don’t have to have the technical knowledge to do it at all and it can be built in less than an hour! The benefits of having a wedding website is its an easy way to collect RSVP’s, give guests access to all the event information, and share photos of your engagements or your wedding day afterwards.

Instead of answering everyone’s many questions about what hotel to stay at and what the timeline is, you can direct them all to your personalized wedding site. I also really love that you can share your story of how you met and about your engagement. It really helps your guests feel involved in your love story.

I tried out GoCentral and created my own site in about 15 minutes! You can check out my sample HERE .  There are so many options for things to add to your site. If you don’t have your own photos yet, they also have beautiful stock images to choose from.

Don’t fall in love with a dress outside your budget

This is one of my biggest regrets with my wedding. When dress shopping, I didn’t tell the saleswoman what my budget was before she started pulling dresses. The very first one I tried one was absolutely my dream dress. I didn’t want to see any others. My heart broke when she told me the price and I knew I couldn’t have it. I ended up going with a different dress which was still beautiful but I still think about that first dress.

Make your budget clear when you go in the shop and don’t try on anything outside of it.

Designate an M.C.

For my wedding reception I had an idea of the order I wanted things to go in such as food, cake cutting, first dance, etc. The mistake I made was not planning ahead of time who would announce things and making sure everything is moving along. I kept having to round people up and let them know “Hey I’m going to throw my bouquet now”, which was stressful and something that should have been delegated.

So put someone organized in charge of being your M.C. so they can announce those sort of things and the event can stick to a timeline.

all photos by The Two of them Photography

Overall my wedding was a beautiful and happy experience. I hope these tips will help your wedding planning and wedding day go smoother so that you can more fully enjoy your special day. Try not to sweat the small stuff!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.