Virtual Layout for Wedding: LinenTablecloth

Our event coordinator at Foss Waterway Seaport has dealt with a lot of brides and has learned valuable tips from each event. When I last met with her, she suggested that I check out www.linentablecloth.com for layout planning. A bride told her about this amazing site and she passed it along to her new brides-to-be. Yes, you can buy tablecloths on this website, but the best part was creating a virtual layout.

Foss Waterway Seaport, our venue, provides

• 21 – 60″ round tables
• 9 – 6′ banquet tables
• 14 cocktail tables
• 1 great bar

I will have to rent additional tables, but this information plus the dimensions of the room allowed me to set up our reception quickly and easily. I loved doing this digitally instead of constantly drawing it out and wasting paper. Here’s what I’m thinking now, although I expect it to change as it gets closer.

You can click the photo to go straight to the website and see a bigger version.

I Want a Marriage More Beautiful Than My Wedding

 

With all this wedding planning, it’s easy to lose sight of the true meaning for this awesome party: the marriage. My recently-married-friend Ashley told me, “People are so busy planning their wedding that they forget to plan for their marriage.” That’s why I love this quote so much.

Should I Hire A Wedding Planner?

8 months until show time and already some people are stressing about the wedding. It’s not so bad that I’m stressing out or worrying about them, but I am thinking proactively. Plus, I love that people care so much about our wedding that they want it to be beautiful and ‘perfect’ – whatever that means. 🙂

Since some family members are already stressed out and I won’t be helping much on the wedding day, I decided that I should hire a wedding planner. Well, technically she’s a day-of-coordinator, but already she has been pretty helpful.

I picture myself setting up the tables and centerpieces the night before the wedding after the rehearsal. Then, we will come back to our house where my fiancé’s parents are hosting the rehearsal dinner. The next morning, wedding day, I might go to the venue a little in the morning, but I will be focused on myself and the bridesmaids – hair done, makeup done, maybe a morning walk/yoga/run to release some stress. I have 10 bridesmaids that will be helping the day of the wedding, but they will also need to get ready.

When I started thinking about the question, should I hire a wedding planner? these were my deciding factors:

• 10 bridesmaids
• 10 groomsmen
• Already have stressed out family members
• Self-catering the wedding
• Received a referral for specific person at A Piece of Cake Events

I also read a lot of books, such as The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day and How to Have a Fabulous Wedding for $10,000 or Less: Creating Your Dream Day with Romance, Grace, and Style.

Here are some benefits from books and my wedded friends for those of you considering if you should hire a wedding planner or coordinator:

• Recommend and deal with vendors (before and during the wedding)
• Ensure smooth flow of wedding day
• Think of details you didn’t even know were possible
• Plan ahead so things don’t fall through the cracks
• Put together the look of the wedding or give you feedback, if you ask
• Book hotel rooms
• Get discounted vendor prices because of long-term relationship they already established
• Create a wedding day schedule
• Take all stress and organization the day of the wedding!! This is my favorite. 🙂

Of course, wedding planners or coordinators cost money. Everyone I have talked to that had one said it is well worth every penny. I encourage you to talk to the planner’s references, read their reviews online, or hire someone your friend used. You are trusting them with your big day so make sure they truly are trustworthy and organized.

How to Start Creating Your Wedding Guest List

Although the wedding is supposed to be all about the couple in practical terms, I think it is largely about the guests. These people are your closest friends. The family you stay in touch with, but wish you saw more often. The neighbors that have walked you across the street and provided after-school snacks for years. Since Tyler and I have been together for 5 ½ years, we have made a lot of friends and they are almost as excited for us as we are. It’s funny how many people have told me that.

This might be one of the most daunting tasks of planning a wedding, so I wanted to provide you with how I did it and how we are still working through it. At first it’s fun naming all the people you want to invite and reminiscing over the good times you had with them. Then you realize you have to cut many of these wonderful people.

Note: You will adjust your guest list throughout your entire planning process as people let you know if they can or can’t make it. This is also the fastest way to cut your budget. Less people = less food, less centerpieces, less favors, etc.

Add that special touch to your wedding reception with The Knot Wedding Shop’s top favors – be sure to personalize!

Here are the beginning steps we took:

1. Bust out your Excel sheet again. This will make it much easier to add/remove/change people as time goes on. If you don’t want to handwrite everything, you can use the mail merge feature in Word to import all of your contacts.
   • Include these columns: names, #, address, city, state, zip code, save-the-date (or STD haha), invite, and RSVP:
   • 
2. We have 3 categories: family, friends, and maybe.  To us, family was extremely important, so they are the top priority, along with our bridal party. If you are closer with friends than family, then make them the priority. On the first round, add as many people as you can think of and later you will have to cut some people.
   
3. List all of your family – bride and groom side. Don’t hold back. Invite Aunt Trudi on his mom’s side even if you have never met her. (Yes, he really has an Aunt Trudi and I got in trouble for not having her on the first round).
4. List all of your friends – bride and groom side. Add as many people as you want because you will have to remove some anyway.
5. Now, create a cell on the right side of your list to add up all the totals. How many family, friends, and total people did you invite? (See a snapshot of mine below). Here’s a tutorial of how to add up numbers.
   • 
6. If you have your venue picked out, compare the number of people on your guest list to the maximum occupancy of the venue. Now you know the number of people to cut.
7. Let’s say you have 100 people to cut. For now, just move the people you might not invite to a “Maybe” section in your spreadsheet below your list of friends.
8. I recommend sending this list to your parents so they can review it and make sure you didn’t forget someone really important. If you are uncomfortable with them being so involved, don’t show them. I forgot a few people, so I was glad I did. Keep in mind, they will probably want to add some of their friends and you may need to tell them no. That’s okay – it’s your wedding.
9. Make sure you save your work! You will be adjusting this list as time goes on.

Do you have any tips to make this process easier or more effective? I’d love to hear them in the comments section!

Related articles

• Creating a Wedding Guest List – Project Wedding (projectwedding.com)
• Should I invite plus-ones? – Project Wedding (projectwedding.com)

Giving back on your big day? Let your guests know with Charity Wedding Favor Cards from The Knot Wedding Shop.

Choosing Your Wedding Party

At this point in our lives, Tyler and I have made a lot of friends. We grew up in the same small town, so naturally we have some of the same friends. After high school, I got my undergrad degree at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA and then my MBA at Willamette University in Salem, OR. I met amazing people at both schools and many of these people are still really good friends. Tyler went to college for a year and then became a lineman apprentice. He is more outgoing than I am and has made many friends  as well.

So far, I have been a bridesmaid for 2 of my cousins, my sister-in-law, a high school friend, a college friend, and the maid-of-honor for another high school friend. Before we were engaged I joked that I didn’t want to get engaged until I had been in 27 weddings so I could bridesmaids like Katherine Heigl in 27 Dresses. Realistically, I was not going to wait for 21 more weddings!

With a lot of friends from different stages of life and a big family, it’s hard to narrow down just a few people. Tyler, my fiance, was in a similar situation so we decided to have 10 people each! Some people think we are crazy, but I know three women who each had 8 bridesmaids.

Here’s my lineup of girls from different times in my life:

Karissa, step-sister that I’ve known since she was born  |  Maid-of-Honor

Clare, Tyler’s sister + my friend of 10 years  |  Bridesmaid

Katriina, friend since 2nd grade & always made me feel like part of the family  |  Bridesmaid

Karisa, friend who I did every school activity/sport with  |  Bridesmaid

Taryn, friend since 5th grade who is my opposite |  Bridesmaid

Whitney, friend since 5th grade who I spent almost every weekend with junior year of high school   |  Bridesmaid

Dena, friend from PLU + Tyler’s roomie of 3 years + my roomie of 1 year  |  Bridesmaid

Nicole, friend from PLU + roomie of two years + Tyler’s friend’s girlfriend  |  Bridesmaid

Hannah, friend from PLU + RA at PLU  |  Bridesmaid

Jamie, friend from Willamette University + roomie of 2 years  |  Bridesmaid

There’s no magic number for a wedding party and there’s no number too many. Just do what you want! After all, it’s your day. Basically, I don’t care if people think we are crazy for having 10 each. More people to celebrate and help with the wedding. 🙂

I use www.theknot.com for their checklists, articles, and website to help make wedding planning easier:

Related articles

• Wed-Spiration: Bridesmaids Dresses (besteventsblog.wordpress.com)
• My Girls! (whitedressandapairofboots.wordpress.com)

Wedding Savings Plan

 

If the bride and groom are paying for any part of their wedding, they need to set up a wedding savings plan as soon as they are engaged.

In our case, we started saving before he proposed! We set up a wedding savings account at the bank a few months before Tyler bought the ring and proposed. The banker asked, of course, when we got engaged. Imagine the look of shock on her face when I wryly told her that we actually weren’t engaged yet! I could tell she felt sorry for me with my false hopes of engagement, but that wasn’t the case. Tyler and I are conscious of our money and are pretty logical. For him, having a savings account before the engagement was another form of commitment to each other.

Here are the steps we took to set up our wedding savings plan:

1. Decide how much you (the bride and groom) are willing to pay for the wedding. Our parents are helping us, but they are certainly not paying for a $20,000 wedding!
2. Research and read about the cost of different types of weddings. My friend gave me the book, How to Have a Fabulous Wedding for $10,000 or Less. This book gives details and insight on having a beautiful wedding within a $10,000 budget. We decided to shoot for $10,000 savings, but want to spend significantly less than that on the actual wedding.
3. Don’t forget the honeymoon! If you are paying for your honeymoon, it’s smart to save as soon as you are engaged for this as well. How much is the average cost of a honeymoon? RealSizeBride estimates the average cost of a honeymoon is $4,466.
4. Crunch some numbers. How much can you realistically save each month? To financially decide when you are ready to have the wedding, do this simple formula: (estimated cost of your wedding) / (how much you can save each month) = (number of months to save for your wedding). For example, if you want a $10,000 wedding (out of your pocket) and you can save $1,000/month, the equation is: $10,000/$1,000 = 10 months. If you are engaged in December, then you will have $10,000 by October.

An amazing marriage will be a lot easier if you start without debt from your wedding.

Comment below if you have any questions or suggestions!

Related articles

• The Dos and Don’ts of Saving on Wedding Costs (community.ally.com)
• Wedding Budgeting 101: Where Is Your Money Going? (Blog.WeddingCrowd.com)

 

 

First Step to Planning a Wedding

My first step to planning our wedding is to create an Excel spreadsheet. I use spreadsheets to organize almost everything. Each tab is a different category, which allows me to add as much information/ideas as I can. Another tip is to use Google Drive if you have a gmail account. This let me add information from any computer or cell phone.

These are the categories or tabs I use:

• Savings Plan
• Guest List
• Budget
• Food
• Decorations
• To Do
• Wedding Party
• Good & Bad Ideas
• Photography
• Shopping
• Schedule
• Music: Good and Bad
• Registries
• Save $ Tips
• Clean Up

Over the next few months, I will show you the details of these sheets, tips for creating the sheets, and how well it is working for me!

Related articles

• Your Wedding: A Good Excuse to Go Get Yourself a Fancy Day Planner (somethingnewwedding.wordpress.com)
• Seeing Past Spreadsheets (2fatnerds.com)
• In defence of spreadsheets: the Great Spreadsheet Debate (freeagent.com)
• How To Create A Budget To Better Manage Your Finances (debtconsolidationusa.com)