2009 in Review: 9 Things I Learned While Planning My Wedding
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2009 was an exciting year. I learned to ride a motorcycle, conquered my fear of flying, bought a house and got married. Encouraged by Daily Blog Tips recent group writing project 2009 in Review, I decided to write my own review of 2009. Check out Daily Blog Tips on December 14th to see the complete list.
9 Things I Learned While Planning My Wedding:
1. Martha Stewart Weddings is a wonderful source for creative ideas and advice and has free online planning tools that are really helpful. I used their planning checklist, budget tool and their DIY Photo Booth template. I also used their guest list tool as the basis for the Google document spreadsheet I created to keep everything organized.
If you would like me to email you a link to this template, leave me a comment.
2. Wedding Blogs are so fun to read and full of inspiration. Check these out, you will thank me.
My favorites include:
3. When you receive a wedding present whether in the mail or at a shower, always write down what the present is and who gave it to you. At showers it is a good idea to assign this task to your Maid of Honor or your mother. Make sure they also write down the person’s address. When you receive gifts in the mail and you will, keep the packing slip. It should have the sender’s name and address as well as the item you receive. Once you send a thank you note, add the gift description and the date you mailed the thank you note to either an excel file or you can use Google documents which are free.
4. Register for everyday china. My husband and I were not going to register for china because we already had hand me downs and thought it would be wasteful to have more. My mother in law sat me down and told me I should register for china. She explained that I should register for china because I would probably never purchase it for myself and that people love to purchase wedding china as wedding gifts. She was right! We registered for Lenox Chirp everyday china and I love it. We boxed up our old dishes and took them to the Salvation Army.
This is our wedding china and we love it!
5. Delegate. The stress of doing everything yourself will drive you insane and your friends and family want to help. I delegated many small tasks to my bridesmaids and they were very helpful.
My bridesmaids were ready for anything.
6. Make your vendors sign a contract that outlines exactly what you want from them and the agreed upon price. Vendor contracts are available online for free. Even if you decide to hire your friends (which we did), have them sign a contract. It eliminates confusion and provides structure.
7. Hire a wedding planner or make sure you have a support team that is as dedicated to your wedding. I wanted to do everything myself and thought that I didn’t need a wedding planner. I was wrong. It is very hard to get everything done during the day if you work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Planning a wedding on your lunch break is crazy. Thank God I had bridesmaids that didn’t mind making calls to vendors, quick trips to the florist and other various tasks for me during the day.
8. Regardless of how stubborn you are, make a plan in case it rains. It rained on my wedding day and our beautiful outdoor wedding had to be moved inside. Thank God we had a backup plan. Our venue had multiple options for us to choose from in case of rain and our indoor wedding was still beautiful and actually more intimate.
9. Relax and enjoy your engagement. Being engaged is so much fun. I wish I had relaxed more.
Comments
13 Comments on 2009 in Review: 9 Things I Learned While Planning My Wedding
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on Wed, Dec 9th 2009 @ 2:20 pm
The budget was hard for me to keep on track too but the budget tool helped so much. That Martha, she has a few things figured out i guess. Thanks we had a lot of mishaps with our wedding but Im glad everything looked like it went smoothly. How are you doing?
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on Mon, Dec 14th 2009 @ 4:47 am
[...] 2009 in Review: 9 Things I Learned While Planning My Wedding: 2009 was an exciting year. I learned to ride a motorcycle, conquered my fear of flying, bought a house and got married. Encouraged by Daily Blog Tips recent group writing project 2009 in Review, I decided to write my own review of 2009. (by Selena Alderman) [...]
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on Mon, Dec 14th 2009 @ 5:40 am
[...] 2009 in Review: 9 Things I Learned While Planning My Wedding: 2009 was an exciting year. I learned to ride a motorcycle, conquered my fear of flying, bought a house and got married. Encouraged by Daily Blog Tips recent group writing project 2009 in Review, I decided to write my own review of 2009. (by Selena Alderman) [...]
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on Mon, Dec 14th 2009 @ 6:02 am
[...] 2009 in Review: 9 Things I Learned While Planning My Wedding: 2009 was an exciting year. I learned to ride a motorcycle, conquered my fear of flying, bought a house and got married. Encouraged by Daily Blog Tips recent group writing project 2009 in Review, I decided to write my own review of 2009. (by Selena Alderman) [...]
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on Mon, Dec 14th 2009 @ 7:14 am
[...] 2009 in Review: 9 Things I Learned While Planning My Wedding: 2009 was an exciting year. I learned to ride a motorcycle, conquered my fear of flying, bought a house and got married. Encouraged by Daily Blog Tips recent group writing project 2009 in Review, I decided to write my own review of 2009. (by Selena Alderman) [...]
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on Mon, Dec 14th 2009 @ 7:21 am
[...] 2009 in Review: 9 Things I Learned While Planning My Wedding: 2009 was an exciting year. I learned to ride a motorcycle, conquered my fear of flying, bought a house and got married. Encouraged by Daily Blog Tips recent group writing project 2009 in Review, I decided to write my own review of 2009. (by Selena Alderman) [...]
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on Mon, Dec 14th 2009 @ 8:36 pm
I loved planning my wedding, too. This is a great list and you are gorgeous!!
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on Mon, Dec 14th 2009 @ 8:56 pm
Thanks, you just made my night!
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on Tue, Dec 15th 2009 @ 8:39 am
Offbeat Bride is one of my favorite sites. So fun – even if you aren’t planning a wedding. Oh, and I love your shoes in that pic. What an awesome idea.
So glad I found you through DailyBlogTips
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on Tue, Dec 15th 2009 @ 9:04 am
Thank you! I love my shoes as well. When I told my Mom I was wearing red flats and my bridesmaids were going to wear turquoise flats, she thought I was crazy but they looked so good in the pictures. Offbeat Bride was one of the first wedding planing groups that actually made me feel at home and there are so many creative people to get ideas from. Thanks for reading and have a great day.
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on Tue, Dec 22nd 2009 @ 2:39 pm
I am doing great! I am sorry I missed you while I was in Starkville…I was hoping I would run into you and surprise you! Hope you guys are having a great xmas! Lots of love and hugs!
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on Tue, May 31st 2011 @ 2:06 pm
[...] I love a good list. If we have this in common you should browse the entries from the over 90 bloggers who particiated in the Review of 2009 writing project at Daily Blog Tips. Make sure and read my entry 2009 in Review: 9 Things I Learned While Planning My Wedding. [...]
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Hi, I'm Faye. Most days I can be found crafting, thrifting or hanging out with my sweet husband.
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on Wed, Dec 9th 2009 @ 2:17 pm
Great tips–I wish I would have had this to read before I planned mine. The budget thing was the hardest thing to keep on track.
Y’all’s wedding looked beautiful! xoxo