I know you all have been dying to read this post and I thought about posting it sooner so many times, but was able to hold it together! Can you believe that? Immediately after we got engaged I was brainstorming ideas of blog posts and what to share with you guys along the way, thinking about if I was on your end. Asking myself, “If I was following a blogger who happened to be getting married at the same time as me or before me, what would I want to see? What would I want tips on? What could help me?” My blog is used by other people daily, but I also like to look at it is as something I can go back to later when I want to read old memories. I’ve decided to start a series called “Wedding Diaries” to go over some key points. Where I am in the planning process, sharing with you what we’ve done and BTS, and some things I’ve learned along the way. With that being said, even though we got engaged only a month ago, I have A LOT to share with you guys, so keep reading if you want the scoop!
Schlueter Wedding
Wedding Date: June 8th, 2019
Countdown: 245 days
Checklist
As you can tell, quite a bit has been accomplished! I didn’t hesitate to start and one of our registries was done the day after we got engaged. I was at Crate & Barrel as soon as soon as it opened and you bet I didn’t hesitate! One of the reasons I’m super excited is because I feel like all of the “work” is done. Not really, but you know, the hard decisions you have to make. Whose going to DJ, what flourish do I like best, the list goes on. Now all the fun stuff is waiting for us both- bachelor party, bachelorette party, shower upon shower, wedding dress shopping, etc. I know what you are thinking… she has everything done, but she hasn’t gone WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING?! Don’t you worry, I’ve already done enough stressing for the both of us. I have 8 people (only family believe it or not) that I wanted to go dress shopping with me. That is moms, sisters, and grandmas only. Trying to work with those schedules, on top of bridal salons schedules… was kinda hard! I grabbed the first available date for everyone and I got October 7th. We’ll be heading to two salons and grabbing lunch on Sunday, and I decided to make a makeup trial appointment BEFORE shopping so it would help me better get an idea of what I would actually look like on the day of. Now, I only scheduled one day for wedding dress shopping and I’m honestly hoping that I can find it on this day. It’s safe to say I’m a risk taker 😉 But really, cross your fingers for me or else you’ll see me on news for a 24 hour shopping spree trying to find THE dress. Luckily the style I want, isn’t too unique so both places should have it.
Besides the wedding dress not being bought yet, I feel like everything else is under control. Since you made it this far (congrats!) I decided I’ll let you in on a little secret. We booked the venue before we got engaged, which means we also booked the date before we got engaged. June 8th is our anniversary, and it isn’t on a Saturday again until 2024. Neither of us wanted to wait that long! We loved the idea that our dating anniversary could be our wedding anniversary, so we just did it. “That is terrible luck!” “Omg she is crazy!” “What were you thinking?!”… Silly you, I didn’t ask for your opinion. 😉 In all honesty though, the amount of people that give their opinions when you start wedding planning, is kind of unreal. When I ask for people’s help, it doesn’t bother me at all and I feel relieved to hear other peoples experiences sometimes. When I didn’t ask, I’m just telling, and people all of a sudden start saying how they would’ve done it if they were me… you’ll see me leave the conversation before they can even finish. I have a feeling this is what parenting is like when you’re a new mom…
I know a lot of you wanted to know where to venue is, but since most of our wedding planning is super public, I decided I’m going to keep the venue under wraps until it’s time for the big day. I will tell you though, it is in Orange County and it is BEAUTIFUL! Since my venue is known for having weddings, they have planners on site which has been really helpful. We’ve had multiple meetings thus far going over the big day, plans, vendors, and them helping me make decisions that I couldn’t do on my own! I’m sure when you saw the checklist you probably thought to yourself holy cow, it has’nt even been a month and this girl GOT IT DOWN. Yes, I do, thank you very much. 😉 But, there is still a good amount that needs to be done but what we have left is the fun stuff.
Like I said, tips and tricks are here for you! Here is stuff that I have personally done so far that has made a world of a difference, and that I highly recommend to you brides!
Tips & Tricks
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Make a separate email account for your wedding
If you’re like me and your inbox is a disaster, this would be a smart idea. You will be emailing important contracts, payment methods, and chatting with your vendors throughout the process, so you don’t want ANY of these things getting lost. I chose an email address that we could use after the wedding as our family one to be shared for the future, because I know I’ll need that too. Doctors, buying a house, kids information, etc.
2. Start planning your bridal shower and bachelorette party immediately
Believe it or not, trying to work 8 girls schedules is pretty hard. After getting all of my bridesmaids availability back from the months of January-June, there was ONE WEEKEND where everyone was available to go away for the weekend. ONE, I kid you not. Even though your bridesmaids might say they’re pretty open, they very possibly could be. But also, depending on your number, you’re going to have to work with MULTIPLE schedules, especially if you want everyone to go. The further ahead you pick a weekend, the better! That way everyone has it on their calendar and you can let it go until it comes time to picking a location, theme, etc. Same goes for the bridal shower- try your best to do it right away so everyone can plan around it!
3. Buy A Wedding Planner
As you guys know, I love my planner! So I had to buy a wedding planner of course. This came with a lot of note pages, and then a checklist of what I should be doing leading up to the wedding! Not to mention the monthly calendar which was really helpful to use when planning a weekend for my bachelorette. Some other helpful things it has is a place to list measurements, a place to put vendor contact information, the list goes! This is keeping me organized throughout the process so far. Along with a file notebook to keep contracts in!
4. Get ready to defend yourself
A lot of people had a lot to say when Tim and I got engaged. Don’t get me wrong- we got showered with love and it could not have been more perfect! But, no matter how hard you try, you can’t escape the “talk”. So many people have told me how they think I should do things for MY wedding. It kind of gets to a point where it gets old, and also irritating. Being the person that I am, I’m a huge planner. I’ve been planning this day since I was 4 years old. I have answers to mostly everything, but thats because I know what I want and I know my vision. If you’re someone who hasn’t even begun thinking about what you want (which is 100% normal and ok), get ready to be on defense. Once people hear that you aren’t sure about things, or what you want, you will get a downpour of opinions, comments, and even some rude talk. It hasn’t even been a month and I’ve already just learned to nicely say, “I’ll take that into consideration”, and walk away. Which has put things into perspective for me, and now I try to be much more aware of what I am saying to newly engaged girlfriends and brides to be. The process is overwhelming enough, just let us vent unless we ask you for your opinion.
18 days in and I’d say I got myself a good head start! I will be doing a total of 4 diaries, and my next one will go live when we get to the halfway point! I’ll be checking in to let you know what else has been crossed off the checklist, more tips & tricks (hopefully), and how everything is going thus far! I bought that checklist HERE off Etsy to get you guys a good visual of what is done so far. Vendors and everything you can think of will be shared after the wedding of course! Thank you SO much for reading and happy Wednesday!
XO,
Danielle Alana