My trip down the aisle

(Disclaimer. Long post so be sure not to miss the photo slide show at the end. )

It has been 10 weeks since my wedding and that is plenty of time for me to have figured out what I coulda, shoulda, woulda done differently at my wedding. When sitting down to write this blog post it was a lot harder than I thought. So here is my best advice. It seems sorta random but there wasn't much that went wrong at my wedding, so I hope that my advice helps you get through the wedding planning process with some of the same tricks that worked for me.

1. Hire a planner. I know the economy is tough right now and the first thing you eliminate from your budget is a wedding planner but I think this is the wrong way to go. I couldn't have made it through my planning sanely with out Layla. If you can't afford to hire one for the entire time just hire one for day of coordination.

Layla and I had accomplished so much by the time it reached the two week out mark. That allowed me to be a stress free bride and really enjoy those last two weeks when everything could've hit the fan. By the time my parents came into town I had nothing for them to help me with. I was able to sit back and relax which was great.

Having a coordinator also gave me a lot of peace of mind. I didn't have to worry about the little details like calling all of the vendors to figure out a time line etc., decorating the event space, or putting out little last minute fires. That is where Layla came in. On the day of my wedding I worried about nothing. I knew everything was in good hands and it would be taken care of for me. That was priceless to me.

2. Browse the internet/message boards. I have to say that I was addicted to The Knot message boards and I'm slowing weaning myself off of them. This was an invaluable resource to me. It was an outlet where I could gather unique ideas and also share my own planning and receive feedback. I don't even want to think about the number of hours I spent on this site. It is probably embarrassingly high but it was worth every minute. All of my great ideas came from the internet and it allowed me to have a spectacular looking wedding day.

3. DIY (Do-It-Yourself) is not always the cheapest route but it does make your wedding day more meaningful. I loved walking into the church and reception space and seeing my hard work come to life. It is also a way for you to get exactly what you want.

Things I DIYed:

- Invitations - They were a labor of love but it came out exactly the way I wanted it. I never found anything I loved online so I pulled different ideas from different invitations and put them together into one. It also felt good when I got compliments and when people were shocked that I made them myself.

- Place cards - The way I wanted to display the cards was with photo clip things. I couldn't find them cheap enough so I made them myself.

- Aisle markers - Here's one where it might not have turned out cheaper but it was fun to make my own. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on aisle decorations and found a great picture of what I wanted to do. I bought the items to recreate the picture but it turned out that the styrofoam I needed and the amount of fake flowers I needed cost more than it might have cost for a florist to make them. At least I enjoyed making them with a good friend.

- Bridesmaid jewelry - Once I saw a picture of the pearl/ribbon necklaces I knew that is what I wanted. i didn't know where to find it so I bought the supplies to do it myself. It also meant a lot more to them than receiving something bought.

I'm sure there is more but that is all that is coming to me at this point and I'm sure you get the idea.

4. Budgeting. Layla introduced me to a way to budget when we first started working together and it really worked for me. She encouraged me to try and only spend 90% of my budget and to allow the leftover 10% for extras and last minute purchases. This really helped because at the last minute I decided to rent a dance floor and table linens. I'm so happy that I had that extra money because those two items really made my reception look great. And if you don't have any last minute stuff to spend money on you can always take the leftovers on your honeymoon.

I think that is about it. Just remember this exciting time for you will be over in a minute so really enjoy it but don't let it consume you or you might have wedding planning withdrawals like I did.

**Thanks goes out to Layla for recommending the personalized Pub Signs for groomsmen's gifts. They were a hit. See a picture above.**

Vendors I used:

Coordinator - Wed with Ease - She coordinated my wedding beautifully.

Church - First United Methodist Church - Beautiful and great Pastor to work with.

Reception Site - RiverFront Cafe - Very unique and modern. Great food. Great Prices

Photographer - LaBranche Photography - Great Price. Great Product. Most of the photos in slide show are his.

Videographer - S&B Weddings - Amazing Price. Well edited video.

Flowers - Anything with Plants and Flowers - Fun to work with. Beautiful work.

DJ - Carlton with McGee Entertainment - Work the money. Kept the dance floor packed.

Hair - Casey Does Hair - So pleased with her work. Great to work with.

Hotel - Omni - Great Service and Price.

Trolleys - Dana's Limousines

Reahearsal dinner space - Garden Club of Jax - Beautiful.

Rehearsal dinner food - d'Vine Cuisine - Great Price. Great Food. Fun to work with.


Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe got something out of it.

Stacy

P.S. See additional information and more pictures in these two blog postings:

Posting Number 1
Posting Number 2