5 things to consider when wedding planning

1. Decide what you want to spend the big bucks on.  Pick out what's most important to you - like the flowers, photographer, or venue - and spend the majority of your budget on that. There are some things - like invitations and your garter - that you don't have to spend lots of money on to make look good. I bought my garter for 10 dollars on etsy and designed my invitations and save-the-dates on PowerPoint.  Everything doesn't have to be "top of the line" in order to look good.
2. Have a feasible plan B.  Our wedding was supposed to take place in a field, and it rained cats and dogs on the day of.  Thankfully, our venue had a gorgeous stable with big stone arches that still had the feel of an outside wedding, but also had a roof and a mud-free aisle.  If you want an outside wedding, make sure your facility has an indoor option that you like just as much.
3. Have a point person on the day of. Usually your venue will have a wedding planner attached, but if they don't, have someone that is your go-to person for the day.  Discuss everything that you want to happen with them and let everyone know that all their questions on the day of should be directed to them instead of you.  Pick a friend rather than a relative to keep the stress level at a minimum.
4. Know that you will not be able to complete everything you have on your wedding Pinterest board.  There were so many cute ideas that I planned on doing when we first started planning that I quickly realized I had no time for.  Plus, you don't want your wedding to be too gimicky.  Pick two or three of your favorite ideas and do those well, rather than having 12 haphazard, slapped together projects.
5. If something goes wrong, don't flip out.  If the flowers are a different shade of blue or the centerpieces don't look exactly like the picture you had in your head, no one will know but you.  And I promise you, on the day of your wedding, the decorations will be the last thing on your mind. At the end of the day, you're married to the man you love, and that's the point.

the wedding post

All of these photos were taken by Warren Peters and  family.  If you live in the North Alabama/Tennessee area and would like the Peters to shoot your event, email me and I will get you in touch with them!

Next week I'm planning on writing a list of things you'll want to keep in mind when you're planning a wedding - of course you probably know the basics, but I thought I was super prepared and ended up learning a whole lot along the way.  I was going to add it to the end of this post, but I got a little carried away with the pictures, so I'll save it for Monday :) Have a great weekend!

wedding guest "book"

When we were planning the wedding, one thing I was sure of was that I didn't want a traditional guest book.  I knew that if there was just a book on a table, half the guests wouldn't sign it in the first place, and at the end of the day it would go in a box.  I wanted something that we could display in our home.
So instead of a guest book, we had our guests sign either the matting of one of our framed engagement photos, or a big wooden W.  We have both of them hanging up where we can read the sweet notes from our friends, and they look pretty good :)

If a guest book is the way you want to go, go for it!  I have friends that made really cute ones on Shutterfly full of pictures of them and their friends that they display on shelves in their homes.  But if you want to get more artsy with it, go with a picture, your initial, or even a painting that means something to you (that you don't mind having people write on, of course).  Weddings are so personalized nowadays, you can really make your guestbook whatever you want!