Steps to Planning a Successful Wedding

Planning a Successful Wedding

The Big Picture

Envision the type of wedding you both want—maybe it’s the event of your dreams or one that reflects your current styles. Even if you are set on a formal event in a ballroom, consider other possibilities, such as a beach ceremony. You never know what you will fall in love with and where you will find wedding inspiration. It may not always be the vision you have had in your head since you were five, and that’s ok, but if it ends up being that five-year-old’s vision then that’s ok too, there certainly is not a right or wrong answer to your wedding vision. After all, every wedding is unique.

Start a Pinterest Board for Inspiration

• Wedding style – rustic, modern, traditional
• Wedding dress
• Decor
• Food

Wedding Website (and hashtag)

Wedding websites offer an easy way to keep the wedding planning organized.

• Many websites offer a hashtag generator or come up with one on your own.

The Date

Once you share your happy news, expect many questions like, “When are you getting married?” However, there are many things to consider when picking a date, time of year, weather (especially here in Florida), and location. Are your friends and family going to have to travel, if so maybe avoid dates near big holidays and as a result, you will make your planning process a bit less stressful?

Budget

Prior to making any wedding decisions, you certainly need to figure out what you have to spend and whether your families will contribute. Make sure you and your fiancé are in agreement about your priorities before talking to your parents about budget and specific details.

• Find out who is contributing.
• Figure how much you & your fiancé can comfortably & realistically afford.
• Come up with a rough guest count.
• Decide what items are non-negotiable.
• Do your research and do the math. Then, adjust accordingly.

Guest List

Once the budget is set, figure out who you’re going to invite to your wedding. Deciding who’s coming and who isn’t will affect things like budget, and venue choices. It’s good to have an idea of roughly how many guests you will have before you go venue touring, a word to the wise don’t tour venues that won’t fit your guest list, if you do and you fall in love with that venue, you may be forced to significantly cut your guest list.

Venue

Where you say “I do!” can say about the wedding and your style as a couple. The key is, look far and wide, and see different options. Keep in mind the time of year you are getting married, an outdoor wedding in July in Florida, for example is probably not the best idea if you don’t want to sweat. Also, keep in mind if there are accommodations for your out of town guests nearby.
Hopefully, some of these tips have helped give you an idea of where to begin. Two good resources for finding your wedding vendors are The Knot and Wedding Wire.

It’s all in the Details:

Research & Book Vendors

• Wedding Planner (optional)
• Photographer
• DJ
• Caterer
• Hair & Makeup
• Cake
• Photobooth
• Up-lighting
• Transportation

Purchase Attire

• Wedding Dress
• Bridesmaid Dresses
• Flower Girl Dress
• Groom Tux
• Groomsmen Tuxes
• Ring Bearer Outfit

Reserve Block Hotel Rooms

Invitations & Save-The-Dates

• Order or create your own invitations.
• Send out Save-The-Dates several months prior to the wedding day.

Create a Timeline

• Creating a timeline of events helps all of those important for making the BIG day happen to keep organized. Hand the timeline out to vendors, bridal party, and anyone that is responsible for helping with day-of events.

Rehearsal

• Schedule the rehearsal & location.
• Reserve a place to host the rehearsal dinner or ask a family member to host (to cut costs).
• To make the day-of go smoother, have final payments in envelopes with tips for the vendors. A thank you card also goes a long way.

Complete Weddings + Events

In Conclusion, our team at Complete Weddings & Events Sarasota is always happy to assist you in any way we can. We would love to be part of your BEST DAY EVER by providing your DJ, Lighting, Photography, Videography, Day of Coordination services, or Photo Booth. With us, you can bundle all of those services together or any mixture of them. We are happy to build a custom package for you to fit your needs. We hope this blog on steps to planning a successful wedding at least pointed you in the right direction. You can find more topics and inspiration here and on our Facebook and Instagram!

We’re here to guide you through the planning process so you can enjoy the big decisions and leave the details to us. We’ve got all the tools you need to make planning your wedding less of a challenge and help you pull off the wedding of your dreams, starting now. Complete Weddings + Events, Sarasota’s leading provider of event and wedding photography, videography, lighting, DJ services & photo booth rental.