12/27/2025
1. If you don't hire a planner/coordinator, YOU become that the day of your wedding. All vendor questions? You. All guests questions? You. A family member is driving you nuts and moving ceremony chairs around? You. You SHOULD be relaxing and enjoying the day with your favorite people. Hire the buffer.
2. Tell your family members to stay at the ceremony site after the ceremony if they're part of group photos. Nobody wants to track down Uncle Joe from cocktail hour... especially those of us who don't have a clue what he looks like.
3. Before hiring your vendors, message or call them a few times to see their response times (if at all). One of my pet peeves is trying to track down vendors who don't respond to texts, calls, or emails when I'm trying to make sure we're all on the same page to make your day run smoothly. That is 100% a sure-fire way for them to NOT make it onto my preferred vendor list, even if they're awesome day-of. You don't want to be stressed two weeks before your wedding because your vendor's not responding to you either.
4. Tell your friends/family they get TWO MINUTES for toasts (they'll take 5 if you say 2). They need to be respectful of everyone's time and practice beforehand. Nobody wants to sit through 45 minutes of unrehearsed toasts, where each person takes 15 minutes.
5. Book your planner/coordinator before or right after your venue. We have people we LOVE to work with (multiple options in each category), so it'll help save you the headache, and oftentimes money, too.
6. Match your expectations to your budget. If your total wedding budget is $70,000, don't look at Pinterest where florals cost $20,000.
7. DIY rarely saves money. This usually ends in panic-buying the week of OR just paying the professional's last-minute rates to fix what you initially planned to do yourself.
8. Ask your vendors about their horror stories and take their advice. We're really good at sharing what to expect/what you could be prepared for!
