5 Basic Principles for Planning a Wedding

Planning a wedding takes a lot of time and effort. Everything needs to be planned and organized in order to avoid any last minute hassles. The ultimate aim of all this planning is that the bride and groom enjoy their day, and all the guests should leave with smiles on their faces and appreciation for the couple’s wedding party.

Besides planning the theme and finding the perfect venue for the party, one of the most important decisions is what the bride and groom will wear. The groom might not really care what he wears, but every bride wants to find the perfect mermaid wedding dress, and she won't stop looking until she finds it.

Here are some basic principles to follow while planning a wedding:

1. Don’t Overspend:
   Some brides blow the entire wedding budget just to purchase that perfect wedding dress. Shopping for the wedding dress is a lot of fun, perhaps the most essential part of the whole process, but do not spend your entire budget on a single dress. That doesn't mean you can't have a nice dress because there really are cheap wedding dresses with the same design and features. They'll leave you with money to pay the photographer!
    
2. Book the Venue in Advance:
   This is really important. Decide on the wedding venue and book it as early as possible. If you wait too long, it will most likely already be booked on the day you want. You do not want to be scrambling around at the last minute looking for some place - any place - to hold your wedding. So get the venue taken care of, and then you can focus on all the other details.
    
3. Involve Close Friends Only:
   You don’t need to invite every single person you know to the wedding. It will just lengthen your wedding guest list and add to your expenses. Instead, focus on inviting close friends and relatives, people who are important in your life. Not only will this save you money, but it will make your special day more meaningful because you are sharing it with people you care about.
    
4. Don’t Get too Stressed:
   Yes, this is one of the most important days of your life, but stressing out over all the details can take all the fun out of it. Brides especially tend to worry about all those little details. Remember to schedule some time that doesn't involve wedding planning. Get the groom involved in some of the details - it's his day too, and splitting the work will make it easier on both of you. You'll enjoy your day much more if you're not burnt out and exhausted by the time it gets here.
    
5. Keep Your Budget Handy:
   In order to avoid spending too much, put together a budget before you begin planning.  Keep it handy as you're planning so you will know if something you want fits into the budget. If you save money on the wedding dress, you'll know you have a bit of extra money for that special cake. Or if you spend a bit more than originally planned for the photographer, you'll be able to see how much you need to save on something else.

These are just a few things to keep in mind when planning a wedding. Feel free to share any other tips that you have. I'd love to hear them!

Who's Supposed to Plan the Baby Shower?

Beth texted me this week and told me that one of Tim's sisters is planning a baby shower in March, and I'm supposed to go, and I'm supposed to buy her something for the baby.  Then she called tonight because the date is changing, and she's not sure it's going to work, and maybe that shower should just be for Tim's family, and there's not really room where they want to hold the shower for a lot of people, and isn't March early, and....

So I don't really know what's happening.  Who's really supposed to plan a baby shower?  Her friends?  A family member?  Her mom?  Yeah, that'd be me.  I don't even remember how it worked when I was having kids, and honestly I've never really been all that excited about showers anyway.  Maybe I can just stick with talking to her about pumping breast milk and reducing stretchmarks, and leave the 'fun' stuff to someone else.

Maybe a 'virtual' baby shower without the silly games and all the people.  That's possible, right?

When Planning an Event

We haven't actually planned a major Feast site for a few years. Last year I put together the teens and parents surveys for the Rapid City site, but we really didn't get that many responses - and then, once we got those responses, we didn't have a good way to sort and use our information. Regardless, we did have a good number of young people there, which was really good for the kids. This year? I don't know.

I'm wondering if using some kind of corporate event planning software would have made things easier. Actually this site regonline would be better than that - there's no software to buy or install. It's all web based. All those things I had to handle myself, like sending confirmation emails, figuring out the cost of housing, and collecting payments? All done automatically. Now they also let event planners build a nice-looking web page (here's an example) to integrate the whole planning and registering process. All the information about the event is organized nicely, with the opportunity to "Register Now" while they are on the web page. I know I would be more likely to get my registration taken care of for something if it was that easy. If I get something in the mail and have to mail it in, I'm more likely to set it aside and then never get back to it. Of course, I do most things online, and I hate not having that option.