Sweetly Paired Wishes all newly engaged couples a HUGE congrats!

Yay, so you got the ring! What next? Here are some good steps to follow so the beginning of the planning process is smooth, and sets you up for success! 

It's really exciting when things happen to change the course of your life - and getting engaged is certainly one of those times. We work with tons of newly engaged couples to find dates, venues, and get on the path to planning their curated, experiential wedding... but there are lots of couples who find pitfalls instead of rainbows - and here are some tips to avoid having a stressful beginning to your wedding planning process! These are 6 tips to help you start off on the right foot with planning your wedding! 

 Wedding Planning Tip #1:
Hire a wedding planner right away, don't wait until you have a venue and a date! The planner can help you find a venue, because they know the venues' rules, needs, costs, and pros and cons like the back of their hands.... or at least WE do! We have multiple lead planners on the team, so you won't be limited by date by hiring us first - You'll get the full force of our team's expertise in Colorado's wedding venues, and have an awesome planning team by your side the entire way! 

Wedding Planning Tip #2
Set your budget with your planner BEFORE venue hunting. This allows you to not find yourself what we call 'venue poor' - The wedding equivalent of being 'house poor'. This occurs when you spend too much of your budget in one place. If you don't know your budget yet, and start touring venues - you could end up in big trouble. A good wedding planner can help you sort out your budget, and understand the implications to guest experience if you do decide to splurge in a certain category - and this includes venues! 

Wedding Planning Tip #3
​Take your planner venue hunting! This may (or may not) cost you a little extra, depending on the package you choose with the planner - but it's worth it. They know all of the ins-and-outs of the venues, including all the blemishes that the venue sales person won't show you. They know when it's a difficult space to work in, or if the staff at the venue is amazing and easy to work with or a mess and constantly replacing sales and operations staff. These things make a huge difference in your planning experience, as well as the guests' experience on the day or weekend of your wedding! 

Wedding Planning Tip #4 - 
Give yourself time! Most weddings take 12-18 months to plan. You can plan faster than that, of course, but know the stress of making all those decisions can weigh on you and your relationships. We can plan a wedding for 150 people and 100k budget in a month... but the decisions have to be made in like a week. An average wedding takes hundreds of hours to plan, because it takes some thinking to make all of the decisions that weddings and events require. Think about how you make decisions, and how your fiancee does... and how that will affect any other decision makers in the process.. I know 6 months sounds like forever away, but truly, it's right around the corner! 

Wedding Planning Tip #5
Choose your date carefully! You have already considered other important days in your lives - birthdays, holidays, months you love or hate, etc. Now think through the date with another lens. What will the weather be like? Are you wanting the leaves to be green? fall-colored? covered in snow? What experience do you want your guests to have? Keep these things in mind: 

• Fridays and Sundays are often less pricey than Saturdays, and more often available. 
• Off-season dates can be cheaper, but weather and other factors are why! Think that through before booking an off-season date. 
• It can be tempting to go for half-days or shorter time periods for price, but keep in mind what that may do to your timeline! 

Wedding Planning Tip #6 - 
Don't fall into the all-inclusive trap - unless you're in Mexico! This is a huge trap. There seems to be an uptick in all-inclusive venues - handling everything from the food and beverage to the DJ, officiant, photographer, and flowers. What you're really getting with these venues is what EVERY wedding they've done before you, and every one after has gotten... all packaged in a boring, repetitive box! 

• The food is bad. Like memorably bad. Almost infallibly. They have no reason to make it better, you guys. No competition. 
  
• The images look like a 1990 flash-photography wedding. They use the cheapest photographers, and pay them crap. You're better off finding a photographer on your own, and curating your look with them. Getting to know them, and getting comfortable with them. 
  
• The looks are dated, and boring. Trust me, an experienced planner and designer can do so much more with less!  

​Moral of this story - hire a wedding planner at whatever level you can afford. 

• ​They are worth their weight in gold. They often save you as much as their fee costs in not making mistakes, getting the right vendors for you r budget, and showing you cost-saving tips and tricks! 
  
• Whether it's us or another planner - They're the only person in your day who has your best interest at heart in EVERY decision that's made. 
• Planners are a wealth of knowledge - it's why they do what they do. They know all the things, and all the people. That's part of what you're buying with a wedding planner's services!