11 Things to Know When Planning Your Wedding

I’m so freaking excited to be writing this post for you, ladies! I honestly loved planning my wedding. It was the actual getting married/making the biggest decision of my life part that was stressful to me haha. Planning the wedding was a piece of cake compared to that! So, hopefully this post will take some stress off of you and get you excited too! I’m going to share where I got everything, who I hired for what in which state, and the things I wish I had known or done differently in hindsight. I could go on for days about this stuff but I’ll try to stick to the most important things. Here we go! 

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  1. DO make a Pinterest board to get a clear idea of what you like and don’t like.

    And DON’T be afraid to do things YOUR way. A wedding is a symbol of you and your person, who you guys are, and the life you’re going to create. Go the clean, timeless route or wear a wide brimmed hat and have pampas grass in your bouquet. Who cares as long as YOU love it! In addition to Pinterest, going on Instagram and stalking wedding photographers is helpful for figuring out what you like as well. They usually do styled shoots with other vendors and it’s a great way to see what’s out there. (Some great photographers and accounts to check out for wedding inspiration: @blakehogge, @caramia, @laurkenkendall, @brandyjacksonphoto, @altamoda.) Save the things you like to categorized boards on Instagram as well. And if you love something you see but it’s not tagged, ASK ABOUT IT. Either in a comment or a DM. It never hurts ask. The worst that can happen is they don’t respond. 

  2. DON’T limit yourself to one style of dress when wedding dress shopping.

    Try on all kinds of styles of dresses. You never know, the one you never thought you’d like might end up looking incredible on you.

  3. DO take care in choosing your photographer.

    When choosing one, make sure to look at how they edit. Some photographers have a very trendy editing style that is very of the moment. While some people are okay with that, some would rather opt for something more clean and timeless. Think about it this way, would you like to have their photos displayed on the walls of your home for years to come? If so, you’re good to go. If not, you need to keep looking. ALSO, if you just absolutely love a certain photographer and you can tell they have lots of different editing styles, you can always tell them which kinds of edits you prefer and they should be willing to work with you! You also don’t have to go with just one photographer. I did a different one for each shoot. Sometimes it’s more budget friendly to do everything through one photographer though just because they offer deals on packages. 

  4. DO communicate with your photographer.

    Make a list of the kinds of photos you want and give that list to your photographer. Over communicate so you’re not disappointed. We somehow ended up with no photos of us with any extended family in attendance. That’s not okay.

  5. DO have a videographer.

    The day will fly by and you’ll want to relive it when you have a sec to breathe. I treasure my wedding video. 

  6. DO give ask important people adequate time to prepare toasts beforehand.

    And, if you do choose to get a videographer, make sure you get those toasts on said video. Those are so special. I also think it’s super cute when the videographer interviews the bride and groom beforehand too. I wish we had done that. 

  7. DON’T have a million bridesmaids.

    It complicates everything and makes pictures more challenging/take longer. I ended up having 11. I would know. For the bachelorette party, you have more schedules to coordinate with and more opinions than you need. It’s also just a lot more intimate in my opinion to have just a few. I’d keep it at even numbers and would say that 4 is ideal. If you or your significant other have a ton of sisters and you want them to be included in the bridal party then I have 2 suggestions. 1. If you aren’t super close with all the sisters, put all family (both male and female) in a certain color that way the family feels included. 2. If you do want (or have to have) all of the sisters as bridesmaids, do it but then choose 1-2 of your besties so that you can still have them (my friends are a huge deal to me) Side note: For my bridesmaid dresses: I had them all choose their own but run it by me for approval. I just told them all to just get something that was a neutral pink and floor length. I think it turned out pretty good :)

  8. DO pick a maid of honor that will get crap done and not cry about it.

    You don’t need more stress. Sometimes your BFF isn’t the best option….just sayin. Also don’t do your bachelorette party the day before your wedding. You’ll be exhausted the day of. 

  9. DO pick a good MC

    You will want someone to direct the flow of the night. It can be anyone but make sure that person has the itinerary for the reception so they can direct everything properly. Also, don’t forget to tell them when to cut the music from the first dance to transition to the father-daughter/mother-son dance. You don’t want to be dancing alone up there for 4 mins straight. Lol. It gets awkward after the first minute. 

  10. DO enjoy your own wedding.

    Eat your wedding food and DANCE. You don’t need to talk to Great Aunt Susanne or your cousin in law twice removed. It’s very nice but let your parents do that. Cut your receiving line at 45 mins to 1 hour tops. (Or just don’t have one at all! Even better!) After that, just ENJOY.

  11. For those of you who don’t know, Adam and I are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also commonly known as Mormon or LDS. When we get married, we get sealed together for time and all eternity. This special wedding ceremony can only take place inside of a temple and then a reception/festivities usually follow in the evening. It’s a beautiful thing and the sealing ceremony is something that is revered. However, I do have some beef with LDS wedding celebrations and that is that the receptions are SO CASUAL. Some people even call them an open house. Maybe you want a casual reception or an open house but I think getting married is a big deal. People showed up to my reception in SHORTS and were chit chatting during our first dance. ABSOLUTELY NOT. At my second wedding in California, I kept it to guest list of 50 people which made it very intimate and I loved having it that way. I knew that everyone there cared about me and my husband and were there for US. Do not stand for people showing up just to eat your expensive wedding food, socialize, and then bounce! It is SO disrespectful and I see it happen over and over again. It doesn’t help that there are like 5 weddings every weekend during peak wedding season but still. It’s a very important day and if someone was fortunate enough to be invited then they should act accordingly! If you are LDS, in order to avoid all of the special moments getting wrecked, I recommend the flow of the day to go like this. Do with it what you will ;)

Have your temple Sealing in the late morning/lunch time. Skip the luncheon and have an intimate dinner with everyone important around 5-6 (this takes the place of the luncheon). (If you’re going to have a ring ceremony, have it right before said dinner) Do the toasts or any fun getting to know the bride/groom games there during the dinner. Have it last 1-2 hours then bring out the desserts and horderves and let the open house part begin. Do the mom/son and father/daughter dance and first dance at that time and then just let the dance party begin.  

On second thought, maybe just elope. Just spend all your money on your dress, flights, and photographer and elope somewhere sick. Just you and your person. That would been best. Hahahaha.


Some extra things for your benefit:

Here are the MAIN things you should tackle in order of financial importance in my opinion:

  1. Photographer. Because these pictures are going to last FOREVER

  2. Videographer. I recommend @haley_bateman, @auttyship, @lobeeston, or @caitcutty (I used her).

  3. Dress. Go to multiple places and even look online. BHLDN is one you can look at online or just go stalk @altamoda on instagram. You’ll get plenty of inspo and exposure to different styles and designers there. And, it’s kind of shocking, but if price is an issue David’s Bridal has really stepped up their game lately. Another cheap option is to get your dress custom made. I talk more about that down below in the Vendor section.

  4. Venue

  5. Flowers

  6. Food


My Vendors:

*Disclaimer: I had 2 weddings in 2 different places and shot all of my pre-wedding things in Utah. Therefore, all of the vendors I’m going to list are going to be from a few different places.

Engagements in Provo Canyon: Benjamin Patch

I don’t believe Ben takes clients anymore but it’s always worth a try! He’s crazy talented.

First Look Bridals in Big Cottonwood Canyon: Blake Hogge (Bouquet by the Potted Pansy)

I HIGHLY recommend Blake. You will never feel more comfortable in front of a camera. He is the biggest sweetheart, is so accommodating, and will make sure you look amazing. He will also give you SO MANY photos to choose from. I treasure the photos he took. He captured our love in a way I didn’t know was possible. I’d hire him over and over again. 

Bridals: Eden Strader shot at dead horse point.

Eden is extremely talented, very clean and very editorial.

Hair and makeup for both bridals: Marisa Rose @marisarosemua

She is located in Utah but travels I believe. She does a great job of just enhancing your natural beauty.

AZ Wedding Day at the Gilbert Temple: @kayleechelseaphotography

Her and her husband work as a team and were super awesome! The photos turned out amazing and I chose her because I loved her editing style. My only advice would be if you are LDS, to have an LDS photographer or someone who has shot a lot of LDS weddings shoot your actual wedding day. They will know what kinds of shots are expected such as the classic group shot where the bride and groom are kissing and everyone else is cheering enthusiastically in the background and just all of the family photos that you typically want in front of the temple. If you are LDS, I know these things seems like a given but they’re not to someone who is not familiar.

California Wedding Day in Sausalito, CA: Madison Hardisty @maddyshoots

Maddy edits with rich colors and is extremely good at capturing movement. She was the perfect person to photograph our California wedding day. She also did a beautiful job capturing my dress in its full glory which is really all I wanted lol.

Videographer: Caitlyn Cutler (Now Daw) @caitdawg

Cait was incredible. She understood what I wanted and brought it to life. She was extremely easy to work with and so accommodating. Almost 3 years later and I’m still obsessed with our wedding video.

Dress: Stella by Leanne Marshall from Alta Moda Bridal Boutique in Salt Lake

I freaking LOVE Alta Moda but warning, if you don’t want to spend $1500-$2000+ on a dress (not including alterations) do not go in there. You will fall in love and you will be sad leaving without the dress of your dreams. OR you could schedule an appointment, commit your fave dress to memory because they don’t let you take pictures and then go get it custom made. Much cheaper. Just won’t be the same fabrics or quality that comes from the actual designer dress.

AZ florals: Hannah Nissen

CA florals: @walnut.and.main

My favorite bouquet next to the one by the potted pansy. This one was waaaay lighter than the potted pansy one I had in my bridals with Blake, though. I swear that one was 10+ lbs.

AZ venue: Regency Garden

CA Venue: the banquet room above the trident restaurant in Sausalito, CA

The banquet room is right above the restaurant and it’s called Events Ondine. It was tiny and right on the water and I loved it.

Lastly, I want to warn you that you might get to a point in the planning and pre-wedding process where you’re just over waiting and just want to be married already. At least I did. So I am here to tell you not to do that. It truly is one of the most important days of your life and hopefully it only ever has to happen once. That being said, you will wish you cared more about certain things. Your wedding is one of the only days it gets to be ALL ABOUT YOU. Hopefully this post gave you some good pointers! I love you so much and congrats on getting married! 

xxx,

Sam