Wedding Help?

Question

My fiance and I have finally set a date for our wedding. It's not until 2008 (we're waiting until after our little one is born), but I want to start planning now...haha, and that's just it. I'm clueless! I have to idea where to start .. if anyone could offer any suggestions that would be great. I don't really have a theme, but I want it to be elegant, but modern. I'm already on theknot.com and I don't want to hire a consultant...just because of the budget. Im kind of looking for color schemes, and just ideas. I did see these colors, creams, ivorys and very very light orange, but I don't know. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks -Emily.

Also, I would (as a suprise to my fiance, imcorperate a small memorial to his deceased father) And My fiance would like to have the color light or baby blue in the wedding somewhere...


Ideas??

Thank you!

I don't want to get married at the courthouse. We already have a little boy... this is our second baby..

People really need to quit being rude about my children and my wedding. You have no idea about my situation, or my background... the only thing you know about me is that Im getting married and I'll have two beautiful babies, and a man I love very much. Keep your opinions about the wedding and my babies to yourself, I just asked for wedding ideas. Geez.

Answer 1

Hi Emily. In the same situation with a 6/08 wedding. I'm a guy and I'm doing most of the planning LOL. The first thing you should do is get on your theknot.com account and check out the "wedding checklist" section. It will give you a monthly rundown of things you should be worrying about from now until the wedding date.

At this point, you should be worrying about:

1. Location of wedding and reception. You need to work this out FIRST THING
2. Date
3. Guest List
4. Save the date cards

After you get your location, get on your guest list ASAP. You will want to send out the save the date cards in about a month or two.

Check out www.magnetstreet.com for save the date cards and magnets. We got ours there and they have a HUGE selection - bigger than any other place I found on the internets.

Good luck!

Answer 2

OK, first of all Congrats on both the engagement and the baby.

Now down to business. FIRST THINGS FIRST..the number one step in the planning process has to be to law down the budget and find out who is contributing. Ask those who are contributing to just give you an allowance and you chose where to apply it. Otherwise they want to control stuff and it turns into a mess. NEXT with a firm budget in place research research research. I am getting married in 12/07 and have been engaged since 2/06 so i have had a long engagement too. The best thing i did was research vendors and did a lot of price comparisons. Make sure you include all the little details too..it all adds up. Try brides.com, weddingsolutions.com, etc. THEN decide on a date, theme, colors, and style for sure (sometimes you will change your mind as you see things while you research). Then start booking and purchasing. It is never too early to start booking your vendors because the ones you really like may get booked if you wait. Also it is nice when you have it all done ahead of time because it avoids last minute chaos...especially since you will have a little one then.
Lastly, delegate...if you need help ask your fiance to book the rehearsal dinner or the hotel for the night of the wedding. Or ask your brides maids to help with invites, etc. AND make a list of all the things that matter to you most about your wedding day..those things should be top priority! I am doing home made memorial candles for each of our lost loved ones. they will be opposite our unity candle at the alter.
Hope this helped a little, good luck!
www.brides.com
www.weddingsolutions.com
www.ebay.com (i bought a lot of supplies, shoes, tiara, veil, etc there you can find some good deals)
www.modernbride.com
www.ewedding.com
www.wedquarters.com
OK ONE LAST THING...www.bigday.com we registered for our honeymoon there so that we get our honeymoon instead of usual gifts at our shower.

Answer 3

I got a small notebook and listed everything I would need for a wedding (dress, cake, food, invitations, thank you cards, etc). Try thinking of the wedding day in every detail - do you want a church or outside, do you want to serve a meal, all that type of stuff. Then as you picture your perfect day, write down everything you need to buy. Once your list is done, rearrange it into categories - example, flowers for you, husband, church, etc. Then you need to take care of the major items first - like booking the church and reception hall and caterer (this usually needs 9 months to a year advanced planning). If you don't know what colors you want, get a bridal magazine and flip through it until something really catches your eye, or visit a florist shop and do the same, or maybe let your future husband choose.
I found a TON of great stuff on-line for a fraction of the cost of getting it through bridal companies. It just takes a lot of leg work and planning.
Hope this helps! Congratulations!

Answer 4

Go to your local library and borrow some books on wedding planning. You can get some great ideas there, they usually have some really helpful & practical advice, and best of all its free (one of the first things you'll learn about wedding planning - save $$ where you can!!)

Best wishes.




EDIT: Baby blue can be your theme color if you like. As for the memorial, you can either print a little bit of something on the back of the programs (if you're having them) or have a picture and a candle burning in the corner of the church (which you would then have moved to the reception area).

Answer 5

When my sister was married, our grandfather was remembered in a very sweet way without it being sad and depressing. She had a single rose in a bud vase on top of the piano during the ceremony and on the sign in table at the reception. There was a note in the program that mentioned the meaning of the rose. It was a beautiful tribute, without being overwhelming. Often tributes kind of spoil the happy mood. Make it honorable, but you don't want to ruin the happy spirit of the day. Definately book your locations for the ceremony and reception first and hire your service people (cake, officiant, food, music) You don't have to make final decisions on things yet, just book the date. Let your fiancee have pale blue as one of the colors and pick another one to go with it, it is a pretty color and it will make him feel involved. You don't want to hurt his feelings right off the bat, he may not offer any more input!!

Answer 6

First thing you need to do is set a budget so you know how much you're willing to spend. After that, you need to book a ceremony site. Often, you need to book the venue a year or so in advance, so I would get on that pronto! That's also where the majority of your budget will be going, so it's good to get that out of the way so you know how much is left for dresses and favors and such. The Knot is a great site! Make use of it! They will list vendors in your area and have tons of color schemes to look through.

And congrats on the upcoming nuptuals!

Answer 7

Honestly, I think baby blue with pale orange would be very lovely!

For more ideas, look for Martha Stewart Weddings magazines...they're not expensive (at least as compared to a big planning book), and offer lots of ideas.

Also, there should be plenty of reference guides at your local library. You don't have to own all of the info in order to use it.

Don't forget to go to as many bridal shows as possible. Besides having the local vendors there, you can also get a lot of good ideas from the displays that they offer.

Just one more thing...Don't laugh about starting now! Honestly, you're just barely giving yourself enough time! For example, I went with my daughter to look for venues...we went out on a Thursday, and looked at about 12 different places. On that day, my daughter's chosen wedding date (at 18 months in advance) was available...but by Saturday (only three days later!), when we tried to book it, the date was fully booked! You seriously need to start ASAP!

With regard to the memorial to your husband's father...I think this is yet another lovely idea. Do be cautious to make it as upbeat as possible, since you don't want everyone sad at your happy event. Did he have a favorite song? Or did he and his wife have a song that was theirs? It might be nice to have this as the mother-son dance for your husband and his mother to dance to. Alternately, if you could find a nice picture him, you could have a wallet-sized copy made, and slip it into his breast pocket when you meet him at the altar...Ask the best man to give a brief mention during the toast that while he couldn't be at the wedding physically, he's still very near and dear to everyone's hearts.

Answer 8

I want more of a garden type wedding... like at a really nice southern plantation, have the wedding cerimony in the inside mid-day, with the reception outside in the evening when it cools down. I want chinese (or is it japanese?) lantern-esque lighting with yellow roses and accents of orange with the main color being white. only a few people from each side of the family (like 15-25 each). and the food will be set up like an elegant buffet. thats all i got so far, but i think it will be the perfect wedding for me (if my future husband likes it too).

Answer 9

I am getting married this weekend and didn't have as much time to plan as you did but heres how i came up with decoration ideas....

I bought my maid of honors dress, matched the best mans shirt or tux to that and used them as my colors.

My colors were coral and light yellow.

I made my bouquet from these colors and an ivory color along with all of the other flowers and decor.

Good luck with your wedding.

Answer 10

book the reception hall! Most places book a year in advance. I booked mine last October for a wedding this October and I took the last Sat. they had availble!