Wedding Blog

Deep breaths.
I am planning a wedding for 200 in a place I’ve only been twice, where I don’t know my way around, don’t have any friends or family - and it has really been a blessing being able to compartmentalize wedding errands all into one week. I went for one weekend in September to choose the venue, and one long weekend in February to get through a very similar check list as the one you have above (two cake tastings, caterer tastings, find and practice with hair and makeup, meet officiant, find a florist, find rentals/linens, choose wine, etc). I made a very detailed Excel schedule, Excel contact list, and pre-printed all of the maps to ensure that the trip went smoothly - and it did. I was glad I had the contact list with me at all times, because I was frequently calling the next vendor/appt to tell them we were going to be 30 minutes late.
A few suggestions - eliminate everything from that list that you can do via phone or email:
1.) If you’ve already booked the DJ, you can email him song lists and discuss things over the phone. Then if you really want to meet him in person (why?) you only need a 15 minute appointment to confirm all the things you already emailed and discussed via phone.
2.) The same thing goes for all the vendors you already have booked/scheduled - send pictures of hair styles via email, cake styles, etc. so when you get to these appointments they are much shorter because the communication has already taken place.
3.) Do not schedule your tastings for the same day. Also don’t cut these appointments short. You only get to plan your wedding once, and these appts are so fun - enjoy them.
4.) Do not worry about planning timing while at these appts (hair, rehearsal, etc.) Give them all an approximate time. When you get back home to Winnipeg, take all the information you have and make a schedule then and email it to people. Timing is too difficult to figure out until after you have all the pieces of the puzzle. It does not have to be done face-to-face, and figuring it out is stressful - so wait until you have all the vendors set and are at home with Excel to figure it all out.
5.) Buy attendants gifts online and have them shipped directly to your parents house. I’d also suggest pre-purchasing cards, wrapping paper, etc. online and having them shipped to your parents too - I do this whenever I am traveling across the country for holidays - I don’t want to lug everything, but I also don’t want to have only a few hours to find all the presents.
6.) Try do hair and make-up with same person.
7.) You do not need to visit limo places - you know what limos look like. Relinquish control of this. I will never see my limos ahead of time. If you insist that they are seen - use the internet to research and reserve limos with two companies. Have your sister go look at them when she has time - do not waist your precious time going to a limo place.
8.) We found a store that had tuxes both where we live and where we are getting married - you can choose your tuxes before your trip - email the groomsmen the information (location of store, time frame they need to go within, style) and have them take care of it.
9.) You can bring the babypics back to Winnipeg with you and scan them at a library for free in Winnipeg. Better yet, have your family go through them now and mail them to you - you can start scanning immediately.
I will stop with this list, but the point is you are only as stressed as you decide to be. I have many vendors that I will not meet until my wedding - and I probably won’t even meet them then - my DOC will just take care of things. These include: nannies for kids, band, ceremony musicians… You can research these things online, have them mail/email/fax you licensing info, music samples, etc. So my final advice is to look at your list and figure out what is really 100% necessary, and cutting what isn’t (like meeting the DJ or seeing the limo). If you want any of my Marathon Wedding Planning Weekend excel sheets, let me know. Good luck.

Harvey DOES look like an Ewok! Mrs. Tulip was dead-on! Shortcake, delegate whatever you possibly can to whomever you can trust to do it right….