Wedding Blog

Planning! This was the most exciting part of the wedding for me. Before planning, we needed to: make sure we set a budget, got a rough idea of the wedding style we wanted, and sorted out what was most important to us. We didn’t want the budget to balloon out of control, so it was best to really try to plan out where the money would be spent.

Our budget was based more upon what we could afford and less on what our “dream wedding” would be. Ideally, they would have matched, but we had to make compromises. Like most brides, my budget wasn’t big, so I had to pick one thing that I would compromise the least on, and everything else had to be budget-friendly.

I started with picking our colors, which were red and pink, with the idea of wanting lots of lanterns. Red and pink are the most common colors (luckily), so we found a lot of things in those colors without spending too much money. Think about Valentine’s Day… everything is red and pink! So, I got a lot of our decorations the day after Valentine’s Day (when they were on sale). We stock-piled a whole lot of candy, and it worked out perfectly.

Be open-minded with colors! I decided to use different shades of red and pink. By not restricting myself to a certain shade, it made our planning easier. Various shades added a nice dimension to our photographs.

The venue was the most important decision of our wedding (since it affected everything) and we needed to make sure we started thinking about it early on. When looking at venues, be sure to ask if they book multiple weddings (or any events) on the same day. This could have a big impact on setup time, cleanup time, and other things.

I wanted to do my own decorations and wanted a venue with an old vintage feel, so I went to look at a few historic sites. Most historic villages have houses that you can rent for a wedding or reception. In Vietnam, people always have their weddings in their parents’ backyard or at the husband’s family home, and I wanted the same feel. We only invited family and close friends, so I wanted them to feel like they came over to my house and we had a party.

When picking a venue, make sure you see if it fits with your ideal decorations and ask about food and alcohol. Be sure to ask about who needs to pay for the alcohol, who needs to bring the alcohol, what type of alcohol is allowed, and also who’s allowed to serve the alcohol (you may need a licensed server). Ask if it’s mandatory to use their caterer, or if you have to use a venue-approved caterer, or if you can use any caterer you want. If they let you bring your own caterer and alcohol, it’s a lot cheaper (usually). Most venues charge a small fee for rental, but will charge a lot more to use their caterers for food and alcohol. Lots of caterers actually own their own venues just for this purpose! Some venues (mainly hotels, for us) would pull this trick - they would let us use our own caterer, but they would charge a percentage of what our caterer charged as a fee for not using the venue’s caterer! So the bottom line is: ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS UP-FRONT so you know what to expect.

We looked at various venues and made sure to check neighboring cities, and decided to go with Chestnut Square in McKinney. It has a little white chapel with a garden full of Wisteria (one of my favorite flowers), a wonderful little house, and a pergola that worked perfectly for our lanterns at our reception. Chestnut Square also has quite a few old houses around and we decided to send our guests for a tour of the village after the ceremony to make sure they didn’t get bored waiting for us to take our pictures. Remember to think about your guests, too (they need to keep busy or they’ll go home!). When you book a historic venue, part of your money may be an official donation, so you’re giving back to your community as well as possibly getting a tax refund, too (very budget friendly).

We love photography and decided that was the most important thing for us. The photographer was our wedding story-teller, so we chose one that would tell our story in a wonderful way. The photographs are there forever. Scott and Tem are wonderful photographers who treated us like family. Not only are they artistic, but they are wonderful people who made us feel comfortable and delivered great photographs. We love their style.

DIY projects were HUGE when it came to saving some money. I took on DIY flowers, invitations, an aisle runner, a huge candy table, and all other decor. I started with our invitations. I created a monogram because it was a wonderful way to add to our wedding style. It created a custom feel and was a nice motif to tie things together. For inspiration, go to a local craft store and see if you can find different types of papers. You can get some inspiration from there, and in the calligraphy section of the store. I did research on the internet as well, just to get an idea of what I would like to do. Since I’m a web designer, it’s easy for me to design everything myself. If you can’t do it by yourself, you can hire someone to design your invitation (or just your monogram) and you can reuse the artwork for programs, candy wrappers, thank-you tags… etc. I also created a website to keep our family updated on our planning process.

Hobby Lobby is one of my favorite stores to visit. They always have 40% off coupons and it helped me keep my budget down. Check their website (or any store’s website, for that matter) for weekly specials and you’ll find a lot of bargains. It seems like they have 50% off vases every month, and that’s where I got a lot of my candy and centerpiece vases.

Another tip for planning a wedding is to think outside the box. Don’t get in the Wedding Mode where everything has to be “wedding” appropriate. Don’t let your mother, sister, mother-in-law, etc. tell you how everything has to be. It’s your wedding, not theirs, so it should be your style. Their input is very helpful and some of their ideas will certainly be used, so be firm but polite, and let them know how to help you best. Use things that you normally like to use for decorations, or things that you already have. Those things add a lot of personality and save you a lot of money. Go to IKEA, Pier One, and Home Goods, and take a look around. They have really neat household items that you can use for your wedding and then keep for your house. We bought a lot of apothecary jars, hanging vases, and candle holders that I could use for our house after the wedding.

Stay tuned for the next topic… attire!

What are your favorite words of advice when it comes to wedding planning?