Avoid Making These Mistakes While Planning a Wedding

Hooray! You’ve finally gotten engaged to the love of your life. There’s nothing more exhilarating than planning for the future with that special someone. 

There’s a ton of planning that goes into your big day. While you can plan for different circumstances, some things are outside of your control. However, will a little foresight, you can avoid common pitfalls that the most prepared bride or groom encounters. 

Don’t worry, we’re here to help. We’re going to talk about the most common wedding mistakes so you can avoid them. 

Blowing Your Budget

Before you get started on looking at venues or even setting a date, you need to set your budget. Money isn’t the most fun conversation to have. But, it’s an important one. It’ll prepare you for the financial conversations you’ll have after you’re married. 

Knowing how much you can spend ahead of time will set your expectations. You need to itemize every little thing you plan to pay for. This includes:

• Clothing
• Venue
• Food
• Drinks
• DJs
• Rental cars
• Hotels
• Tips for the vendors

All of these little things add up to a lot. Not taking them into account could result in you blowing through your budget in no time. 

There are also a ton of hidden costs. This can include postage stamps and event insurance. Event insurance is important– according to Insuranks, the average one-day event insurance cost is $76.5 a day, so you’ll want to take that into consideration. Wedding insurance will protect you against unforeseen circumstances, like a storm. 

Not Unplugging

Imagine looking through your wedding photos, the ones you paid thousands of dollars for, only to see shot after shot of people holding up their cell phones. While we totally get people wanting pictures on their phones that they can look at, it’ll ruin yours. 

Phones can ruin your ceremony. Your loved ones need to be present. Your wedding means a lot to you and it should to them as well. They need to view it through their eyes instead of looking at it through their phone. 

An unplugged ceremony is more than getting pesky cell phones out of your wedding pictures. It’s a chance for you to connect deeper with your loved ones. 

Ask them to put away their phones for the ceremony. You can decide if you’ll allow phones out during the reception. It’s up to you. You can also ask your guests not to post wedding photos online until you’ve revealed your own. 

Letting Others Pick Whose in Your Wedding Party

Your wedding party is 100% your decision. You need to narrow it down to your closest family members and friends. Family ties and gender aren’t important when choosing who you want standing beside you when you say “I do.” 

You shouldn’t pick people just to please another person. That can just cause drama and you could not feel great about your wedding party. At the end of the day, it’s your wedding. Do what you want. 

Allowing Another Person to Dictate Your Guest List

Like with the mistake we just talked about, letting others say who you do or don’t invite is a bad idea. The people you have at your wedding have an impact on the day as a whole. You want to stand up and bear your heart in front of people you care about. 

Don’t let other people affect who gets to witness your special moment. You also shouldn’t feel bad about only inviting those you’re comfortable with. Focus on creating an amazing experience for yourself and your partner. It’s impossible to please everyone with an opinion. 

Screwing Up Your Marriage License 

There are so many rules and regulations surrounding marriage licenses. Unless you’ve gotten hitched before, you’re probably not familiar with them. 

For example, let’s look at Pennsylvania. If you get your marriage license 61 days before your wedding, you can’t legally get married on your date. That’s because a marriage license in Pennsylvania is only valid for 60 days. While you can still have your ceremony and reception, you won’t be legally married. 

So, you might think that you should get your marriage license the day before your wedding. That’s also a mistake. Some states require a three-day waiting period. 

There are a few legal things you should check as you get ready for your wedding. They are:

• Your local laws surrounding marriage licenses
• Checking that your officiant is legally ordained 
• Having your officiant or witnesses sign the license right after your ceremony 

We recommend double and triple-checking everything before your wedding day. If this is your second wedding, verify that your divorce papers are filed and certified. 

Failing to Have a Weather Plan

You need to be prepared for anything if any part of your wedding is outside. Try to pick a venue that offers both indoor and outdoor spaces. Even if your ceremony is outside, you’ll have a nice fallback plan if it starts pouring rain. 

If you can’t move your plans inside, have a tent on hold. You could even have a new venue as a backup plan. You’ll also want to think about having blankets, gloves, ponchos, and umbrellas for your guests. 

Not Testing Your Makeup and Hair

Your makeup and hairstyle can have a huge impact on how you look on your wedding day. Wake up feeling confident that you know exactly how you’ll look by doing a trial run. You can schedule it on the same day as your bridal shower, engagement photos, or date night. 

Plan for this day to happen a few months before your wedding. That gives you enough time to find another look if you’re not happy with it. Then you can schedule another appointment to try your new idea. 

Have the Wedding of Your Dreams by Planning Ahead

We don’t want to scare you by bringing up all of the things that can go wrong on your big day. Like with any event with multiple people and factors involved, weddings can be volatile. Keeping a level head and going with the flow is key. 

Hiring a wedding planner is a great way to avoid a lot of these mistakes. They’re trained professionals that know all of the different things that can happen. On top of that, they’ll handle any snafus that take place, taking a lot of stress off of you and your partner.