Words for the Bride: Seasons
Just got engaged? Congratulations!
Starting to plan a wedding can be a bit overwhelming. Don’t worry, here are a few beginning tips I have put together to help you on your way.
What you are going to want to think about at first is the budget, location, time, and date. Let’s start with the four seasons; spring, summer, fall, and winter, and what is associated with the four seasons. By thinking about the seasons it is helping you already set the tone of the wedding.
The months of the year are categorized with their season as such:
March, April, May=Spring
June, July and August=Summer
September, October, November=Fall
December, January, and February=Winter
I would like to talk about the summer first. Are you a summer girl that can’t wait to pull out her swim suit and head down to the pool? When the wind even blows during the summer times do you feel like you need a sweater? Do you like bright colors? If you said yes to all these questions, this is probably a good time to have your wedding.
Things to think about during the summer: One thing is to make sure to provide heat relief if you have your wedding outside during the middle of the day in July, especially down in the deep south. Make sure there is shade and think about creative ways to keep your guests cool. Maybe a mist fan, ushers can hand out cool towels, or during the reception you could have themed popsicles. A second thing is to not serve really heavy food. You will have your guest sweating up a storm. I know in the south here we like our fried food, but maybe think about grilled fish or shrimp. Also, a lot of fresh chilled fruit is wonderfully refreshing after coming off that dance floor. This will keep your guest happy and make for better pictures.
Not a summer girl but would like to have an outdoor wedding? You may want to consider spring. Spring time is associated with the beginning of new life. Flowers are beginning to bloom, and animals are awaking from their sleep. Favorite spring time colors are buttery yellow, pink, and lavender. These classically beautiful colors always more for great photos. More trendy colors usually seen are bright orange, ocean blue, mocha, hot pink, and lime green. But the newest spring colors are steel gray with a crisp white and a straw color. You could also pair the steel gray with a fuchsia or lavender. As far as the spring time foods, I would think about strawberry cake, coconut, lemon creams, and fresh fruit.
Love that smell when the seasons are changing and fall is in the air? If you are thinking about a fall wedding, think rich colors and linens. Chic grays, off-whites, plump, and magenta. Metallic silver and gold mixed with pumpkin and deep avocado are beautiful together. If you are having the wedding and/or reception outdoors, it may be chilly at night. Think about creative ways to keep your guests warm. Maybe your venue has a fire pit or outdoor heaters.
As far as foods, remember this time of year is richly abundant, with tomatoes, squash and corn, apples, pears, grapes, broccoli, and many root vegetable. Pork loin with an apple glaze is popular. Also, some brides have considered a carrot cake for a fall wedding. All of these rich colors and foods make for awesome pictures.
Thinking winter? If you love the holidays and all the festivities that come with the holidays, you may want to make your wedding the festivity of the year. Instead of thinking red and green, think old Hollywood silver, gold, white, off-white, and black. Also, chocolate brown and creams are beautiful together. Down in the deep south this is a great time for seafood gumbo, crawfish etoufee, or Cajun jambalaya. Most brides consider hot chocolate and eggnog to keep their guest toasty and on their feet. You can never have too many sweets at a winter wedding.
A few more random tid bits to consider.
Summer=Make sure to send out save the dates early. People go on vacation during the summer months.
Spring=Avoid family member graduations
Winter=If your family usually gets together at for the holidays anyway, this maybe a good time.
Fall=Football season! Make sure your man and his groomsmen are not going to care if you schedule the wedding on the biggest game of the season.
Hope this has help out the newly engaged a little bit. Have any questions just contact me though my website www.jenscottphoto.com
Words to the Bride: Budgeting
Pull out your glass of wine its budgeting time!
Let’s recap! The last time we met, we talked about the four seasons. By thinking about the four seasons, this will help you determine which time of year you love best, which will lead to the choosing of a wedding date.
This time I would like to talk about wedding budgeting. I know…I know it a horrible thought, but I am here to make this process easier for you. Take a few minutes, pour yourself a glass of wine, put on your favorite listening music, and let’s get started.
First thing first, open a wedding savings account. It’s fast, easy, and you can do it online. Keeping your personal money separate from your wedding money is important. You do not want to be in the mall and see those perfect shoes you must have now and you spend some of that hard earned honeymoon money. That would be terrible!
Most couples are in a situation where they are relatively starting out with their career; they are trying to buy a home, and saving for a honeymoon and/or wedding. This is a lot on a couple’s plate. Also some couples are having a complete lifestyle change. Some couples do not live together until after they are married. These couples have the challenge of learning about how the other truly lives and is and dealing with that life change with all the other stresses going on at this point in life. If you are one of these couples, it’s ok. Take a breather and here are some ways to start saving now:
1) Bring your lunch to work
2) Cook dinner at home
3) Brew your own coffee
4) Netflix instead of movie theater
5) Have friends over instead of going out. Wine and cheese is a lot cheaper than those martinis you would purchased had you gone out.
By the way, if you are bride that is trying to lose weight for the wedding, numbers 1 and 2 above will help you shed off those pounds. So not only are you saving money you are losing weight also.
Now we will talk of way to save on the actually wedding day. If on a strict budget, think about not having too many people in the wedding party. This will help you save on boutiques and gifts. Think about having a three course meal instead of a five. Invite 100 guests instead of 150 guests. Doing these little things will help you keep your budget down. Think about not having too many people in the wedding party. This will help you save on boutiques and gifts in the long run. Think about having a three course meal instead of a five. Invite 100 guests instead of 150 guests. Doing these little things will help you keep your budget down.
Other ways to save are by:
-Having the ceremony and reception in one location
-Having the wedding on a Friday night or a Sunday
-Bigger reception tables=fewer center pieces
-Always be thinking about the colors of your wedding. You may pick up on some décor items when you least expect it. Always shop for items on there off season. For example, if one of your colors is black, you may be able to find some really cool black tall vases right after Halloween.
-Buy flowers that are in season. The flowers that are in season are cheaper and they are always beautiful because it’s their time of year to shine.
-Save on your save the dates by sending out personal save the dates to close family and emailing the rest of guest a save the date, especially friends.
After reading and getting some ideas in your head lets sort it all out. Let’s get started by categorizing all of things you will need for your wedding. Of course you can subtract or add from this list.
1) Photographer
2) Ceremony
3) Reception
4) Officiant
5) Wedding Dress and Grooms Tux
6) Flowers
7) Save the dates, wedding announcements, ceremony brochures
8) Music for the ceremony and the reception
9) Wedding Rings
10) Limo and some places make you pay for the parking
11) Groomsmen, bridesmaids, flower girls, ring barrier gifts
12) Miscellaneous
13) Honeymoon
14) “Oh no money”
First, Set aside your “oh no” money. Your “oh no” money is the money that will go towards all those last minute forgotten details. You will end up spending the last little bit of your “oh no” money. For instance, if your budget is 20,000.00, try to keep $2000.00 as the “oh no” money. All the tips I will give you throughout this article will help you not have to put as much “oh no” money to the side.
You may have no idea what would go under miscellaneous. Don’t worry I have thought of some things to put under miscellaneous:
1) Vendor tips: Beauty services, officiant, transportation, bartenders, etc. You are not going to want to deal with this on your wedding day. Assign a person to hand out the tips like the wedding coordinator, mom, or the maid of honor.
2) The trial runs for the makeup and hair style
3) Last minute dress cleaning especially if you took bridal pictures before your wedding.
4) Postage for the save the dates and the invitations. If your envelopes are an odd size, you will need to pay more for the postage.
Now after doing a little bit of research on what the cost of these items are listed about in your location, assign each category a cost. Decide what you think you will have to spend on each one. At the end of assigning a price to each, add them all up and see what you come up with. You will have to do a little tweaking. You might have to then take some money out of flowers and put it towards limo. This will give a great start to having an idea on what you can spend and now you can set appointments with vendors.
I do realize that times are tough right now, so do make sure you find vendors that understand you budget and are willing to work within your budget. I you have any questions; you can reach me through my website www.jenscottphoto.com or email me at jen@jenscottphoto.com.
0 Responses to “Words for the Bride”