Many budget brides out there (including myself) are very self concious on where to spend their wedding budget. One of the mistakes I feel is when you try to save on you and your fiance's attire. Even though you only wear it once, it'll be one of the most memorable outfit you'll ever wear! Don't skimp on that... and that includes shoes, accessories, and any additional touches you want to do on it.
I have talked to regretful couples saying that they wished they spent had bought a nice suit or spent more on a veil (even though they only wore it for half an hour). The wedding day is when you will be photographed and everyone will be looking at you. You must want to look and feel your best! Even if you're on a budget, I really say go for it! You will be so much happier in the long run and you can always sell it later.
Besides looking your best, be sure you love your bouquet and the boutonniere looks great on your groom. If you are planning to spend money on getting your hair/makeup done, don't forget the little details that'll matter. When you look back at the pictures, it's like reliving that special day again. This is one thing that is worth it.... trust me! ;)
Monday, March 15, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Hi everyone! I'm still here :)
Sorry I've been a bad blogger... I'm still here and still in love with weddings and planning. First of all... happy new year! :) Hope you are all still keeping your new year resolutions. I'm still trying to keep mine by trying a new restaurant every week while cooking more at home. So far so good!
I wanted to share a wedding tip with you that I've learned since I had planned my own wedding. This has to do with wedding vendors (such as myself). Many of you spend many hours on the internet researching to find the perfect vendor that matches your personality, needs, budgets and everything and anything you can think of. One of the most popular thing is to use those wedding websites where vendors post information and are reviewed by brides (like Project Wedding... which I'm on!). Do you ever wonder how accurate the reviews are and how much does this affect your decision?
If a vendor has perfect ratings, it's always a good idea to meet them and asks lots of questions before deciding. And if you forget to ask something, don't worry and contact the potential vendors again! One of the key things that I noticed the most when I was contacting them was their response time. It's understandable that not everyone is email connected 24-7 but when responses require many days, that could raise a warning. You don't want to stress about waiting for responses as the wedding day approaches near and there may be more and more questions and last minute decisions that needs to be communicated to them. There are so many details to think about already... I'm sure you wouldn't want to worry about some more (Did you hear that stress isn't good for the skin? :)
Another thing is when vendors are really busy and their business is 'too good' that it's hard to ever connect with them as a person. While emails are great, a phone call and face to face meeting can never be replaced. Even though everything will eventually fall in place, I would never want the couples that I worked with have any regrets because I didn't have enough time to spend with them to understand all their needs. It's our job to help and provide guidance to the couples. Spending time with the couple before the wedding is actually one of my favorite part of the job because I love hearing about their ideas/vision and helping them execute them.
Reviews are another thing that I feel is a bit gray. With the internet these days, people are free to post their views but not all vendors are gracious when something negative is said about them. In fact (and I'm being very honest here since it happened to me), there have been vendors that have suppressed negative reviews by threatening to sue the reviewers. There have been other vendors who continuously change their business name so bad reviews can never be linked back to them.
I didn't want this post to be so negative but I did want to provide some warnings to future brides/grooms out there! There are lots of great vendors out there and really love what they do. It's the few out there that could really put a damper on the planning.
Let me know how things go... would love to hear from you! ;)
I wanted to share a wedding tip with you that I've learned since I had planned my own wedding. This has to do with wedding vendors (such as myself). Many of you spend many hours on the internet researching to find the perfect vendor that matches your personality, needs, budgets and everything and anything you can think of. One of the most popular thing is to use those wedding websites where vendors post information and are reviewed by brides (like Project Wedding... which I'm on!). Do you ever wonder how accurate the reviews are and how much does this affect your decision?
If a vendor has perfect ratings, it's always a good idea to meet them and asks lots of questions before deciding. And if you forget to ask something, don't worry and contact the potential vendors again! One of the key things that I noticed the most when I was contacting them was their response time. It's understandable that not everyone is email connected 24-7 but when responses require many days, that could raise a warning. You don't want to stress about waiting for responses as the wedding day approaches near and there may be more and more questions and last minute decisions that needs to be communicated to them. There are so many details to think about already... I'm sure you wouldn't want to worry about some more (Did you hear that stress isn't good for the skin? :)
Another thing is when vendors are really busy and their business is 'too good' that it's hard to ever connect with them as a person. While emails are great, a phone call and face to face meeting can never be replaced. Even though everything will eventually fall in place, I would never want the couples that I worked with have any regrets because I didn't have enough time to spend with them to understand all their needs. It's our job to help and provide guidance to the couples. Spending time with the couple before the wedding is actually one of my favorite part of the job because I love hearing about their ideas/vision and helping them execute them.
Reviews are another thing that I feel is a bit gray. With the internet these days, people are free to post their views but not all vendors are gracious when something negative is said about them. In fact (and I'm being very honest here since it happened to me), there have been vendors that have suppressed negative reviews by threatening to sue the reviewers. There have been other vendors who continuously change their business name so bad reviews can never be linked back to them.
I didn't want this post to be so negative but I did want to provide some warnings to future brides/grooms out there! There are lots of great vendors out there and really love what they do. It's the few out there that could really put a damper on the planning.
Let me know how things go... would love to hear from you! ;)
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
So Many Ideas!
Sorry for being MIA for a bit. I've been trying to immerse myself more in the wedding world and have neglected my blog. Another thing that's been a bit hard is thinking about things to write. Provide any suggestions that comes to mind!
As many lovely brides continue their planning process, there's a wealth of information, pictures and ideas on the web, magazine, or just attending different weddings. While perusing, there's always a detail or two (or three or four) that catches our eye. Suddenly, the bride is thinking how can I incorporate something like this but not exactly like this (playing on the unique factor).
The big question becomes: how do I incorporate everything that I want/see?
That's where the idea of themes comes in! From my experience, themes sometimes are decided upfront for the brides that know what they've envisioned from the very beginning. Other times, the details, the invites, the colors, the venue, .... these key elements will also bring a theme together.
A theme can be a anything like: 'perfect pear' where the pear theme is tied in the stationary, centerpieces, and cake design. Or it can be drawn from inspirational pictures that the couple would like to have a vintage or country feel to the wedding. Surprisingly, when a theme is decided, the planning starts becoming more focused and details can be agreed uponmore easily ;)
How have you found your theme or are you still looking?
As many lovely brides continue their planning process, there's a wealth of information, pictures and ideas on the web, magazine, or just attending different weddings. While perusing, there's always a detail or two (or three or four) that catches our eye. Suddenly, the bride is thinking how can I incorporate something like this but not exactly like this (playing on the unique factor).
The big question becomes: how do I incorporate everything that I want/see?
That's where the idea of themes comes in! From my experience, themes sometimes are decided upfront for the brides that know what they've envisioned from the very beginning. Other times, the details, the invites, the colors, the venue, .... these key elements will also bring a theme together.
A theme can be a anything like: 'perfect pear' where the pear theme is tied in the stationary, centerpieces, and cake design. Or it can be drawn from inspirational pictures that the couple would like to have a vintage or country feel to the wedding. Surprisingly, when a theme is decided, the planning starts becoming more focused and details can be agreed upon
How have you found your theme or are you still looking?
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Things to keep you a bit more sane while you're planning
What's the best way to plan for an event? There's so much you may want to incorporate and put together that it can get quite confusing if you don't tackle it with a game plan. This is the engineering side of me talking. I do a lot of tactical thinking on a daily basis since a lot of fire fighting and managing customers is a part of the job. But I digress..... :)
First things first, I would say definitely create a budget or basically how much are you willing to spend. It may not be complete because you may not know what to expect but at least write down all the categories that you want to incorporate and put a ballpark figure down. No details should be overlook and no amount is too small because everything adds up. This will allow you to research it in more details later on. Don't worry if you missed something - the budget and budgeting what you want will be a work in progress.
The second big question would be the venue. Where do you want to hold your event? How do you envision your big day? Would you want to do it at memorable spot where the two of you met or a garden with lots of open space or a historic site? The possibilities are endless. This is when you can also do a reality check on whether the budget that you set up makes sense or not. Once the venue is chosen, that usually means a date is secured is as well! That's a big check on the planning process! :)
Next I would say prioritize and envision what is the most important part of the event. I guess you could even say, what do you want to stand out? It can be a specific aspect such as food, music, photography or it could be broader such as memorable speeches or the first look between you and your future spouse or even the wedding dress. After deciding what's important, you can focus and have a starting point whether it's researching cost or how to execute the moment perfectly. Believe it or not, things will slowly fall into place.
Personally, it can get confusing when booking/planning many of the aspects of the wedding all at once. Whenever you get tired of looking at the latest inspiration, take a break (very important)! Do something else.... look at something else... plan something else (maybe the honeymoon). Don't forget to spend some time doing non-wedding related with your spouse-to-be as well.
How far are you on your planning?
First things first, I would say definitely create a budget or basically how much are you willing to spend. It may not be complete because you may not know what to expect but at least write down all the categories that you want to incorporate and put a ballpark figure down. No details should be overlook and no amount is too small because everything adds up. This will allow you to research it in more details later on. Don't worry if you missed something - the budget and budgeting what you want will be a work in progress.
The second big question would be the venue. Where do you want to hold your event? How do you envision your big day? Would you want to do it at memorable spot where the two of you met or a garden with lots of open space or a historic site? The possibilities are endless. This is when you can also do a reality check on whether the budget that you set up makes sense or not. Once the venue is chosen, that usually means a date is secured is as well! That's a big check on the planning process! :)
Next I would say prioritize and envision what is the most important part of the event. I guess you could even say, what do you want to stand out? It can be a specific aspect such as food, music, photography or it could be broader such as memorable speeches or the first look between you and your future spouse or even the wedding dress. After deciding what's important, you can focus and have a starting point whether it's researching cost or how to execute the moment perfectly. Believe it or not, things will slowly fall into place.
Personally, it can get confusing when booking/planning many of the aspects of the wedding all at once. Whenever you get tired of looking at the latest inspiration, take a break (very important)! Do something else.... look at something else... plan something else (maybe the honeymoon). Don't forget to spend some time doing non-wedding related with your spouse-to-be as well.
How far are you on your planning?
Monday, May 11, 2009
How do I get started -- planning that is...
Planning - how do you do it? Everybody loves to plan to a certain degree but I believe wedding planning is in a caliber of its own. If you've never really planned for a multifaceted event before, it can be quite intimidating at first. Often times, there're so many ideas and inspirations it's hard to narrow it down. For some couples, they want to incorporate everything! It's not a bad idea if you have a multiday event... :)
A great idea for inspirations comes from some of my favorite websites that I've followed since I started falling in love with weddings.
www.weddingbee.com
www.stylemepretty.com
These places provide tons of ideas and inspiration and just help you get started. I found them super valuable when I was researching and planning out my wedding. I still visit there everyday because it's so addicting. Start there first.... let me know what you think ;)
A great idea for inspirations comes from some of my favorite websites that I've followed since I started falling in love with weddings.
www.weddingbee.com
www.stylemepretty.com
These places provide tons of ideas and inspiration and just help you get started. I found them super valuable when I was researching and planning out my wedding. I still visit there everyday because it's so addicting. Start there first.... let me know what you think ;)
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Welcome!
Hi everyone!
Welcome to Simply Exquisite - Weddings and Events by Christine... as you can tell, my name is Christine! Nice to meet you. :)
I love to plan and have been doing so forever. I recently discovered wedding planning as something I really like doing after planning my own special day and then helping some of my friends with theirs. Having someone you can count on to carry out your vision of a wonderful wedding day means not having to worry about vendor details. This can spell the difference between enjoying the day with your family and friends versus realizing the flower petals are still sitting in the fridge during your ceremony instead of sprinkled along the aisle.
Many people turn to wedding planners or coordinators because depending on friends and relatives to help out may not end in the ideal or expected results. After all, your friends and family are there to help celebrate your special day... they should enjoy it too! After the countless DIY projects, vendor research and preparation for the big day, you deserve nothing less than a memorable (and stress free!) day. Your wedding day is the one day where you are the focus for everything and should be simply exquisite!
I hope to share my adventures in helping other lovely couples create and coordinate their wonderful weddings! Thanks for reading!
PS - leave a comment if you need any wedding planning advice.
Welcome to Simply Exquisite - Weddings and Events by Christine... as you can tell, my name is Christine! Nice to meet you. :)
I love to plan and have been doing so forever. I recently discovered wedding planning as something I really like doing after planning my own special day and then helping some of my friends with theirs. Having someone you can count on to carry out your vision of a wonderful wedding day means not having to worry about vendor details. This can spell the difference between enjoying the day with your family and friends versus realizing the flower petals are still sitting in the fridge during your ceremony instead of sprinkled along the aisle.
Many people turn to wedding planners or coordinators because depending on friends and relatives to help out may not end in the ideal or expected results. After all, your friends and family are there to help celebrate your special day... they should enjoy it too! After the countless DIY projects, vendor research and preparation for the big day, you deserve nothing less than a memorable (and stress free!) day. Your wedding day is the one day where you are the focus for everything and should be simply exquisite!
I hope to share my adventures in helping other lovely couples create and coordinate their wonderful weddings! Thanks for reading!
PS - leave a comment if you need any wedding planning advice.
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