Happy Wedding Wednesday!

Photos by Stephanie is a Premier Dallas-Fort Worth Wedding & Engagement Photographer that {Capture} Raw Emotion between Soulmates.

Recently Engaged?

Did you recently get engaged over the holiday season? Congratulations! Looking for a great starting point to help with beginning to plan the wedding of your dreams. Wedding planning can be stressful, but also fun!

1. Establish the ‘must-haves’ and ‘don’t need’

Congrats! When you think about your dream wedding day, what do you see? What do you need? How will you feel? Since it is just the two of you, talk with your fiancé. What are your 3 ‘must-haves’ and what are three things you ‘don’t need?’

Example time:

When my husband and I got married our three top must-haves were: Photographer, wedding dress, and flowers. Three don’t need: DJ, Master of Ceremony, and food. Yes, food, my husband and I did not serve food, other than having a popcorn bar. Yes, popcorn.
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My Studio Manager, Naomi, and her husband, Theodore, got married, almost six years ago. Their top three “must haves” were photographer, videographer, and venue. While their three “don’t need” were favors, Master of Ceremony, and day-of coordinator.

My Assistant Studio Manager, Lily, and her husband, Jett, recently got married. Their top three “must haves” were a photographer, day-of coordinator, venue, grand-exit, and videographer. Yes, they had five must-haves. While their three “don’t need” were flowers, musician, and lighting.

2. Let’s talk numbers.

Who is financially contributing? Couple? Parents? Now discuss the total. What is your final budget, including everything on your ‘must-have’ list?

Example time again.

My husband and I, total budget was $8,000, with our venue being the biggest chuck of our budget. My parents paid for 80% of the wedding.

Naomi and her husband, total budget was $25,000, with their venue being 50% of their budget, and photographer/videographer team was 20% of their budget. Naomi’s father paid for the whole wedding.

Lily and her husband, total budget were $85,000. The venue, six photographers, videographer team, wedding coordinator, and planner were the most prominent chunk of their budget. Lily’s parents and her husband’s parents (both sets) help contribute to their wedding since they were an only child.

3. Who’s coming? What’s your approximate guest count? So let’s ‘guess-timate’ will do? It’ll help you with choosing a venue with the right guest capacity.

Example time.

My husband and I guest count was 100 people.
Naomi and her husband guest count was 250 people.
Lily and her husband guest count was 500 people.

4. Get Organized.

Create a Gmail account specifically for your wedding will help you organize all vendor + venue correspondence. Gmail also means access to Google Drive to store wedding contracts.

Example
{lastname}Wedding@gmail.com
{lastname}partyoftwo@gmail.com
{wedding hashtag}@gmail.com

If you are looking for a Premier Dallas-Fort Worth Wedding & Engagement Photographer who can {Capture} your unique love story, we would love to chat! By clicking the contact us button above and inquiring today.

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