Wedding Dress!!
If any of you are married or are planning a wedding I'd LOVE advice on how soon before the wedding you had certain things finalized, like the dress, the hall booked and caterer booked. I need all the help I can get,lol.The other day I went to a wedding dress shop with my two best friends and I fell absolutely in love with one dress that I tried on. It was a beautiful satin dess that looked like a dream. My wedding is a little over a year away, So I'm not sure if I should buy it. I mean what if I find another dress I love more. But at the same time it was like this dress was made for me. Even my friends were shocked how gorgeous I looked in it. There were also two other dress that looked amazing on me and quite frankly I wanted all three,lol!! I must say I love wedding planning now that I've started. I even found two potential wedding reception halls and one caterer. Im just going to take my time and try and enjoy every minute of wedding planning. The only thing that is difficult is the whole bar thing. I wanted to have a cash bar, but now I'm hearing from people that I need to have an open bar and that its rude to have a cash bar. But i've heared that could cost over 4,000 dollars!!. The thing is no one in my family drinks, but my fiance's family does, so he wants and open bar. However, my parents didnt even want a bar to begin with cause they dont believe in drinking, so it took me weeks to convince them to have a bar at all, and I'm not sure they would want to pay for an open bar. Not really sure how this will all work out, but I'm hoping it does. Other than that everything is going well. I also wanted to thank all those who responded to my last journal, it really helped me feel better knowing I had all of your support.
Replies
Wedding planning is a fun time, enjoy! :) It can be tough if different family members try to have their say. Just remember, it is your wedding. I would say go with the cash bar, it can get expensive if you pay. Or you could even have open bar first hour and rest of the time cash bar. Good luck whatever you decide. And to the dress, if the dress looks great on you and makes you happy, go for it!! What a happy time!!!
One other bar option I\'ve heard is some couples will provide beer and wine, but cash bar for mixed drinks. Once you decide on a hall for the reception, you can discuss your concerns with them and see what suggestions they have.
Enjoy all of this planning! It can be stressful when others start throwing in their opinions, so just keep in mind that it\'s a day to celebrate your love for each other, so to make everyone else happy!!!!
About the wedding stuff (since I just got married April 07 it\'s still fresh): I booked our hotel/reception 10 months in advance (that was the soonest I could get and I wanted to get married in the spring). I ordered my dress 8 months in advance, and it still came in 4 weeks before the wedding! I was nervous!! If you are into music I highly recommend interviewing a few DJs before picking one, because they are entertaining your guests all night and you want your DJ to do a great job!! I ordered my cake 6 months in advance, and flowers the same day as the cake.
The hotel where we were married and had the reception gave me the option of fronting X amount of dollars for the bar tab, and then after that ran out, it turned into a cash bar. I loved the idea. I had about 110 guests, no children. I fronted $2500 for the bar and it lasted until 9:30pm, the wedding was over at 10. So 30 minutes of cash bar wasn\'t too bad.
I had so much fun wedding planning and people still tell us how much fun our wedding was! Enjoy!! :)
Wedding planning can certainly be stressful! I remember I went dress shopping the summer I got engaged, and that was a little under 2 years before my wedding day. As soon as I tried on \"THE DRESS\" I just knew and my search was over. It was nice that I found it that soon b/c I could pay on it every month. The reception hall I booked a little over a year before the wedding and my photographer and limo also. Other things like flowers, DJ, and videographer I booked under a year away from the wedding. I don\'t remember the open bar costing that much, it was included in the price of the reception place. I know the bar was closed during dinner and they offered basic beers and liquor, if you wanted to upgrade it was more expensive. Good luck and happy planning!
Planning a wedding is one of the most stressful times of your life, and your wedding should be one of the happiest moments you experience. The best advice I was given was to make it YOUR day. I know you want to make everyone happy, but that\'s just not possible...you can never make every person happy. Just focus on what you and your fiance want, it\'s your day after all and it should reflect who you are and what you want. It\'s very hard to ignore what other people suggest, but I found that when people suggested something I didn\'t agree with, I couldn\'t just brush off their idea...I simply said \"thank you, that sounds like a good idea, I\'ll definitely consider it\". That way they get the impression that their ideas matter, and you don\'t offend them. I had so many people telling me what to do, and in the end I just did what I wanted. For my bar, we couldn\'t afford a fancy hall with a bar service, so we opted for a fire hall and hired a friend to do our bartending. We bought the basics: beer, vodka, rum, schnapps, and whiskey; plus water and a big variety of soda. It was much cheaper (only cost about $500 for all the drinks and supplies, and our bartender wouldn\'t take money so we told him to keep all the tips) and people still got drunk and had a great time!! Just remember to do what you want...I know you said your parents are against drinking, but it\'s really about what you and your fiance want.
As far as planning ahead of time, we had our hall, church & DJ a little less than a year in advance. I got my dress about 6 months beforehand...and I made a big mistake in buying it too quickly. I loved this one dress, but the salesgirl pressured me into getting it early. I wanted to go back to my hometown and see the lady who sold me my prom gown, but I was told I had to order it ASAP or I wouldn\'t have it in time. Like a fool, I listened...and I ended up paying extra for alterations (the lady back home charges a little bit more for the dresses, but her alterations are free, so she ends up being cheaper) and my dress hung in my closet for about 2 months before the wedding...oh, and it also arrived 2 weeks after I ordered it!! I just think those chain bridal stores want you to buy that same day so they get the commission from it. Every time after that, when I went in there, they treated me like crap. Of course they\'d be that way AFTER they got my non-refundable 50% deposit. Go figure.
Anyway...please just remember to keep it YOUR day. Everyone wants to help, but you really shouldn\'t do anything you don\'t want. You only get this one day to look back on, and it should be your own memories, not memories of what everyone else wanted.
Good luck, I\'m sure you\'re going to be a beautiful bride :)
I planned my wedding 3 times...we postponed the first 2, then had a small wedding on the water. My dad insisted on paying the bar tab, which was good considering we only had 30 people and I think the bill was $1000 just for the bar. I remember reading about people having beer and wine, then just 1 signature cocktail. It sounds really nice, and probably limits the bill. And I planned the final wedding in 8 weeks and we had a hurricane 2 weeks prior to the wedding, which knocked out the gazebo I planned on getting married under. But no stresses, it all went well! Though I have definately got some stories to tell about my MIL!!! I\'m so excited for you!!!
Wedding Plans! I LOVE planning:)!!!! I know this journal was a much earlier one - but it caught my attention. As far as booking goes - I think whenever the vendors are available, feel free to book. Our area (Allentown-ish, PA) books VERY quickly, so we actually had things set 2 years in advance. Dress - if it was THE ONE, buy it ! You know! Cash bar - that\'s totally up to what your financial situation is like or what you\'re comfortable with. I can tell you, cost wise, that for our wedding of 300 (both sides liking their beer and mixed drinks), we spent about $2,500, BUT the beer was included with out dinner package - we had to supply the wine, hard liquor, etc. If you go with a cash bar - I would recommend that you let your guests know in the invite or something. We just went to a reception with a cash bar that people were unaware of and were not to happy - most people don\'t bring a lot of cash. ABOVE ALL - I\'m sure you7\'ve heard that it\'s IMPOSSIBLE to make everyone happy. And, even though you want everyone to be as happy as you are on your big day, what\'s important is that you and your fiance made all the decisions that you\'re comfortable with. It\'s your turn:)! Hope everything\'s going well for you!!!! Enjoy it - it\'s over waaaay to quickly!