Wedding Planning Timeline | Six Month Mark

When you’re at the six month mark of your wedding planning, there are a few things you want to make sure are checked off your list!

• Send out save the dates! At the six month mark is exactly when you should be sending out your save the dates! It gives people enough time to ask off from work, make travel arrangements, and change any plans if necessary.  Sending them out any earlier, people might misplace them, or completely forget they received it because it came too soon.  Sending it out any later and it might as well be the actual wedding invitation!
• Order your bridesmaid dresses! Bridal shops usually need six months to guarantee the dress will come in on time.  
• Make sure you have important documents! This is a little random, but check to make sure you know where your social security card is.  You’re going to be needing that when it comes time to get your marriage license and when, or if, you change your name.  So if it turns out you lost it, give yourself plenty of time to get it replaced.  Also, of you don’t have a passport, now is the time to get one if you’re traveling out of the country for your honeymoon. 
• Now is a great time to book your honeymoon! Do you research, go over how much you have to spend on it, and talk to a travel agent.  If you’re getting married in the summer, talking about tropical beaches in the middle of the winter will help boost your spirits!! ;)
• Decide on the color theme of your house: If you don’t already have a home together, now is the time to decide on the feel of your new home together.  You need to know what colors you want, so you know what to register for in the next couple months.  
• Decide on a hotel: You’re going to want to have a block of rooms at a hotel close to the where you’re having your wedding.  Start researching local hotels, and see how well they can accommodate you, and your guests.  Find one that has a pretty reasonable price.  Also see if they have a shuttle to get guests to and from the wedding.  Ask if they can do “welcome bags” for your guests, and if it will be an extra cost.  

I hope this was helpful! Like always, feel free to comment below with any other advice! 

XO, Val

winter wedding by vebullock featuring white bouquets

OKA white bouquet
$42 - okadirect.com

Six Things Couples Don't Think About When Having A Backyard Wedding.

Today I'm going to be talking about a few things people don't think about when they decide to have their wedding in their backyard.  The best thing about having it in your backyard is you don't have to pay to rent a venue, you can easily start to set up for the wedding whenever you want, and after the wedding you don't have to worry about getting everything out by a certain time.

There are a few things to consider, however:

1. Parking: Where are all of your guest going to park? With 200 guests, you could have 100 cars, or even more if couples/families don't drive together! Having people park on the street five blocks away, and walk  to your house isn't the best thing to do.  My tip: What you need to do is find a large parking lot, like a church or a school (it will be empty at night), less than a mile away.  You'll of course want to get an okay from them, and the city.  If the lot is close and not on a busy street, you could rent/borrow golf carts, and have someone drive your guests over to the reception.  You could find a limo company that has a shuttle bus that would fit 15-20 people at once, so you could easily transport them to your house. You'll have to have to for the whole time, however so it will be expensive.  Something else is a valet service.  Have people drive up to your house, and the valet will park their car for them.  
2. Bathrooms: Your wedding is taking place outside, which means the outside will look put together and clutter-free. The house, however will be where the caterer is prepping food, and where all the prep work for the day happened.  Do you want people walking through that? Also, people will be drinking, and the bathrooms will get trashed. Not that your friends and family won't respect your house, but when people are drinking they sometimes aren't thinking. Can you imagine 200 people using one, or maybe two bathrooms all night? There will be lines the whole night, which means people will be missing important parts of the nights festivities.  Your bathroom also might not be able to handle so much use in one day. My tip: Rent luxury porta potties.  Yes they do cost a lot, but it's just something you have to consider.  
3. Caterer Prep Space: When you bring in a caterer, they need a place to work, cook, and keep things warm.  Hopefully your caterer will be honest with you about what they can use in your kitchen, and what they will need to bring in/rent (extra stoves, etc.) and if it will cost you more, once you decide on a menu, and they see the property. 
4. Sound:  Obviously if you're having your wedding at your house, there are neighbors! You have to think about the loud music that will be playing late into the night.  You must contact the city before your event to make sure you can even have your wedding in your backyard. You DON'T want the cops showing up to break up the party at 9:00.  You also need to talk to all of your neighbors and let them know about your wedding so they can prepare for the noise. 
5. Theres going to be a mess:  When it's dark outside you're not going to notice the napkins, and empty beer bottles on the ground.  The next morning will be a lot to clean up.  You'll have to sort out all the rentals for the rental company to pick it up.  Tables clothes and napkins put in linen bags, chairs and tables taken down, etc. Having a team help you either that night, or the next morning would be a good option. 
6. Day Of Coordinator: And finally, you need to have someone in charge!  Yes I mean hiring a wedding planner to help plan before hand and day of, or even just a day of coordinator.  When you rent a wedding venue, there are people who work there, but when you are having it at your house, it's just you and your family.  There has to be someone to make sure the day goes smoothly, someone to answer all of the questions (there will be A LOT!), and to take care of anything that goes wrong.  Yes things will go wrong, but that shouldn't be something the mother of the bride should have to deal with.  They will also help set everything up in the morning, and take everything down, and clean up at night.  

Happy Planning!

XO, Val

outside wedding. by vebullock on Polyvore

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Ways To Save Money On Your Wedding!

I understand that everyone has a budget, and there are plenty of ways to keep costs down:  

• Trim your guest list by eliminating kids, and plus ones.  
• Use candles instead of flowers as some, or all of your centerpieces. 
• Check with your venue and see if they have vases, votives you can use before you buy/rent them.
• Skip chair covers and sashes if it's an extra cost at your venue.  
• Have a buffet, or family style instead of a sit down dinner. 
• Have a small cake for the two of you to cut, and have sheet cakes (hidden in the back of course!) or cupcakes/cake pops for your guests. 
• Forget the limo and/or Photo Booth unless it fits into your budget. They're both fun, but not necessary.  
• Try to borrow a veil, sash/belt, and/or jewelry from a family member or friend as your "something borrowed/old". It will save you so much money!

Here are some examples of things not to do when looking to save money: 

• Not feeding your vendors. I once saw an article about ways to save money on your wedding, and one was not serving your vendors, or giving them a cheaper meal.  This is something that is not okay.  Your vendors will work VERY hard on your wedding day, and they deserve more than a turkey sandwich and a bag of chips.  

• A cash bar. It's NEVER okay to have a cash bar.  When someone gets invited to your wedding, they won't expect to have to pay for their own alcohol.  Limit it to just beer and wine and one or two signature drinks if you have to cut bar costs, but don't make people pay.  

• Only having one entree.  Some people think that a good way to cut costs is to limit people's choices to only 1 entree instead of the standard 2 or 3.  You will probably save $2-3 per person that way, but not everyone likes/wants chicken.  It's best to have chicken or fish, a red meat, and a vegetarian option. 

• Not having a DJ.  Some couples feel like hiring a DJ is an unnecessary cost when you could use your friends speakers and an iPod.  This is fine if you're just looking for some background music throughout the night, but not if you want people to dance and have a fun time.  A DJ is what really gets the party started.  There are ways to find a cheaper- but still a good- DJ.

• Skipping Hors d'oeuvres.  My number one rule is: your guests should NEVER be hungry! When your guests arrive at the venue for cocktail hour, there needs to be food! I'm not saying you need to spend $5-$10 extra per person for a ton of food that will fill up your guests before dinner.  You should however have some kind of cheese, fruit, veggies, etc. to hold them over.  

Happy Planning!!

XO, Val.  

just married. by vebullock featuring silk scarves

Kate Spade silk scarve
katespade.com

The Perfect Fall Wedding!

When you think of a fall wedding, you might think rustic, and a red, orange, yellow and brown color scheme, but it can be much more than that! When I think of a fall wedding, I of course think of the beautiful changing leaves, and crisp fall air, but I also think of rich colors, and hearty food!

Fall weddings have always been a very popular time to get married.  If you’re having a fall wedding, don’t think that you have to have bales of hay, pumpkins, and burlap.  It also doesn't mean you have to have a halloween themed wedding!!

Instead of putting your bridal party in orange, try plum!  Orange, yellow, and red flowers will really pop!

Some couples think that since they are having a fall wedding, they need to have part or all of their wedding outdoors.  In Ohio the weather is VERY unpredictable! If you have your wedding in early fall- september, and early october- you could have nice weather to be outside, but the leaves probably won't change by then.  If you wait until mid-October into early November, you'll have a much better chance of beautiful fall leaves, but it could be 30 or 40 degrees and there could even be snow by then!! Everyone wants that perfect 60 degree day with the beautiful leaves, and the slight chill in the air.  The chances of getting that are, unfortunately, very rare.

You can still have the feel of a fall wedding without being outside.  Your centerpieces can have fall colors, you can have pumpkin flavored desserts, or your favors could be a delicious caramel apple.  You can even have a "candy bar" where guest fill a bag with candy!  It's like adult trick-or-treating! YUM!!

fall wedding by vebullock featuring fall home decor

As you can clearly see I LOVE fall! It's my favorite time of the year! If you can't/don't want to have your wedding in fall, it's also a great time to do engagement pictures!

Happy Planning!
Val



Red Arrow Photography

Fall home decor
etsy.com

Fall silk wedding bouquet in rust and burnt yellow, bridal bouquet
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Unexpected Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding Day!

Today I want to talk about a couple things that could save you money on your wedding day!

Over the summer, and into the Fall, three of the couples I am working with have opted to not have a bridal party.  A bridal party is something that people just assume needs to be part of your big day.  The biggest cost to the bride and groom when it comes to a bridal party is the flowers.  If you have five bridesmaids and five groomsman in your bridal party, plus parents, grandparents, and the two of you, you could be close to $700 in just bouquets and boutonnieres.  There are many expenses the bridal party takes care of, but flowers isn't one of them.

Something else is bridal party gifts. No one says you have to give them gifts, but it is expected.  Spending at least $50 on each person is pretty standard.  With ten members of your bridal party, that's around $500 that you probably didn't budget for.

Also, if you don't have a bridal party, a rehearsal dinner isn't necessary.  It's again, a large cost, and if the two of you are paying for it yourself, it could break the bank.  If someone else has offered to pay for the rehearsal (it's traditional for the grooms parents to pay), you can still have it with family, close friends and out of town guests.  You could also explain to the person that offered to pay that since you're not having a bridal party, a rehearsal dinner isn't necessary, and maybe that money can be put to better use somewhere else in the budget.

It's becoming more and more popular to have a close friend of family member marry the couple  instead of hiring an efficient or minister for their wedding day.  I have three couples this year that have opted for this option! If you're getting married outside, or at a venue other than a church, you're going to have to hire an officiant or a minister to marry you.  It's again a cost most couples don't think about. Good officiants charge between $250-$400, and some even charge for traveling and the rehearsal!  If you have someone you know marry you, it will be much more personal. You should offer to pay the fee for them to get ordained, but that's only around $50.  Get them a nice gift to thank them, but even then you're saving so much money.


Hope this helped!!
xo, Val

outside wedding. by vebullock featuring bridal gowns

Nicole Miller bridal gown
nicolemiller.com

Home decor
paperstyle.com

Wedding Planning Timeline | Ten/Nine Month Mark.

Hi everyone!

Around the ten and nine month mark leading up to your wedding, you need to start making decisions!

If you've had a a year or more to plan your wedding, by the ten month mark you really need to finalize your venue.  You've done your research, visited several places, so now the contract needs to be signed, and the deposit needs to be made.  You really don't want to lose your dream venue because you don't want to commit, because believe me, you will lose it!

You also need to find the place you're having your ceremony- if it's not the same as the location of the reception. If you're having it in a church, outside, or somewhere else, you need to make a decision!

Depending on if you book your ceremony space first, or your reception space first, you should keep them relatively close in location.

At this point in the planning process, you most likely have your dream guest list written out.  You have everyone you'd love to have, but you know it's unrealistic.  You should now break your list down into an 'A list' and a 'B list'.  The 'A list' is all the people you know have to be there.  It's also about what fits into your guest list based on what the venue allows, and/or your budget allows.  The 'B list' is other people you'd love to have at your wedding, but they'd understand if they weren't invited.

Depending on how many people you invite to your wedding, expect around 15% of those people to not be able to make it for some reason or another. 

No one wants  to know that they are on your B list.  It's obviously not something you want to talk about.  You however have this list incase you start getting a lot of 'no's' right away.  You are going to get 'No's' from people no matter what, but sometimes it seems like some couples get more 'no's' than average. This is where the 'B list' comes in handy. You don't want to be sending these invitations a week before your wedding; send them out as soon as possible so it's no obvious to them! If you invite 220, you should expect 200 "yes's". If your numbers start getting lower than that, you need your B list. 

You should also purchase your wedding dress at this point in the planning process.  The dress could take up to eight months to come in.  You'll want a little time once it comes in to have it altered.

Happy Planning!! 

xo, Val.

wedding. by vebullock featuring evening shoes

Reem Acra pleated maxi skirt
shopbop.com

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