True story: A guy was getting married out of state. His fiancé told him he had one responsibility: to get the marriage license. Get ready for stupid wedding planning mistakes #1.
1. Not knowing marriage license requirements
This guy knew that the state in which he was getting married had a 5 day waiting period before a marriage license would be issued. He went in on Monday with his bride-to-be, but forgot to pick up the license on Friday. Stupid!
Every state has different requirements. Be sure to know yours. Some states require you to get married within a certain number of days of receiving your license. For example, it is 30 days in Alabama, but 60 in Pennsylvania.
2. Blowing your budget on the gown and catering
Some of the first things a bride does is to shop for her gown and line up a caterer. These two items can get pricey. Don’t overspend, or you may not have enough money left for Virginia Beach wedding photography and entertainment.
3. Not budgeting
By the same token, you MUST have an overall budget set BEFORE you spend a dime on your wedding. A budget helps you avoid mistake #2 mentioned above. If you want to expand your budget then maybe get creative and learn how to buy stock in amazon and other big companies to cover some of the costs.
4. Jumping the gun on mailing save-the-date cards
Wait until at least until eight to ten months out. Be sure your guest list is set first. After all, someone you think you want to invite when your wedding is a year out may not “make the cut” when you get down to the nitty-gritty.
5. Waiting too long to order your wedding dress
Custom-made dresses take time, lots of it. Order early. Even off-the-rack gowns that require alterations take time. Play it safe. Have your gown ordered at least six months out.
6. Not hiring a professional videographer
Wedding surveys of couples after their wedding day has come and gone reveal how important memories are to these couples. They regret not having their wedding ceremony and reception video taped by a pro.
7. Scrimping on entertainment
Same thing as above. Entertainment costs but ten percent of a typical wedding, but provides ninety percent of the fun. Couples regret underspending on the entertainment and not adding in decor lighting and photo booths.
8. Insufficient postage
Many wedding invitations are square. Square envelopes require an extra fifteen cents per invitation to mail (70 ¢ total). Why? Because they need to be hand-sorted by the Post Office. Don’t make a common, stupid mistake and put insufficient postage on your wedding invitations.
9. Over-inviting
Let’s say your venue holds 250 people. Don’t invite a ton more people knowing that a certain percentage can’t make it. What happens if they do show up? You’ll turn people away at the door. Just ask the fire marshal in case you have any doubts.
10. Getting stressed planning your wedding
Stress is a common malady for those of you planning your wedding right now. Stress is caused by having to make well-over a thousand decisions on a deadline. You can reduce and even eliminate stress by starting early and utilizing either a wedding planner or online wedding planning tools, like Denon & Doyle offers our clients.
We’re all human. We all make stupid mistakes. This blog will make you a little smarter as you plan the biggest day of your life.
The important thing to remember is that as long as you have your venue, whether you want to find a wedding venue in Raleigh or any other place and you have the guest list, everything else will fit into place, so there is nothing to worry about. This blog will make you a little smarter as you plan the biggest day of your life.
One bonus tip before we wrap up though. When planning a wedding, you might also want to complete a prenuptial agreement. Although no one likes to think too much about the possibility of getting divorced, completing a prenup can ensure that your assets and property are secure and can be divided fairly if you do decide to split.
Correspondingly, you can learn more about the benefits of prenuptial agreements by reaching out to a team of Los Angeles prenup attorneys. Ultimately, no one knows what the future might hold, but putting legally binding plans into place can protect your assets from any unexpected circumstances.
Feel free to share any wedding planning mistakes of your own as we would love to hear them!