It's engagement season and couples are beginning their journey towards the wedding of their dreams. Here are the 10 most commonly made wedding planning mistakes and how to avoid them:

10. Waiting to start your planning.

You get engaged in September, and you want to get married next August, you have almost a whole year to get the planning done so you can take your time, right? Not necessarily. if you're getting married in peak season (May through September), remember so is almost everyone else and you're now competing with other couples for the best local vendors. For instance, in the Seattle market, venues will often book over a year in advance. Once engaged, take a couple weeks to relish and rejoice, but then get started. 

9. Not leaving enough time to order your wedding dress.

Wedding dresses from shops that don't sell off the rack can sometimes take up to 8 months to get your dress in once the order is placed. The average amount of time is 4-6 months, but we recommend you leave yourself plenty of time just in case. We understand you'd like to maybe lose 5 more lbs before trying on dresses but honestly, paying for alterations to make it fit like a glove are much cheaper than paying for a rush order on a gown.

8. Not working off a budget.

A typical couple making this mistake will book their venue, caterer, photographer, and then buy a dress and realize they've exhausted their financial resources. To avoid this mistake we recommend you sit down with a professional event coordinator at the beginning of planning and allocate roughly where you will be spending your money. For example, you'll find that if you have a 200 person guest count you may be spending close to half your budget on catering alone! It's Your Day Events can create your dream wedding by focusing on the things most important to you; while keeping you in budget with leveraging our extensive vendor relationships, knowledge, and discounts.

7. Number of invitations to order.

This one happens all too often. You are inviting 100 guests, so order 100 invitations, right? No! Unless all 100 of your guests are single and live alone, that is way too many. Most likely you'll need about half of that. This is why getting your guest list together early on is so important. You'll want to order enough invitations for each household your are inviting. Pro Tip- Order a few extra to be safe, as well as one for your photographer- they can take pictures of it on your wedding day.  

6.  Copying a design trend you saw on Pinterest.

Ahh the Pinterest worm hole- it gets us every-time. Pinterest hosts a wealth of images, and beautiful ones at that! However, there are a couple things to watch out for when searching for that wedding inspo.

1. Most of the pictures you see on Pinterest are not new-  the majority are at least 4-6 months old, or even a year +. By the time your wedding rolls around that trend could be completely out or you will have seen it a million more times.  When pinning things you find on Pinterest for your wedding, keep that in mind. Burlap and lace anyone? 

2. A lot of what you see are STAGED weddings (styled shoots). Meaning that the picture perfectness is not truly obtainable without some major planning and coordination-- and this can be limited by budget. 

5.  DIY projects. 

Speaking of Pinterest....Brides will often miscalculate how much time & effort goes into a DIY/Pinterest project and often end up with a fail or unfinished project resulting in stress or even more time and money with last minute trips to the store to purchase something like you originally wanted with an even higher price tag. Make sure you really carve out the time & effort before you start a DIY project. You might find that in the end, purchasing the completed items instead of buying piece-meal materials that add up and eat up your time & money are a better choice from the get-go. 

4. Not asking your vendors the right questions when interviewing them.

Make sure you get to know your vendors a bit before you book them. Besides the obvious questions such as their cancellation policy or asking for references, get to know them a bit and make sure you like them. (Depending on which vendor) you'll be spending your entire wedding day with them. One of the biggest days of your life. Make sure your personalities are a good fit. Just because a friend highly recommends someone, doesn't necessarily mean they are a great fit for you. Of course there is also the old saying "you get what you pay for," which can often be true. Be wary of budget vendors.

3. Not confirming with your vendors the week of the wedding.

You booked most of your vendors 11 months ago and have exchanged a few emails. Don't leave it to guess work for them to know what time they can or can't show up or that they know what the game plan is. Make certain they know what time to be there and what is happening and when, which leads us to #2.

2. Not having a day-of timeline. 

Weddings typically only last 5 or 6 hours. To get the most out of your day, requires a lot of coordination. If you don't provide your vendors a day-of timeline, they may come up with one for themselves but then the DJ, caterer, photographer etc. may all be going off their own timelines that do not match up, which leads to an organized and sometimes stressful day and without utilizing the whole of your venue rental. Making an effective day of timeline seem overwhelming, or you simply just don't want to? See #1 ;)

1. Not hiring a day-of coordinator. 

Day-of coordinators take so much stress off your wedding day so you don't have to worry about a thing besides looking fabulous and getting hitched. Coordinators not only create your day-of timeline and confirm your vendors, but also set up and take down all your decor, get you lined up and down the aisle, answer random vendor questions and help put out any tiny fires that may arise (that you likely will never find out about!)

So there you have it! Make sure to not 'miss' these items! Or better yet, hire a coordinator to ensure it's all covered! Happy Planning

Ashley & Christina

It's Your Day Events

Seattle, Washington