What's your date?
What's your colors?
What's your theme?
It always seemed bizarre to me that everyone wanted to know my colors as if that would determine how the wedding would turn out. All three things are very important but you can't choose your colors until you've chosen a theme.
Here's why:
Let's say you attended a wedding that used blue and yellow as their theme. You loved it! It has nautical elements and the whole day was a beautiful memory. But your style is more romantic with soft colors and textures. A shocking yellow and royal blue may not go with what you ultimately want.
First things first:
Start by going through bridal magazines and flagging pictures that you like. Look at all the elements within the pictures you chose. What is a common idea? Are there specific colors within these pages that have caught your eye? How could you realistically recreate this look?
You'd be surprised how your first instinct is what you actually end up going with!
Attend a Wedding Fair
These are built for inspiration. Try and attend one in the first few months of your engagement. Not only will you see thousands of ideas laid out, but you will also get a chance to meet some local vendors who could play a big part in your day. Even if you're not interested in hiring any of them you will still be able to get quotes to help with your budget or reset realistic goals after you talk prices.
Wedding fairs are where you bring the whole group with. Make it a day with the bridesmaids or with the Moms and grandmas. It's important to have support here because the day can get overwhelming with too much info thrown your way.
At the wedding fair, get something for you. This is the first jump into the wedding planning and it can be fun to bring something home you can actually use on your big day. May it be a piece of jewelry or a hanger for your dress, make sure to focus on yourself! This is all about you!
Click here to check out Personalized Hangers by Chelsea. I used her for my own wedding and the photographs turned out so great with my future last name! She's the type of vendor you can find at a wedding fair who is selling product on the spot. Make sure to stop and get something pretty for you!
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| Meg Ann Photography |
Here's an example of the hanger I got! It photographs so well with the dress hanging! These are great for bridesmaids, MoB, MoG, Grandmas, flower girls, and don't forget YOU!
Choose a Wedding Website
There are a few great choices and resources within a wedding website. These are the three I had the best luck with:
www.projectwedding.com
www.weddingwire.com
www.theknot.com
These support sites aren't just for building your personal wedding page! All three have inspirations pages, articles helping with questions, forums with other brides, tons of information, local vendor reviews from other brides, thousands of pictures, links, and more!
I chose project wedding (I honestly signed up for all three) to use for my actual site because of the RSVP tracker. I used the bride's forum more than anything. Any questions you have you can post and get an unbiased response from other women who are in the midst of planning their wedding.
This is where you will find your theme.
You can sift through endless albums of REAL weddings that were planned an executed by REAL brides! The magazines are great but you can't always afford the 10 tier chocolate cake with pearls and fireworks coming out of the top. This is where you can look to and ask brides how they did it, what the price was, and where they got things!
This is a tried and true resource so make sure to use it!
AND IT'S FREEEEE!
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen
It's easy for your wedding party and your family to be excited about your wedding. With so many ideas flowing it's hard to make sure YOU have the final say.
I had my heart set on a certain centerpiece that I was going to hand make. It was going to be spray painted tree branches in vases with white rock. Simple enough right? When I told my family about the idea no one liked it. And because of that, I didn't do it. I am so sad after that I let their opinions affect what I really wanted to see on my wedding day.
Make sure to take their advise but ultimately it's your decision. If your idea means that much to you stand up and say, "thank you for your opinion but this is what I want for my wedding day. It's something I've thought about and I really have my heart set on it." End of discussion.
Your family is all well meaning but it doesn't mean they are allowed to be mean about it. If you find a theme you really enjoy and your heart keeps going back to it then choose that theme!
Go With Your Gut
You will know when you keep going back to a certain theme or idea that this is what you would like. You will probably have a good idea of colors that will go along with it based off of pictures you've seen. Always go with what you're drawn too!
There are tons of themes that can work for any personality so make sure it matches yours not an opinionated encore!
You Can Change Your Mind
Let me say that again.
You
Can
Change
Your
Mind.
Nothing is set in stone at any point in this planning process! Keep receipts on everything that way if you find something you like better you can always return those items! You are always going to be inspired by something you see and there's no law saying you can't change it!
Click here for theme inspirations from The Knot
Click here for great ideas from Project Wedding
Click here for real weddings and bride's stories from Wedding Wire
Stay Crafty and Happy Planning!
Rina
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