Wedding planning is one of those things that you kind of just have to jump right into with no direction. Growing up, every girl has this vision of her dream wedding day. Guys on the other hand just think about who will be there, seeing their soon to be wife for the first time in that white dress and the party that comes after saying “I do.” Here is my best planning advice for all you guys that are planning a wedding or thinking about getting married in the future. 

You should enjoy every single moment of this process, even the not-so-fun times. You will look back after and realize how much you both grew in your relationship and decision making. It’s also pretty cool to see how all the effort comes together to create that special day. We have been married for a little more than 8 months now and I still think back to how perfect our wedding day was. If it wasn't for all those little things that seem unimportant, our wedding wouldn't have been as special as it was. From the ring bearer signs to the box we stored our vows in with a special bottle of wine, and even having close friends sing some of our favorite songs, these things made the day so special. 

Just remember, this is supposed to be the happiest time of your life. You are beginning a journey of love with your best friend and your wedding day will hopefully be a reminder for the rest of your lives of how special your love is.

Did someone say brownie points?

Here’s a few things that you can do to help her out. Chances are she will be stressing about all the little details because she wants this special day to be perfect. The more proactive you are the easier this process will be. 

MAKE A LIST. There are going to be A LOT of different things to remember or get done and the only way to do this is to be organized. If you’re anything like me, you are going to want to get it all done and on time (no one wants to be in the dog house). I had a running list on Evernote with check boxes that I used to organize my tasks. Being able to check off my list and show Hunter my progress made me really feel like I had a hand in the whole planning process and when the big day came it was really rewarding.

ACCOMMODATIONS. Work on where you will stay after the wedding, where you will be honeymooning and setting up transportation after the wedding. Give her options for all of these different things, print it off and present it to her neatly so she can easily check off the things she likes and doesn’t like. Once you get some okays, start reaching out to the top places and make sure they are available. We rented the Excalibur Roadster from Music City Dream Cars and hired a driver to take us to the Thompson Hotel downtown afterwards and I made sure to book it far enough in advance so we were sure to have the car.

CATERING. The food at our wedding was catered by the amazing Chef Penelope and the tastings were my favorite part of planning. We went to a few tastings and were able to take our moms to the first one and our dads to the second one. Enjoy this time with your parents. They will remember this for the rest of their lives and also listen to their opinions. They are most likely making a huge financial investment in your wedding so they should have some say too. Try every single thing offered so you get an idea of how it all tastes and come up with a menu that you love but is also pleasing to most everyone. We had a coffee and espresso bar at our wedding from The Proverbial Cup and that was such a hit. People love that little caffeine boost to keep them going towards the end of the night.

COMPROMISE. We didn’t have an official wedding planner so we had to rack our brains for everything that we thought needed to be done for our wedding. Since your significant other has likely been planning this day since she was a little girl, you are going to have a lot of ideas thrown your way and it might be a little be overwhelming. Instead of completely ruling out or shutting down ideas you don’t immediately love, try suggesting a different take on it. Say for example she wants tall flower decorations on the tables and you don’t like that, maybe suggest a lower decoration so it’s easier for people to see and talk to each other. Give real reasons why you don’t like specific things and be HONEST. 

SEATING CHART. If you do a seating chart for your wedding, I’m here to give you a few tips on how to make this process easier. This should be done closer to the wedding time because you really need to know who all is coming for sure. 

• Once you have your rsvps back, you will need to print off a list of all the guests so you don’t miss anyone. 
• Get a map of the seating available from your venue.
• Label each table with a number on the map and each chair at each table with a number. (attached is a picture of what our seating chart looked like)
• I have a good understanding oh Adobe Illustrator so I laid it out on the computer and made everything digital. I advise just hand drawing the same style map and making copies and using a pencil to write names in.
• Organize the guests by family and relationship (your parents side, her parents side, college friends, high school friends, etc.)
• Let your parents place their most important people and then work around that. 
• Put groups together that make sense, you don’t want your moms best friend from highschool sitting with your college friends, or maybe you do.

Plan a Date Night. One of the best decisions we made was to plan a date night right before the wedding. We went and had one last dinner as an unmarried couple the night before our rehearsal dinner. This was the perfect way to relax and enjoy each others company before two days of complete craziness. We spent the night laughing, reminiscing on our relationship and taking a few deep breaths. This is especially smart to do if you have family coming in town because you will be entertaining and talking to so many people that your alone time with each other will be limited.

Final Thoughts

HAVE FUN!!!! This is one of the most exciting times in your life and it doesn't have to be stressful. If you find yourself getting worked up about something, skip over it and go find something that is more fun to work on like sifting through wedding bands and listening to them on youtube. You are going to look back and remember all the time and effort you and everyone involved put into planning your wedding and you will miss it! Enjoy the time you get to spend with your family planning your wedding because they are going to be so excited to help you. 

-Cam