Be Informed!

If there were one piece of advice I could give a Bride, especially if it is a few months before the wedding, it would be to "Be Informed". The Internet is a wonderful resource for people planning a wedding. I'd even say you should find a good computer before you choose the groom, but that might be stretching it a little bit!

One idea I've seen a few times already is to set up a free email address specifically for the wedding. You go to a wedding fair, use that email address to register. You could even print out cheap business cards or mail labels with your information on it. Keep a few with you at all times, and just hand them to the vendors you come in contact with. One of those self-inking stamps is a slick idea too. Get one made with your name, email address, wedding date, etc. Then when someone wants you to fill out a form, just stamp away. Best $12 you'll ever spend. I'll bet you wear it out before the wedding!

Another idea, that I am using myself, is to have a Blog page for your wedding. Blogs are free, easy to post to, and you’ll look oh so trendy just saying that you have a Blog! Julie, my ever patient and long suffering Bride to be is doing most of the posting on ours. I'd recommend you go on over and read some of what she has learned so far. http://greenbliss.blogspot.com/ Oh, and about the name, Green Bliss, our wedding is 17 March (St. Patrick’s Day)... So we do have some green theme items, mostly ok, but stay away from the Green Apple candies! It took me a few seconds to grab the camera when she was taste testing, and she still had that look! I'm thinking I'll eat a few during the ceremony :) A great reason for the blog page is to have an easy place to post all the information people will be asking you. Directions to the wedding? It’s on the blog. A map? Just post a link to http://maps.google.com and you're all set. Here's an example of how that looks http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=17+S+Cleveland+Ave,+wenatchee,+wa That is a link to where my office is. No excuse why you got lost, right? As you set up timelines for where you want people to be, etc, they just check it out on the blog.

Anyway, there are a few reasons I think you should be Blogging your wedding planning. It will be a great resource for other Brides to read. You'll learn a lot, and then not ever need to know it again. What a waste! Share what you've learned. And then later, a few years from the wedding, you can go back and read it all over again. Sure, you could just write it in a journal, but that's pretty hard to share. Plus you could sell some Google Adwords space and buy a cup of coffee eventually. I'm still waiting for that first big check to come in...

You could also make a list of phone numbers of your whole wedding party and key people, then give copies to all the people involved. The day of the wedding is not the time to realize you don’t have someone’s cell phone number! On that note, I should say I seriously wonder how people even managed to get through a wedding event before cell phones.

Back to my theme here today about Be Informed. Most vendors you will be talking to or hiring will have websites. Take the time to actually read what they have said. Ask for information from them, product demos, check out their samples, and ask them lots of questions. This is a wonderful use of email, by the way. Email gives you automatic written notes. You just drag all the messages into your wedding folder, or print them out for your binder if you'd like. Even if you don't end up hiring that vendor, you may have learned some good information or some great ideas that you could use.

Ask around! I'll bet you know several people who have gotten married in the last 3 or 4 years. They probably learned a lot of lessons. Why not pick their brains? Might be worth buying a good bottle of wine, spending an evening together, and take lots of notes! They may have found a great location you'd not have thought of, or know someone who could do catering that may not advertise in the wedding shows, etc.

Word of mouth is the absolute best source of information. Good, Bad, or Ugly! Every wedding has at least one scary story. Trust me! The guest just never hears most of them! Besides talking to Brides, talk to the Mother of the Bride, and especially the Maid of Honor. She'll know things that the Bride never remembers. My honest opinion is that Maid of Honor should come with a Medal; the good ones can make all the difference.

Wedding coordinators are another unsung hero of weddings. A lot of Brides don't think they need one until its too late. A wedding is a huge event, even if you don't want it to be. A year of planning comes down to a few hours, with a lot of people and smaller events all combining into a whirlwind of chaos. This is no time for amateurs! Things will go wrong. The iron will savagely burn holes in the flower girls dress, the day of the wedding. The cake topper will get dropped. Buttons will pop off. Flowers will be wrong. Vendors will be lost. You will probably have a moment. But it’s all going to be ok! We're here for you! Weddings are fun, right? Don't you feel better now that you know all that?

Drop me a line!

Carlin

bluestar@televar.com