| budget |
OK. Weddings are SOOO expensive! Before starting to plan your big day, you really gotta sit down and talk monaaaay! If one of you wants this extremely lavish wedding while the other wants a courthouse wedding-- this ain't gonna work! You'll quickly be on your way to lots more stress. Luckily, Earl and I agreed on a lot of things. We both decided not to worry too much about the small details and focused on the big picture things that would make or have the most impact.
| location |
Since 95% of our families and friends live in SoCal (mainly the LA area), we knew we wanted to keep it close. We didn't want people to have to worry too much about driving too far. We also wanted a venue that was near hotels in case guests need to crash after our wedding. Will guests have to fly in? Is your venue in the middle of nowhere? Will there be shuttle services? These are all things to consider when choosing your venue.
| venue |
We 10000% knew we wanted an outdoor venue for both our ceremony and reception. I've always loved attending weddings outdoors because the air is fresh, you can walk around freely, photos are always better in outdoor natural light, and you can truly enjoy the beautiful scenery. This was actually an extremely important part of our day too because of the next tip...
| pandemic |
We ended up having to reschedule/postpone our wedding due to COVID. More than anything, we wanted to stress to our guests that our venue was 100% outdoors and that we were limiting our guestlist to help ease their mind a bit. It was such a time of uncertainty and a lot of our guests were not able to make it. This is definitely not something NORMAL that most brides have to consider when planning a wedding, but just listing this on here just in case!
| weather |
First and foremost for me was choosing a month that we knew without a doubt would have no rain and wasn't TOO hot (since we live in sunny/hot Southern California). We chose July since April to June had chances of rain and August to September tends to be EXTREMELY hot. We also chose July because it's the month where we didn't have as much going on in terms of family and friend birthdays, celebrations, anniversaries, etc. All great things to take into consideration (unless you are super-efficient and wanna celebrate everything in one day!)
| pick your top 3 MUSTS |
Like I said earlier, weddings are EXPENSIVE. We really recommend choosing the 3 absolute MUSTS for your big day (these are non-negotiables). Then, all the other stuff comes second, and then the OTHER OTHER stuff is a bonus!
For me personally, my top 3 non-negotiables were:
1) VENUE
I feel like having the venue of your dreams is absolutely worth it. It's what you and your guests will see and be at for the event, so choose one that sparks joy!
2) PHOTOGRAPHY
I feel like splurging on photography is also absolutely worth it. When your day is over and done, you'll only have photos to remember it by! You could spend lots of money on all your decor and details, but without photos, will you really remember how they all looked 20 years from now? I strongly advise people to never hire their relatives to take photos or people who are just starting their photography businesses. Of course, if you're on a tight budget and this person has a good portfolio, go for it! But, usually people who are JUST starting don't really know what to do just yet, don't have their editing style figured out, aren't sure what kind of poses/candid moments to capture and will miss key moments that you want captured!
3) GOOD FOOD/ALCOHOL
Let's be real. Weddings are huge parties to celebrate your love with all the ones you love! We wanted to make sure our guests enjoyed attending our day. And we wanted to make sure of that with good food and plenty of alcohol!
There are of course, millions of other little things to consider when planning your wedding. These are just a tiny few that really stuck out for me and I hope they were helpful!
with love,
Julia 💜
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