Free Top 5 wedding tips!

Here are my top 5 wedding tips:

1- Be Organized!

Before you get planning you need to start with the organization of your plans! Im not talking ideas on Pintrest here I mean a binder or email where you keep all of your documents.
 Planning Binder/Notebook-There are plenty of branded (Martha Stewart, The Knot ect) planners that come with checklists and folders or you can just get a plane binder with folders or page protectors to keep all of you paperwork in. You NEED to have in the binder a map of your venue, your wedding numbers(get the worksheet here), and samples of your colors
  E-mail- I highly recommend you make a wedding email address for you wedding. A new email address is free and you can make it cute (kateandjoshswedding@anything.com)! If you are like me you probably get 50 emails a day and it is easy for an important email from your venue to get lost in your normal inbox. You can also take pics with your phone and email them to your new wedding email address to help you remember stuff.

2-Pick your venue first

The first step of planning is selecting a venue. You can have the perfect date, dj and decor in mind but that means nothing if you don't have a place to get married! You may need two venues, one for the ceremony and another for the reception. Also if you are getting married in a church don't forget to coordinate your ceremony time with your reception time. It is best to be able to go straight from the ceremony to the reception so guests are not left with time in between with nothing to do(insert cocktail hour here!)

3-Pick a color pallet (not just a color)

Please don't pick just one or two colors! Having just one or two colors will leave your wedding looking flat and uninspired. You should take your venue and your wedding season into account when picking a color pallet. It is hard to have a neutral blush and ivory wedding in a venue with red carpet!

4-Hire a professional photographer (and videographer if you can afford it)

It is sad to say but your wedding will go by so fast! It will seem like a whirlwind of emotion and it will be hard to remember it all. Getting great pics of your wedding is worth it. Also be weary friends or cousins who are aspiring photographers unless you have seen and really love their work. It may be an easy way to save money but you don't want to be disappointed if the pictures come out not great. 

5-Don't forget it is your wedding!

Once you get engaged it seems like everyone will want to give you advice.  Advice can be great if you are asking for it but unsolicited advice is usually annoying. It is nice to be considerate of your friends and family but don't feel forced to include(and pay for) stuff just because it is important to someone else. In the end it is your big day and it should be an event you cherish forever :)