Showing posts with label wedding planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wedding planning. Show all posts

"Day-of" planning is a misnomer

If you're considering hiring a planner to help you in the weeks leading up to your event, please interview planners knowing that "day-of" planning/coordination involves much, much more than the planner and her assistant simply arriving on site the day of your event.

The term "day-of" planning (or "day-of coordination") gives a false perception of what it requires to professionally execute an event. Planners typically work more than thirty hours to execute "day-of." At Merriment, we believe it's not only our job to make sure that the day flows smoothly, but we also believe that it's our responsibility (in that capacity) to confirm all of the arrangements you have made leading up to the event; to confirm your set-up plans with your vendors and venue; to help you with last minute arrangements that have fallen by the wayside (inevitably, transportation); to produce an agenda for the weekend that best serves you and your vendors; to have plan B's for plan A's; and to bring the expertise we've earned to your event - troubleshooting, managing and coordinating.

For that reason, many planners will require clients work with them for a minimum of hours or during a minimum time period leading up to the event - for us six weeks out from the date.

{image by Worthington Photography from Jolene's wedding}

Wedding Blogs and Wedding Websites

Getting a little bored reading the usual wedding websites? We feel your pain, and we'd like to suggest a novel solution: Make your own! A personal wedding blog or wedding website is a great way to make wedding planning a lot more fun and accessible to the important people in your wedding, like mothers, bridesmaids, and groomsmen. Oh, and your future spouse, too!

There are plenty of free wedding website hosting services online, or you can use a free blog program like Blogger to set up a simple collaborative wedding blog. We like both options, having tried each, though both have different utilities.

A wedding website is great if you're looking to share wedding information with your wedding guests. For example, you can put directions to the ceremony and reception on your wedding website, as well as links to the stores you're registered at. You can share the story of your courtship and pictures of you and your fiance on your wedding web site, and pretty much anything else you want to show people.

A wedding blog, on the other hand, can be a place where you share your wedding ideas (like we do) or a place for you to communicate with your bridesmaids. You can make both a wedding website and a wedding blog that link back to each other so wedding guests and wedding VIPs can keep track of your wedding planning progress.


Connect with other brides-to-be on our awesome wedding forum -- it's free!

Avoiding Wedding Risk

How can you protect yourself from unknowns like sick vendors, really bad weather, and fire damage when planning a wedding? You, bride, need some wedding insurance.

Wedding insurance (also known as event insurance) is a type of property and causality policy that originated in Great Britain in 1988, but has only been available in the U.S. since the mid 90s. It typically covers cancellation or postponement of a wedding if a member of the bridal party dies or gets sick. Keep in mind that if the wedding party member becomes sick or dies because of a pre-existing medical condition your wedding insurance probably won't cover it.

Wedding insurance also covers a bridal party member's failure to show because they are injured or are called up to active military duty or there is a shutdown of commercial transportation. Additionally, it will help pay for the reassembling of the bridal party in the event another photo session is necessary because the photographer lost the film or it's damaged at the lab. Finally, it will provide money for new wedding rings if the originals are lost and the replacement of damaged, stolen, or lost wedding gifts.

What isn't covered? Changes of heart! If you or the groom gets cold feet, your wedding insurance will not reimburse your expenses.

The typical cost for a basic policy is between $125 and $350 (with a $25 deductible). Like any other insurance coverage, the premium varies depending on the amount of coverage needed. But unlike other coverages, the premium is a one-time payment even if the policy is purchased well in advance of your wedding date. In most instances, a policy can be purchased from two weeks to two years prior to the event.