Weekly Wedding Words: My 6th month to do list

April:

• Do flower calculations
  • My flowers have become a chore in themselves! I am contemplating doing some DIY magic, having my wedding planner assist me or just throwing my hands up and turning over my money to the professionals.
• Officially book Hair
  • My hair has been a no brainer from day one. I love my hairdresser who cuts my whole families hair, just have to get around to actually reserving her for my big day.

• Complete registry
  • If you haven’t read my post on registering, please pause and go catch up! I loved getting to work with and chat with different versions of brides about their favorite registry items were. Since then I have started my registry complete with kitchen appliances, home necessity and some fun just cause items. However, there is still plenty of things I need to pick out including; new kitchen plates, outdoor tools, and good quality towels.
• Determine final alcohol amounts
  • In our particular case, we will be providing our own alcohol since we are not using a full-service venue. While this probably saves us money in the long run, there is a fine line between trying to save money and running out of alcohol because we were too cheap. We are in the process of finding that line.

• Continue search for dishes
  • We are not using a full-service venue, so the choice of dishes we have has become an endless search, between plastic or real dishes. The search continues.
• Requesting items on Facebook to purchase
  • I am a huge fan of yard sales, so when you follow a Free and Sale page for wedding items, it’s like a yearlong yard sale! I am anxious to finally start reaching out to a lovely woman for some key décor pieces for my wedding. This is a great way to save if you can find what you are looking for. There are so many women who sell those “unplugged wedding” signs and “MR and Mrs” banners as soon as their day is over. Keep an eye out!

• Order favors
  • I am ready to start working details like this! While some planners will advise that favors don’t need to be ordered this far out, I have found it is one of the easier purchases to go ahead and make. By now you usually have an idea of what kind of favor you want, so if you think you know. Just start looking around, then click purchase! This way you aren’t trying to spend $200.00 on koozies in the same months that you are paying for final deposits for your caterer. You will thank me later when you don’t have to worry about them getting here on time.
• Book hotel rooms for the wedding night
  • Once the wedding blocks are made for your guests, feel free to check off your reservation for the big night! We are staying in the same hotel as our guests. I and my bridesmaids will be staying in the room the night before the wedding for one last girl’s sleepover as a single gal. Again, just something I can get out of the way early.

• Look at wedding bands
  • I am so excited to return to Diamonds Direct and pick out our wedding bands! While Jacob will get some kind of “manly” band rather than the traditional, I am excited to add some more simple sparkles to my finger. Having the bands picked out makes it easier to plan finically when another payment is going to be needed. Remember that most vendors final payments are due 30/60 days out from the wedding so those last two month can become very overwhelming financially if you aren’t careful.
• Pick out invitations
  • I can’t lie, this does not excite me. There are so many options and styles it is too much at times. Yet, it is so important and is setting the tone for your wedding. While they don’t need to be sent out until 2/3 months before the wedding, I may as well start looking now. Remember with invitations it isn’t just picking them out, it’s ordering them, waiting for them to come, stuffing all of them, addressing them, buying stamps, then sending them out.  Depending on how busy your life can get, don’t underestimate the time this process will require. I know for me it could take me a week just to get to the post office to buy the freaking stamps!

While this list might seem a little overwhelming with all the details, having this list will keep me sane. I arrived at this list by mapping out all the big pieces of my wedding from day one. Of course, as we get closer, smaller things come to light that needs answers or need to be done. You’ve got this! If you want to offset a little bit of that work, 6 months out is when a lot of major planners, including myself, love to come on board and lend you a hand.

Send me your wedding details to Thedirtyblondestylist@gmail.com for some more information about how we can work together to make your wedding dreams come true!

-ML