Chances are, this is your first wedding; and you don’t have any experience putting on a party of this magnitude. Instead of basing your important planning decisions on slick sales pitches, why not listen to couples who have just gone through it, and learned what worked and what didn’t?
Smart Money
- A great gown will make you feel like a queen.
- A limo from the church or temple to your reception will give you some valuable quiet time together before the madness of your reception begins.
- A professional DJ will guide your reception seamlessly, with a great soundtrack, a busy dance floor, and no awkward pauses.
- A venue that knows how to plan successful weddings, from catering to decorations, will take the pressure off you to think of everything yourself.
Dumb Money
- We’re not saying you should avoid spending money on these things. Just understand that they are luxuries, and they don’t make much of a lasting impact on your guests. Spend wisely, and don’t go overboard.
- Flowers die, the day after the wedding, and most people will forget your color scheme within a week.
- Invitations can be elaborate or simple, but very few people are going to save and frame your invitation.
- Favors are typically left on the dinner table, or taken home and tossed into a forgotten drawer.
What We Did Right
- “We let friends and relatives help us with our planning.”
- “We created a separate email account for our wedding, so all the junk mail wouldn’t clutter up our personal accounts.”
- “We mingled during the cocktail hour, so we didn’t miss anyone when the dancing started.”
- “We did our homework and hired a great photographer.”
- “We ate a big lunch, so we didn’t go hungry when everyone wanted to talk to us during dinner hour.”
- “We planned specific times to get away from our guests for awhile and just be together.”
What We Did Wrong
- “We didn’t have an open bar. BIG mistake!”
- “We waited too long to ask the venue to crank up the A/C; and it was too hot to dance.”
- “I drank too much.”
- “I spent the whole evening second-guessing my vendors, and micro-managing the reception until I was exhausted.”
- “I had no Plan B for rain, so our outdoor ceremony was a disaster.”
Great news! You’ve just learned from other people’s mistakes, and it didn’t cost you a dime. Happy planning!
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© Fourth Estate Audio, 2014 – Jay Congdon is president of Fourth Estate Audio, a professional Chicago DJ and Chicago Wedding DJ company.
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