Where to start?

So you’ve just gotten engaged. Congratulations! Now Let’s talk about where to start…for now. We’ll do a series of posts on this topic. But we need to start somewhere.

I work in the wedding industry in beautiful Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island. There are a lot of ways to go about beginning the process of planning a wedding. But from my experience, this is what I think works really well.

First off, choose a venue that you feel suits your style, personality, has a beautiful place for photos (photo opp!), and has good communication. You’ll be dealing with your venue for all aspects of your wedding so you want clear and quick communication. Of course you need to consider your budget, but a great venue will make your planning experience so much easier. 

Second, get a wedding planner. Yes, you heard me right! Get a wedding planner or wedding Coordinator. One can help you from the start of your search and the other can come in month of to take care of all the details. If you’re not sure where to start and are overwhelmed just reading this article – I’d recommend a Full Wedding Planner. Either way, they are worth every penny and make your life way less stressful. We want you to avoid having to yell at you Uncle Larry about his long speech on your wedding day.

Third, Make a budget! I often get inquiries where people are just looking for quotes. Which is totally fine. But ultimately you should be going into the process with a budget in mind. My best advice on budget is to know that the average wedding cost in Canada is around $29,000-$35,000. You can definitely do it for less than that (depending on you guest count) but be prepared to have to cut back on too many glamorous details.

Some services are worth spending more money on (Post to come on this!) and you don’t want to just look for the “cheapest” person or vendor, look at their service level, reviews, their communication, their work and make sure you know where you want to prioritize your budget whether it be big or small. 

As a designer I often see people coming to me wanting a design and not wanting to spend money for the service. And I’m not trying to convince you to book me by any means, but in reality I’m like a wedding planner for the decor side of the event. But that’s just how I run my design business. So make sure to ask what the designer includes in their design fee’s.

For me personally, I usually organize and book your decor rentals, florist, stationer, and deal with final numbers, and the execution of the event. So when you show up to your venue, it looks beautiful and you didn’t have to lift a finger. It’s also important to note that designers get vendor discounts from certain vendors and that discount gets passed along to you. So our “design fees” cover all this and allow you to be stress free on your day/ month leading up to the event. 

So that’s where to start. I’ll be posting more info on how to plan a wedding in posts to come as well as more information on services that are worth spending more money on!

Stay tuned and thanks for reading!