Why wedding planning doesn’t have to be overwhelming
Wedding planning doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By starting with three key decisions, such as determining your wedding size, you can ease your wedding planning experience.
With the right focus and resources, wedding planning can become an enjoyable part of the journey rather than a source of stress.
For more details, you can explore the original post here.
If you have ever planned a wedding, you know exactly how stressful and overwhelming it can be. There are 100+ decisions to make, millions of articles/videos/checklists online telling you what to do, and often never-ending unsolicited input from family and friends.
Now if you’re new to wedding planning and aren’t aware of these things, my apologies if I just scared the pants off you.The truth is wedding planning can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
As a former DIY bride myself, I know what it feels like to be sitting on the floor surrounded by wedding magazines, trying to piece together a plan of how to DIY my wedding. Once I made it through my own wedding planning, I started supporting family, friends, and eventually couples online with their weddings. In 2019, I decided I wanted to use my wedding knowledge to support more couples through DIY-ing their weddings and thus Gathered Here Designs was created. Here’s a little breakdown of my journey to wedding design:
My journey to wedding design
While wedding design and styling are my absolute favorite part of the wedding process, I have learned you really have to start with planning first. I know, I know, talking guest-lists, budget, and setting the date are not the glamorous part of creating your dream wedding. I also know that if you skip to the design part, you’ll end up wasting time, money, and eventually you’ll have to go back to the actual planning part.
“The truth is wedding planning can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Whether you like it or not, wedding planning is happening - it’s a must for pulling off a DIY wedding.
To help make the process easier, I have put everything I know about wedding planning into a digital mini-course to help newly engaged couples DIY their wedding planning without the overwhelm. This course focuses on the 3 key decisions couples need to make first when planning a wedding and guides them through how to do so. It’s called Engaged 2 Planning.
While naturally I wanted to create a wedding design course, I really feel for all those stressed out couples trying to plan their wedding so I wanted to start with planning first (then we can get to the fun stuff later).
What this course includes:
Welcome Video
3 Modules
Multiple Video Lessons
PDFs and Worksheets
Bonus Section on Design
This course will be available before the end of the year. If you are a newly engaged couple or you know someone who needs help with their wedding planning, be sure to have them sign up for the Engaged 2 Planning waitlist.
If you’re not getting married and are just curious about the behind-the-scenes aspects of Gathered Here Designs, be sure to join the Wedding Wednesday email list. I send wedding tips, along with personal updates in this (mostly) weekly email. Sign up here.
My hope is wedding planning with this course will be super chill…happy planning!!!
The #1 Key Wedding Decision
Wedding require a lot of decision making. The easiest way to get through it? Start with the #1 Key Wedding Decision that will make all your other wedding decisions that much easier. This one decision will have a snowball effect on your wedding planning.
Weddings require a lot of decision making…like A LOT.
You make one decision about your venue and you feel pretty good about it, you feel accomplished. Then just as you go to let out a sigh of relief, 12 more wedding decisions pop up that require your immediate attention. If wedding planning was an arcade game, it would be whack-a-mole.
To make all the decisions easier, I like to encourage couples to start with the “key decisions” of their wedding. While I could chat all day about wedding color palettes, which is a decision that will need to be made eventually, it’s definitely not a “key decision”. By focusing on the key wedding decisions first, it will help create a solid foundation for you to design the rest of your wedding from.
I feel so strongly about this that the entire first module of my online Wedding Design 101 course is dedicated entirely to the five key wedding decisions that help set couples up for success with their wedding planning.
Today, I wanted to share the #1 Key Wedding Decision I would encourage you and your partner to make first. Are you ready to learn what this magical key decision is?
The #1 Key Wedding Decision is determining your wedding size (aka your estimated guest count). I know, I know, it’s not the most glamorous of the wedding decisions you’ll be making, but I promise you this one decision has a domino effect on all future decisions.
Knowing your wedding size will help you narrow down the scope of what’s possible for your wedding. Here are a couple of ways this key decision will help kick start other key decisions.
Venue Selection - Knowing your estimated guest count, will help you narrow down which venues you want to consider. For example if you end up with an estimated guest count of 250, that quaint rose garden in the heart of the city will no longer be an option. Many online venue searches allow you to filter by wedding size and location. Knowing your wedding size can definitely help narrow down your list of venue options.
Budget Range - Once you know your wedding size, you can start to get a better sense of your budget. Most caterers will have a per guest rate fee. In a 2022 study of wedding costs, couples paid an average of $75 per guest for catering (not this does not include the costs associated with an open bar). Let’s go with the $75 per guest average. If you know you’re having a wedding of 150 people, you could budget $11,250 (150 x $75) for catering costs. Did you just throw up a little? I know $11,000 is a small fortune. This is just an estimate based on averages. You should know my ENTIRE wedding cost less than half that catering bill. Take a breath. It’s going to be okay.
So how do you start getting an estimate of your wedding guest count? You and your partner will each need to make a list of who you want to invite to the wedding. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3…
List all guests you consider “mandatory” ; these are the people you feel absolutely must be at your wedding (siblings, parents, etc.)
List all close friends and family members (cousins, best friends, roommates, etc.)
List any additional guests you want to invite, but wouldn’t be devastated if they didn’t make it (co-workers, friends from college, clients, etc.)
Once you and your fiancé each make your own lists separately, go through them together and remove/add anyone else you might think of. Then, total it up. If you end up with way more people than you wanted, remove the guests from list #3 and see what your total is then. Still too many? Remove guests from list #2. Do this until you feel you’re at a number that feels good for both of you.
Need a visual? Of course I have you covered! See here for an easy to use template to help make your 1-2-3 wedding guest list.
“When it comes to weddings, size definitely matters!”
I promise if you take the time to prioritize making this key wedding decision first, it will make the rest of your planning so much easier!
Want to learn more about all the key wedding decisions? Get on the waitlist for my Wedding Design 101 course.
Have other wedding related things you need help with? Reach me directly at gatheredheredesigns@gmail.com!
Happy designing!
~Amanda Jean
