Spring is here (almost!), and for those of us in Memphis, we’re welcoming the warm weather with open arms! The sun starts to shine, flowers and tress start to bloom, and weddings can take place outdoors.

In honor of the long awaited Spring season, we will dub March as Floral month! We’ll start off with a great money saving tip:

Use your bridesmaids’ bouquets as centerpieces! Why do you need to have seperate flower arrangements when you have such fabulous bouquets?? All you need to do is have your bridesmaids put their bouquets in a vase that has been pre-filled with water. Wah-lah! A beautiful centerpiece!

You can also use the bouquets for the head table flowers. Just have some vases placed on the table and add the bouquets!

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Photography is an important element for any event – it captures little moments in time. When we sit down with our brides and ask them about the importance of certain areas of their wedding, photography is usually about an 8-9 out of 10. With so many great photographers to choose from in Memphis (and the rest of the country!), you need to sit down with your fiance and talk about what you want. Here are some things to think about:

Photographer Style:
Do you like a more journalistic approach? Less posing, more sporadic, real moments? Or maybe you want more planned poses. What about a photographer who’s more involved with the shots as opposed to a photographer who captures the moments that just happen? Each photographer is different, as is his or her level of involvement.

Photo Style:
Do you want your wedding photos to look more colorful? More vintage? Black and white, color, or a mix? Do you want artsy photos or personal ones? This will also help to determine your photographer. Check their portfolios and let them know which photos you like and why.

Photos Captured:
Think about which moments you want captured during your wedding. Are there certain family members you want included? Certain design elements? Let the photographer know! If you want great bouquet and centerpiece shots or more shots of you and your guests having fun, let him or her know.

After-Elements:
What do you want done with your pictures? An album? Framed canvas? Slideshow? DVD? Make sure the photographer knows up front what you want. This will save time and heartache if he or she can’t fulfill what you’re wanting.

When you meet with photographers (and really any vendor) for the first time, be specific. They don’t know what you want or expect unless you tell them. Communication is key!

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Some brides absolutely love being in front of the camera. Others are a little camera shy and they aren’t really used to the attention. That’s perfectly ok!

So how do you fix that? Easy! When you hire your photographer, use him or her for the engagement pictures too. That way, you can try different looks and poses with less pressure to get the “perfect” shot. This also gives you a chance to get to know your photographer and his or her shooting style.

Once the day of your wedding arrives, you’ll know what to expect from your photographer, which angles work and which ones don’t, and you’ll be a lot more comfortable. We don’t want you to feel awkward on your wedding day!

How did you deal with being camera shy at your wedding? Leave a comment and let us know. Hey, it may even help other brides out there!

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Since the moving of offices took up a lot of our time in December, we skimped on the blog posts (sorry!). So we’re going to post one more about shopping for your wedding dress. Now, on to the post!

All brides are different, and the method of finding a dress for one bride may be completely out of the question for another. Nevertheless, we have advice for each type of bride.

We mentioned in a previous post about scheduling a dress consultation during the week, earlier in the day – preferably in the morning. Take pictures that inspire you. It doesn’t have to be of a dress necessarily. It can be a pattern, design, color, or shape. This will give the consultant an idea of your style and personality.

The next, most important thing that we tell our brides for just about anything: be open! You may think you like one style, color, or fabric, but once you try it on, it may not be what you thought it was. Some brides think they want a full ballgown, but once they actually wear it, they opt for an a-line shape instead. So don’t completely shut out an option when looking around.

If you’re not sure what type of dress you want, go to a larger store to try on a variety. They have more dresses in stock than a smaller, specialty boutique. Once you narrow down the dresses you like, you can go to a smaller store to find “the” dress if you didn’t find it there.

Image from MadBrewLabs.com

Always remember to take the price of alterations into consideration for your budget. We can’t stress this enough! If your wedding dress budget is $2,500, don’t buy a dress at $2,500 expecting that to be it. You need to include alterations which can run from $30 for simple corrections, all the way up to $300 or more for complicated changes.

And if you don’t find your dream dress at the first few places, don’t worry! You’ll find it. Like everyone says, you just know when it’s your dress. If you can’t see yourself as a bride walking down the aisle in it, that dress is  not yours.

Happy Searching!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

When you’re trying on your dress, you’re tempted to buy the matching veil, tiara, necklace, and handbag. You’re caught up in the moment, and the bridal consultant is fitting you with the finest matching accessories in the store. Before long, you’ve got an extra $2,000 tacked on to your original purchase!

Think about this:

Before you buy everything at a wedding store, check online! You can look on wedding message boards for brides selling their gently used accessories, eBay can also be a good place to find a veil. In fact, at the time of this posting, there were over 16,000 listings for wedding accessories! Your veil/tiara combo is bound to be in there somewhere. 

I would go to a wedding store and try on veils to help determine the length you want first. Then, you can narrow your search a lot more easily online. There won’t be any “Oh no! It’s too short!” incidents.

You can also find small business owners who make veils in different designs. We were browsing the internet looking for some non-typical wedding veils, and we came across Kristen Elizabeth. She designs and makes lace wedding veils. Here’s one of her designs:

Veil by Designs by Kristen

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Photo by Creation Studios Photography

Our theme for December is the Dress! We’ll feature new designer collections, how to shop for a dress, how to accessorize, alteration tips, and more! Our first dress blog will be on Friday, but for now, we’ll start off with a little tip:

If you’re the type of bride that wants a little more attention while shopping for a dress, schedule an appointment with the bridal shop. The best time to go would be early in the day on a week day. There won’t be as many customers, the consultants will be more eager (it’s the start of a brand new day!), and you’ll just feel more productive. This leaves your day open to get some other wedding to-do’s crossed off your list!

If you don’t find the dress on your first appointment, don’t get discouraged! Take notes on what you liked about certain dresses, and what you didn’t like. This will help the consultant the next time you go in.

As always, Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Photo by Visio Photography

Yes, we do mean “bring your own beer.” Many couples (and famlies!) don’t realize how much money can be saved by providing your own alcohol. If the average bar tender (in Memphis, TN) runs about $150 for a night, can you imagine what the alcohol markup will be for your event?

We always try to suggest that you bring your own alcohol. Figuring out how much of each type can be daunting, but all you need to do is go to your local liquor store and ask for a little help. Before you go, you need to think about this: how many of your guests are wine drinkers? How many are beer drinkers? What about mixed drinks? Percentages are ok to give the liquor store attendant.

You shouldn’t feel like you need to have an open bar. If you want to, go for it! If not, guests are perfectly happy with beer and wine. It’s ok to set limits.

If you’re providing your own liquor, let the caterer know. They may employ a bar tender to work your event, or you may need to fine your own. This is an important question to ask: what will the bartender provide, if anything? Make sure you have bottle openers, cork screws, napkins, ice, cups, stir sticks, and any other accessories you want. The bartender may provide some of these, and the caterer may provide the rest…just be sure to cross your T’s and dot your I’s!

So, you’ve decided to bring your own alcohol. Who’s going to bring it to the reception location and when?

Many people forget to take into account their guest list when creating a budget. This next tip is true for any party.

The guest list can affect your budget. You’ll spend more money with a guest count of 200 than with a count of 100. Food cost isn’t the only thing that you need to consider when increasing your guest list. Here are a few other things that need to be changed as well:

• Church/Ceremony Space – If you have a larger count, you need to have the right amount of space to accomodate everyone.
• Reception Space – The same thing goes for the reception: more people equals more needed space.
• Reception Seating – You’ll need more chairs for more people
• Tables – You need to create more seating space and if you’re serving a meal, you’ll need space for people to eat.
• Centerpieces – If you have more tables, you’ll need more centerpieces.
• Tablecloths and Linens – With more tables comes added tablecloths. Don’t forget to add those! If you’re using chair covers, those need to be increased as well.
• Dishes/Utensils – More people? More utensils! You’ll need to let the caterer know you’ll need more plates, forks, knives, glasses, etc. If you give them the final guest count and they supply the dishes, they’ll know what to increase. If you’re renting everything seperately, you’ll need to update your rentals.
• Cake – You’ll need to increase the serving size of your cake, add more cake plates, and maybe add on a few more napkins if you’re not using linen napkins.

Brides normally think of the typical items to increase (programs, favors, etc.) but they forget about the technical additions. Hopefully this list will help!

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

How do brides and grooms alike determine what their wedding budget should be? Easy: what can you afford?

Wedding Change Jar - Mookie Gifts.com

Some couples drop change into a Wedding Fund jar, some create a savings account, and some just like to wing it. Try to set aside a certain amount per month or a certain percentage of each paycheck. You could even determine a target amount that you want to spend for your wedding.

Your style should help in determining your budget. If you’re the kind of couple that likes to party and celebrate, you may want to have a bigger budget for a bar, band or DJ, and larger guest list. More guests equal a higher price tag. If you’re a more simple, relaxed couple, you may want a smaller budget to share your wedding day with close family and friends.

Either way, once you figure out what you can afford, stick to it! You came up with that amount for a reason.

How did you determine your budget?

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Planners and brides alike create budgets for a reason. Why? To stay in control and not overspend. Overspending leads to buyers remorse and regret. We want to eliminate as many negative feelings as we can during the wedding planning process. One thing that we constantly reinforce is to stay either within or under budget in the different sections of your wedding. We know you hear it all the time, but let me actually show you what can happen by adding little things here and there:

Let’s say you have a projected budget of $10,000 for your wedding. Keep in mind that this is all hypothetical and for illustrative purposes. Your budget breakdown might be as follows:

• Wedding Dress and Accessories: $1,200
• Groom’s Tux: $200
• Reception Site: $1,300
• Rentals: $1,200
• Photographer: $1,800
• Cake: $400
• Ceremony Site: $500
• Officiant: $100
• Flowers: $1,000
• Decor: $1,100
• Catering: $1,200

Now let’s say you found THE dress, but it’s $1,800 with alterations. That’s only an extra $600, right? Your groom wants to look good and decides to pay the extra $50 for a nicer tux.

Then, the florist showed you these amazing centerpieces for only $40 more each. That may take you an extra $200 if you have 10 tables.  Now you think your reception needs a little more umph, so you upgrade your rentals to include these beautiful table cloths. That will bump you up another $250 assuming you have 10 guest tables, and the cloths you want are $25 each.

You want one more hour of coverage by the photographer…only an extra $100.

Now for the food. Your cake is nice, but you really want that raspberry filling which is an extra $5 per layer. And you saw a picture of a cake with some piping and details that you want to imitate. That will tack on an extra $100 for the design. For a three layer cake, this will add an extra $115. Catering, you stayed on budget, even a little under! You found someone who can provide what you want for $1,000.

Your ceremony site isn’t working out. You don’t like the look, it’s too cramped, and it’s near a bad part of town. You decide to look around and you find a stunning church. It’s only an extra $300! You’re sold.

You manage to stay on budget for the rest of your wedding. So what’s the damage? Here’s the new breakdown:

That’s $1,415 overbudget. No big deal! But that’s a 14% increase. This means less honeymoon money, less money to put into the house, less money to put down on a car, etc.

Now $10,000 may not seem like much to some brides. If your budget is $20,000 and you go over by 14%, that’s an extra $2,800.

Moral of the story: stick to your budget. You created it for a reason, whether your finances are an issue or you want a wonderful honeymoon. The more you go over, the more it affects other areas of your lives.