Time versus Money and Your Wedding

If you are a busy on-the-go bride, you are going to be faced with an important question before you start planning your wedding. You will have to decide between time and money. In other words are you going to hire a wedding planner or are you going to be a DIY bride? I was a professional bride and I chose to do it myself. If I could go back in time and change that decision I would in a heartbeat and here is why… Bad Choices

I made some bad vendor decisions for my wedding. Being strapped for time I didn’t have the time to spend finding and meeting with vendors. I couldn’t interview them all or fit tons of meetings into my schedule. Unfortunately that meant some quick decisions without doing the proper research. Here is one area where wedding planners excel. They've worked with a ton of vendors! Sure they have their favorites, but their job is to refer vendors to you that fit in with your style and budget. They can save you tons of time by giving you a list of a select few vendors to meet with.

Image by JLM Creative Photography via OTGB

Time for DIY

I was lucky enough that my wedding was before the days of Pinterest, yet I still managed to convince myself that I had time for DIY projects. Here are the DIY projects I completed:

1. Table seating chart
2. Candy bar
3. Wine tasting/purchasing for the cocktail hour (okay I made sure to squeeze this one in)

Now here are the DIY projects on my list that I never got to:

1. Welcome bags for out of town guests
2. Scheduled event program for out of town guests
3. Programs for the ceremony
4. Scrapbook of my husband's and my first year together
5. Personal thank you notes with guest favors
6. Personalized napkins for the cocktail hour
7. Picture slideshow during dinner

Was my wedding ruined by not completing these DIY items? Absolutely not! My point here is that I had way too much on my plate and as much as I wanted to be, I was not a DIY bride.

Image by Matt and Jentry: Photographers via OTGB

Stress

Oh my gosh, if you are already a super busy person the amount of stress can be intense. At least it was for me. During my wedding planning I was traveling a lot for my job, my parents lived in a different state, and 3 of my 4 bridesmaids were living in different states. Needless to say I had very little help and the wedding planning rested on my shoulders. I had a lot of very stressful days and moments. Trying to figure out how to fit the DIY projects and vendor interviews into my already packed schedule was not only stressful, but left me disappointed as tasks fell to the wayside. Looking back I realize that I was trying to do way too much.

Image by Lovely You Photography via OTGB

So what does this all mean? Again it comes down to the big question of what type of bride you are. If you are a busy bride like myself, investing in a wedding planner is going to be one of the best things you can do for yourself. You are still going to be making the final decisions, but hire them to help you narrow down those decisions. Let them do the legwork and allow yourself to enjoy the process of wedding planning with a few less headaches.