Wedding Plans Archives - Oh My Heartsie Girl

April 17, 2019October 17, 2020

Ways to Save Money on a Destination Wedding

Everyone says planning a wedding is one of the most expensive investments of your life, but this doesn’t have to be true. If you and your soon-to-be spouse are living on the lighter side, you still can have a wonderful wedding while saving money at the same time.

The average price of a wedding can reach more than $27,000. Instead of blowing your savings on a huge wedding, here are some of the best ways you can indulge in a destination wedding — without the hefty price tag.

Plan months in advance

Couples usually start planning their weddings around a year in advance but this might mean you pay extra if you wait too long. Planning ahead of time will ensure you get the most affordable accommodations and flights for your destination wedding. Whether you’re prepping for a Patagonia wedding or a destination across the world, everyone knows buying tickets early will help mitigate the price.

By planning in advance, this can help you establish a budget that works for you. It will also help ensure that you’re able to cover any extraneous costs later on. This is also vital if you plan to help your friends and family with travel costs. After all, not everyone can afford to make it to a destination wedding. Not only does planning ahead help work for your budget, but it also makes things fairer for your guests. Try planning your wedding for more than a year in advance to help everyone save for the future.

Agree on a destination for marriage and the honeymoon

By wrapping your honeymoon and the marriage into one location, you’ll save money on travel and lodging alike. As such, it’s vital that you plan on a destination you both want to enjoy at a price that works for you.

Because you’re going to spend more time on your honeymoon than your wedding, you should choose a location that works for your vacation. Though a romantic wedding in Rome looks good on paper, if you want to indulge on the beach for your honeymoon, this isn’t the best location.

Cut down on your guest list

Even though you wanted a huge wedding with all your friends and family, a destination wedding isn’t for everyone on your list. By cutting down on your guest list, you’ll save money and get to spend more time with each of your guests. One of the worst parts of the wedding festivities is stretching yourself too thin among your guests. By inviting only the people you care about most, you can save money on invitations, food, flights, and more.

Rely on the local beauty of your destination

It might be tempting to buy every decoration for your extravagant wedding, but this will cost you more in the end. After all, you’re in an entirely new location. Why not take advantage of the beautiful scenery around you?

Take gorgeous wedding photos on the beach or surrounded by the beautiful local architecture of the city. If you’re stuck for ideas, don’t hesitate to do a little research beforehand. You can even contact some locals to get an idea of locations not even the savviest tourists know about.

Cut corners where you can

Your wedding is what you want it to be. If you’re stuck thinking about the weddings you see in movies or if you’re trapped in tradition by your family, shirk expectations to craft a wedding that’s entirely your own.

This means you don’t have to get a four-course meal for dinner. You don’t have to get married in a church if it costs too much. If you’re OK with a wedding on the beach or in the park, that’s your prerogative. Don’t let anyone make you feel guilty for planning the wedding of your dreams.
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August 25, 2018

Wedding planning – Crucial Mistakes a Wedding Planner Should Avoid

Nobody wants their wedding to go wrong! It’s a day when two people celebrate their love and togetherness for a lifetime. Everything from the wedding decor to the reception needs to be correct. Not all wedding planners have what it takes to plan the perfect wedding. For this, you need professionals who’ve had training in advanced wedding planning. These trained wedding planners would know why certain mistakes are dangerous. They avoid making such mistakes.

If you are an aspiring wedding planner, you need to know the mistakes to avert. There are plenty! We have discussed below the important ones.

Planning and executing a wedding plan without making a budget plan

A wedding planner should never take money matters lightly. Hence, it is crucial to set a program within a realistic budget. It is essential for avoiding any extra costs and hidden expenses. When you don’t have a budget list, you start to spend endlessly. When a wedding planner has no budget, then there’s no account of the catering cost, decoration expenses, wedding aisle decoration cost and the like. Today, most couples want a memorable wedding within an affordable budget. Therefore, setting a budget is crucial.

When you don’t have a rain plan for specific wedding themes

Theme weddings have become the order of the day! From the castle, vintage to barn wedding, every couple has a favourite wedding theme that they want to set for their wedding. Some couples prefer an outdoor wedding theme, such as beach wedding, meadow or a garden style wedding. Trouble happens when the weather condition doesn’t comply with the plan. Since a downpour will completely ruin the marriage and its theme, it’s a smart call to chalk out a rain plan already. This alternative plan is not something that looks like a stop-gap arrangement. A wedding planner with advanced wedding planning course training will be able to pull this off, keeping to the allocated budget.

Not hiring a videographer doesn’t equal to savings

It’s natural for couples to have their budget for their wedding. But what is disappointing, is having to regret not spending on an activity that they should have. One such factor is hiring a videographer. People often feel by not hiring a videographer they can save a lot. That’s far from the truth. Most couples regret at times for not having a videographer to record the moment and overspending on cutlery or a wedding cake. An ace wedding planner will be able to address this to you.

Sending “save the dates” text without checking with the wedding planner

Sometimes, a delay in the preferred wedding dates happens due to many reasons. Probably, there was no hall vacancy, or the card didn’t get printed at the correct time. Also, the wedding dress might take more time to be customized. So always check with your wedding planner before impulsively sending wedding dates and later apologizing for the wrong dates posted.

The job of an expert wedding planner is to keep his/her client updated on every minute changes and updates that take place. Sometimes, a wedding planner needs to use specific contacts to get a task done ahead of time or within budget. It is where an advanced wedding planning learning course is essential.
Related:
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July 24, 2018

3 Factors to Consider Before Buying Your Wedding Dress Online

Are you nervous to buy your wedding dress online? Buying your wedding dress online is one of the most significant purchases in your life, and the experience is stressful. Shopping for your wedding dress online, on the other hand, can be a convenient solution over shopping for your dress in the local market. You may browse through a wide range of bridal websites and get an extensive collection of traditional and modern styled wedding dresses for your big day. Most women across the globe are deciding to buy their wedding dresses online. The experience is memorable for some quality websites provide their clients with actual in-store shopping experience!

3 General factors you need to consider before purchasing your wedding dress online

If you have decided to shop for a wedding dress online, keep the following factors in mind. They will help you to buy a top -quality dress for your big day from the privacy of any place. The common factors you need to consider when you purchase your wedding dress online-

Which the dress fit you- The fittings for the wedding dress are essential. On your big day, you do not want to be wearing a dress that looks ill-fitted and uncomplimentary. Some websites mail samples to their clients so that they can get the fittings, colour and style right in advance. When it comes to the order of your wedding dress, the sooner, the better. This gives you ample time for any alterations you want to be done to the dress. Experts from credible bridal company, Luv Bridal, states that brides should at least order their wedding gowns 6-9 months before the big day.

Compare several websites to bag the best deal- The most significant advantage of online shopping for your wedding dress is you can browse through different sites to grab the best deal. There are bridal dress websites that often give you discounts during special seasons. This gives you the chance to save money and time when you are shopping online for your wedding dress. Often the prices online are lower than local stores. The reasons being you do not have to pay extra retail costs for the dress. The dresses are sourced directly from manufacturer websites, and so this helps you to find your wedding gown at lower prices.

Measurements- If you like a particular dress and want it for the big day, experts suggest you walk into a tailor store and get yourself measured professionally. You may mail these measurements to the website and customise the wedding dress as per your choice. In short, when you measure yourself professionally, you help the site to make the wedding dress perfectly as per your tastes. Sites have measurement guides to help you as well.

Therefore, if you wish to save time and money when it comes to the purchase of your wedding dress, keep the above factors in mind. They help you to get a wedding dress at a cheaper rate from the comforts of home. You do not have to step out at all and have your dress conveniently delivered to your residence without hassles at all!

May 15, 2018

The Ultimate Wedding Stationery Timeline

The wedding planning process needs an ultimate timeline of its own! Between cake tastings, dress fittings, and everything else on the never-ending to-do list that is planning a wedding, having a planning guide and timeline is seriously helpful! With wedding season about to kick off now is the perfect time to talk all things wedding plans, but rather than a full on wedding planning guide I am going to bring all of you something of a smaller scale!

I’ve recently been asked to team up with online stationery design company, Basic Invite, and as promised, I’m going to bring you a shorter, but no less important timeline… a timeline to wedding stationery! Elegant wedding invitations and stationery play a pretty large role throughout the entirety of the wedding planning process and because of the role they play, it’s important that you’re planning ahead, sticking to the schedule, and following up promptly and with proper etiquette.

If you’re wedding is in the early summer – say late June or any of the remaining spring days you’re probably already be a pro when it comes to elegant wedding invitations since they’ve hopefully been sealed and sent by now. But for all you brides getting hitched later in the year or next year this is perfect timing… So, get comfy and get ready for some serious note taking!

Let’s start with the basics… what makes up a wedding invitation suite? Well, that depends. Each wedding is different and there are always going to be exceptions to the rule. Brides should keep in mind things like the number of guests, budget, and any other important factors that make their wedding different while making these choices and planning their special day.

Traditionally, a wedding suite is made up of 6 pieces.

A single wedding invitation, and five enclosure cards.
Enclosure cards are; rsvp’s, registry, accommodations, directions, and reception cards

If you’re used to seeing box store wedding invitations you may only be familiar with seeing a save the date followed by a single wedding invitation that contains all the info a guest needs along with an rsvp card. But if you’ve ever received a wedding invitation in the mail that comes along with more than just an rsvp, those are your enclosure cards and it probably means that the couple hopped online to create a custom suite or paid the big bucks to have something custom made by a local boutique shop.

When it comes to how many enclosure cards you choose for your day, there is no right or wrong answer. Just be sure the info you send out is clear and correct so you’re guest’s have everything they need at their finger tips. The most important part is lining up the timing!

The pros over at Basic Invite suggest starting your wedding stationery journey 8+ months out. No matter how long you’ve been engaged or how short, having your color palette set and your style in mind going into the wedding invitation process – 8+ months will have you on the right track!

Next up, save the dates. Once you’ve decided on a style and colors it’s time to officially kick off your walk down the aisle with custom save the dates. 6+ months out be sure to order your save the dates so they are ready to be sent out a month prior to your wedding invitations. You will want to send out your save the dates about 4+ months before the wedding followed by your wedding invitations so be sure to order your wedding invites as soon as your save the dates are in the mail!

3+ months prior to your wedding is the best time to send out your wedding invitations. It gives guests plenty of time to plan ahead, mark their calendars, and rsvp’s with enough time to spare. Once your invites are all squared away remember to order any of your wedding day stationery like your menus, programs, and place cards.

Pro Tip: If you’re having a destination wedding make sure guests are aware of that prior to sending invitations – so, be sure to make that detail apparent on your save the date cards. Sending out your invitations a couple of weeks early is one option or giving guests a bit longer to respond back is another alternative. Doing this can help give you the best turn out for your romantic weekend getaway or destination wedding!

Once you break the timeline down it really isn’t that much to keep track of. At this point, you’re married and all you have to worry about after the honeymoon is sending out your announcements and thank you notes! And then it’s truly time to enjoy being newlyweds!

Don’t forget to order your wedding announcements and write and send out your thank you notes about 2 weeks after the wedding. The guests who couldn’t make it will want to feel like they we’re a part of your big day and receiving a photo-wedding announcement with the happy couple will be a great and unexpected surprise! When it comes to thank you notes, couples often times post-pone writing out their thank you notes because the honeymoon phase has taken over, but try taking your thank you notes with you for the plane ride to your honeymoon destination and get them sealed and sent ASAP! Its details like this that your guests will appreciate and remember for years to come.

Stationery Timeline Recap:

8+ months: pick your colors and order samples
6+ months: order your save the date cards
4+ months: send your save the dates and order your wedding invitations
3+ months: send out your wedding invitations and order your wedding day stationery & thank you notes
2 weeks post wedding: order wedding announcements and send your thank you notes!

Now that you have a better ideas of what all goes into wedding stationery and the skills to stay organized and on top of things, head over to Basic Invite and use coupon code 15FF51 for 15% off everything site wide! Basic Invite makes it easy to shop online because of their endless customization options and 180 custom color choices. Just click on any design you like and scroll to see the matching suite. Play with customization options and colors until you’ve familiarized yourself with the website and have a solid idea of the style you’re going for. Then, get to customizing and check those mini-milestones off your list!