In the previous chapter I talked about all the things you might have to pay for at your wedding, but I didn’t really tell you the steps you need to take to make the wedding happen.

Here is a step-by-step checklist you can use to get started planning your wedding today.

You should be doing this now:

• Deciding upon a date for your wedding
• Deciding upon a budget for your wedding
• Drawing up a rough copy guest list
• Finding and booking an outdoor location that will suit you and your timetable, make sure if you are having a complete outdoor wedding to make an alternate plan incase of bad weather
• Booking your reception hall
• Arrange wedding insurance
• Start looking at wedding dresses that you like
• Getting the invitations sorted early
• Choosing your bridesmaids and Matron of Honor and best men
• Deciding upon the size of the wedding party
• Booking your music and entertainment early
• Booking florists and looking at arrangements
• Booking hairdressers and makeup artists
• Decide and book the type of transport you want
• Booking photographers and videographers for your wedding
• Booking caterers and picking your wedding cake

You should be doing this a couple of months from the wedding date:

• Setup your permanent guest list
• Booking your honeymoon destination
• Deciding what gifts you want or where you want to register
• Getting suits sorted for the men
• Trying on and buying wedding rings
• Fitting and buying wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses
• About 2 months in advance of the wedding you should be sending out invitations and asking for RSVP’s.
• Deciding upon wedding gifts and favors for your guests
• Sorting out accommodations for guests
• Sorting out accommodations and book a place to stay for the night of the wedding
• Planning your hens night and bucks nights
• Choosing who your celebrant will be and booking in advance

You should be doing these weeks in advance:

• Confirming everything is read to go and booked
• Having hair trials and makeup trials
• Drawing up seating plans for your reception
• Having your wedding and reception rehearsals
• Start packing for your honeymoon

Outdoor Wedding Checklist

Is it your dream to say your vows with nature as a backdrop? An outdoor wedding can be breathtaking. However, planning it involves quite a bit of work. Here are some things to think about…

Where to Have It

First you need to decide where you want your outdoor wedding…. scenic landmarks, historic estates, parks, the beach or maybe in your own backyard. All these are viable options for your big day.

The Comfort of Your Guests:

Consider including a note in the invitations to inform your guests what to expect. (i.e. wear comfortable shoes, bring an extra sweater, bring sunscreen)

Think about the bug factor. You might want to hire an exterminator to lay down insecticide before your wedding day. Another option is using decorated citronella torches in your wedding décor.

Before your wedding day, be sure to visit the site at the same time of day as your ceremony. Check to make sure that your guests won’t be blinded by the sun and that the sun won’t make it too hot to sit comfortably. If your ceremony is in the summer, your guests will likely appreciate being placed under the shade of a tree or a canopy. Your Comfort Don’t wear high heels. If the ground is soft, you will be sinking into it! Consider purchasing a dress without a train.

As you walk on the grass, your train will pick up some dirt. If you have your heart set on a train, make sure you line the aisle with a runner to minimize this tendency. Facilities Do you have enough bathrooms? Even if you are having the wedding at a home, you may still need to rent port-a-potties. Some of you may be cringing right now, but you’d be surprised how far port-a-potties have come.

They now have port-a-potties that are specifically designed for weddings and special events. They’re available in pink and blue colors (his and hers) and come with a sink, vanity and mirror. Add some fresh flowers or decorations and some perfumed hand soap. Will you need a microphone and lighting? If you are having an outdoor wedding, chances are there won’t be electrical outlets hidden in the trees.

If you are having a large wedding, a microphone that doesn’t need to be plugged into an outlet will be needed. Talk to your band or DJ and plan accordingly. Do guests have a place to park? If parking is tight, you might want to hire valets for the event. Another option is to instruct guests to park in a local parking lot and shuttle them over. Many limo companies rent trolleys - this could be a romantic way to get them over to your site.

Do you need a permit? If you are getting married in a public park or beach, you may need a permit. Make sure you check on this, as it would be a shame if the police decided to crash your wedding. Are you allowed to serve alcohol? Some towns have rules about the consumption of alcohol in public places. Back Up Plan Every bride wants a perfect “sunny” day for their wedding day — but you’ve got to be prepared just in case. So, it’s a good idea to rent a big enough tent (or tents) that everyone could sit under in case of rain.

Interviewer: Great; now what are some key things to be aware of? Like what are the–the nightmarish stories, you know? What can go wrong and–and how can those things be avoided?

Catherine Porterfield: You mean in–with meeting with the planner or do you mean in overall with–with the wedding?

Interviewer: Well I would say both. I mean it can start from the very beginning and–and then trickle its way through the process, so I guess we can talk about both instances.

Catherine Porterfield: Okay; I would say that with me–as far as planners go I find–and I get leery of people who are not good at calling back or not good at getting back to you. If you leave you know–and not communicating your schedule, someone who–you know sometimes you’ll hire a wedding coordinator and then I’ve heard people say they haven’t heard again from that coordinator.

You know they hired them a year out and then the coordinator really didn’t follow up with them until probably about two months prior or wasn’t really invested in the wedding until about two months prior because you know they have other weddings in between. It’s not that they just have one wedding at a time.

That I would be–be very careful of and if you find that you’re experiencing that you really–you know the couple or the–or the family needs to communicate that they’re not happy with–with the level of communication that they are receiving and attention they are receiving from the wedding planner, because you really want to feel like you’re taken care of and if they don’t get back to you I just find that’s kind of an example of not paying attention to details.

That’s a huge detail; your clients calling you–you need to get back to them in a timely manner; and you need to constantly–even if they’re not calling, you need to check in with them to make sure that you’re not missing out on any big decisions that they’re making that you could help advise them with.

So it’s–it’s definitely–that’s something to look–you know to look for and I think how that can be you know kind of resolved is if the client you know specifies what they want and what they’re looking for and making sure that as far as the coordinator goes that you’re honoring that and living up to that whether that means you know if someone who wants to take care of their wedding on their own, but wants that advice like I mentioned earlier and wants to be able to check in, you say okay; well how often can I check in with you then?

How often is it–I just want to make sure you know that everything is okay. You know what is it where I’m not going to be annoying you by calling but I’m also not going to disappear off the face of the earth? So that’ one way to fix that potential problem because the less involvement the planner has and if the planner is not around I find it makes it far more of a difficult kind of wedding day experience because they know a little bit less; they don’t know as much as they should.

They have not been involved. And as far as–that kind of leads into the second part of the question which is the day of and how that can be a nightmare which I–I have seen [Laughs] and what happens with that is a lot of times there’s just you know–well I guess the saying is too many cooks in the kitchen where too many people are involved. You really need a point person and that is what the coordinator is there for and too many people telling the different vendors different places to deliver things at different times and to the lack of organization and that’s why– again why the wedding planner needs to be involved in the beginning if you do hire one–because the wedding planner–he or she is the point person for that day.

And they need to have the timeline of the day and they need to be the authority in saying no, this goes here and this goes there; and the only person who has the right to change anything would be the wedding coordinator and that’s based on what the bride or groom or their family says. So it really is– those are the–kind of like the biggest problems, just too many–too many people trying to tell the different vendors what to do and they get confused and then one person is mad because something wasn’t–the cake wasn’t delivered at you know Noon and–and then it gets delivered at two but it was supposed to be delivered at two in the first place, so it just creates this added stress to an already stressful day and that just tends to definitely wreak havoc on–on the

Interviewer: Right, right; and we also want this to be helpful for those who are already out there as wedding consultants, so say I am a wedding consultant and just out of curiosity is–is there a process of seeking out clients at all? And if so, what are the suggestions for finding clients? Do you network or how does that work?

Catherine Porterfield: For finding clients–definitely networking. It is going to all the different bridal shows that take place which are–you know can be at convention centers. Actually DC has many but most large cities do as well–but going to–going to different bridal shows and just you know getting your name out there, definitely have business cards printed out so that you have all your contact information that you can give to people going, and then if you want to do something even smaller than going to these large you know bridal shows then it would be going–going to your local dress shops, going to florists, getting your name out there; this is what I like to do and you know this is what Im doing and I’m looking for more clients.

Establish a relationship with those vendors because it kind of works–if you–you know if they refer you then you know in the future you’ll refer them for a wedding. And so it’s again networking not only meeting new you know families and brides and grooms but also working with the vendor relationship because then if you have a good relationship with them it’s going to benefit both of you.

So that’s another really big way to–to get your name out there. And then it’s also you know word of mouth; it’s–you have to be careful when you’re at a wedding but–you can’t really obviously go up to ask who may be engaged and give out business cards, but if you do a really good job then your bride and groom will refer you to somebody else and so then you can build word of mouth that way. I’ve received most of my jobs actually from people who were at weddings that I coordinated and they then in turn called me, you know.

Either they got engaged months later and they followed up with the wedding–the bride and the groom of the wedding where they were or they are engaged at the time and will either contact me themselves or the bride and groom will contact me and ask me to give the information out. So those are the–the biggest ways. And another way to kind of help with that and I always like to do a–kind of a wrap-up meeting with the bride and groom and just like to ask them what they thought worked and what they thought didn’t work.

And then I also ask them would they be willing to be a reference and–so that I can then use them and know that they’re willing to speak positively about me and to hopefully use them and–and ask for them and for their help in the future in–in obtaining new clients.

I thought you might enjoy this funny wedding video of everybody dancing to Thriller.

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