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5 Tips for Engaged Couples
You’re engaged! That’s most likely the reason that you’re here, or you know someone that is, right? Now the next question is, what do you do now that you’re engaged? I’m sure a ton of questions are floating in your head at the moment. I’d like to offer you my concise list of 5 tips for engaged couples.
I know exactly where you are right now. Having been there myself, planning an overseas wedding on my own, and also having attended at least 100 weddings as a wedding photographer and getting to know people’s concerns and struggles, I can, with certainty, offer you my guidance in the engagement stage of your wedding.
If you’re looking for actual steps to follow, check out the blog post I put together on Taking the First Steps as an Engaged Couple. Right now, I just want to offer you some words of advice on mindset, and a few general tips. Read through them, and my hope is that at least you’ll have gathered a few helpful tips to keep in the back of your head, for what to do next as you’re starting on this fun journey ahead as a newly engaged couple.
Tip 1. Decide Where Your Priorities Lie
Weddings are expensive. They just are. That’s just what happens when you are trying to feed a ton of people, keep them entertained for 5 hours, and then want to make sure you have it all captured well so that you can remember it. But not all of us are made of money, so it’s important at the beginning of this all, to sit down with your significant other, and before even putting together the numbers, to really prioritize what’s most important to you. This way, once you start delegating the budget to different vendors and aspects of your wedding, you’ll know where the wiggle room lies to make room for the vendor that you really want for that priority that you had at the top of your list. Some of the aspects on your list that you can consider are food, location, guest list or party size, entertainment, photography, videography, decor, flowers, outside planners, and clothing. There is a lot to consider when putting together a sizable event, but once you start putting things in their place and assigning an emotional value to them, it will start to get a little bit easier to go down that list once you assign a monetary value to it.
Tip 2. Stay True to What You Want
Sometimes we don’t know where to start, so we ask our friends and family for help, until everyone starts to have an opinion about something and you don’t know what your own opinion is anymore. It’s ok to start with advice, or ask for opinions – use it as a starting point to lessen that overwhelming feeling of where to go next, or where to start your research, but it’s also very important to make this your own. Sometimes the things you want will take a little bit longer to find, because they are not your usual, or traditional way of doing things. Consider going out of your comfort zones, out of your local wedding venue area, to search for vendors. You’ll be surprised at how many people are willing to travel for a small fee to help you with your wedding vision. Just because your parents did it this way, or your sister used this person, doesn’t mean you have to also. And it’s ok to leave a few people upset. They’ll get over it.
Tip 3. You’re in This Together, so Do This Together!
This wedding is a celebration of you both – so make sure to keep each other’s interests at heart, and be vocal about it. Talk to each other. Be involved in searching for your vendors – together. Split up the work, but reconvene at the end of the day and be open to what the other has found. Attend your meetings together. At the end of the day, if you are both invested in the vendors you’ve chosen and poured your trust into them, you will enjoy your wedding day even more, not having to worry about anything on the day of.
Tip 4. If Things Aren’t Perfect, That’s the Beauty in it.
Wedding planning can become overwhelming only if you let it. Don’t spend every moment of your day planning your wedding. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Gone are the days when we used to dream about Prince Charming coming to sweep you off your feet for your perfect wedding. Girl, we are in the 21st century! Do as much as you can, but don’t get on top of yourself if it’s not living up to the expectations you had when you were 6. Times change, and so do we. Don’t be a Bridezilla or a Groomzilla. Embrace the imperfect as part of your day too. Oh, and wine, lots of wine too.
Tip 5. Enjoy the Process! It’s Going to Fly by!
Really – people say it but you don’t realize it until it happens to you. All of that wedding planning that seemed stressful at the time? You start to miss it. That wedding that you poured your heart and time in to plan? It’ll be gone in a what feels like seconds. So from someone that’s gone through it, I am telling you to enjoy the process, not just the end result. Get your engagement photos done. Go to tastings. Let people shower you. Laugh at the unsolicited advice and comments you get. At the end of the day, you’ll have great memories not just from your wedding day, but from the whole process as well.
I hope you were able to come away from my post with helpful tips for engaged couples and find a direction to start your journey on! Feel free to comment with any questions you might have on the process, and I’m happy to do my best in answering them!
