Wedding Planning 101 :: First Month

Whoa! Can’t believe how quickly time flies, it’s already been one month since Kyle and I got engaged. We have been totally enjoying this time together, but not going to lie, I already starting checking a few items off my wedding planning task list!

I’m so excited to introduce this brand new segment with you on the blog today! Wedding Planning 101 is a new segment dedicated to sharing all the bits and bobs of my upcoming wedding planning journey! Every month, I’ll be telling you all about the to-dos I was able to accomplish. In addition to sharing with you what worked and what didn’t work so well during this process, I also aim to share with you all the mini (or maybe not so mini) DIY projects I plan on incorporating into our wedding. I will also try my best to list out the various Toronto local vendors I’ll be working with on our magical day.

Trust me, I think you’re going to find my Wedding Planning 101 segment very useful, especially if you’re looking for a DIY guide to wedding planning. At least, I hope so!!!

Ok, let’s get to it, let the DIY Wedding Planning begin!

My August (first month) of wedding tasks I had to accomplish were:

1) Re-size Ring

Complete! The first thing to do is to ensure your newly acquired engagement ring fits like a glove. I was lucky that I was able to make an appointment with our jeweler the day after we got back from our trip to Boston. It was also awesome that they were able to do it onsite, I only had to wait an hour before my ring was re-sized and ready to wear. Always try your best to go back to the place the ring was purchased to get it re-sized. If the jeweler isn’t able to complete it onsite, be prepared to wait 3-5 days to receive your ring back!

The day I got my ring re-sized, it was super hot, therefore my finger was slightly swollen, which I didn’t notice at the time. On cooler days, I find that my ring is a little tad too big, but I won’t be making anymore size modifications to it until we get our wedding bands. In the mean-time, I bought a plastic piece from a jewelry store that affixes to the back of the ring, to keep the ring from spinning on my finger on cooler days.

2) Set Budget

Complete! One of the most important things to do when you start your planning is to set a budget for your wedding. Make sure you sit down with your fiance and go through what your overall budget should look like and account for all the items that will contribute to your wedding day. There are plenty of wedding budget tools out there for you, such as this wedding budget template from The Knot. Be prepared and be more conservative as there will be lots of surprises along the way. Keep in mind that your food/catering cost is likely going to account for 50-60% of your over all budget.

We are renting a venue that is essentially a bare space versus one that has everything onsite, the budget of one versus the other can look very different. Be sure to do ample research when you begin to set your budget… then try your best to stick to it!

3) Choose Wedding Party

Complete! Picking our wedding party was a no brainer and it really shouldn’t be! If you’re contemplating on any one person, then it really isn’t meant to be. Our wedding party is going to be an uneven number between the groom and bride side, but that’s totally OK by us. We just want to have our closest friends be a part of our special day.

I also thought it was be extra special to as my girls with a special delivery. Thanks to Sarah from DeLight Floral Design for preparing these special “We You Be My Bridesmaids“ arrangements for me last minute! They were hand delivered by yours truly, and really who can say no to a pretty arrangement??

4) Start Wedding Guest list

Complete! This process turned out to be a lot less stressful then I thought! You are really not going to be able to visit venues and make a decision before you get a good handle on how many people are going to be on your guest list. We started first with our own friends and immediate family. We then consulted our respective parents and asked them to contribute to the list, i.e. their friends and extended family. An important thing to also decide on is – kids, or no kids. It was an obvious decision for us because I have a lot of adorable cuties in my family.

We were able to keep our numbers under 200 which is a 100% win!  Also expect only 70-75% of your guest list will be able to attend the wedding, which should give you a pretty good estimate of final numbers.

5) Visit Wedding Venues

Complete! I really didn’t think that we would visit venues during the first month of our engagement. However, when I called The Berkeley Field House (which was my first choice), they had told me that every single Saturday from May – October were already booked in 2015. I was in total shock and also a bit of a panic. Therefore, I started to do some serious research on other contenders and visited three venues. We had a really clear idea of what we DIDN’T want, so we selected venues that fit the bill. The three we visited were The Cathedral Center, 2nd Floor, and Arcadian Loft. They were all very different and each had its own unique characteristic. After sleeping on it for a few nights and pulling some numbers together, we made our decision!

I’m so pleased to share with you that we decided on The Cathedral Center in June of 2015!

6) Ceremony Officiant Interviews

Outstanding! I haven’t started this task yet, so I’ll report on my progress next month!

7) Color, Themes, and Decor

Complete(ish)! I definitely started thinking a lot about color, theme, and decor. Honestly, I’ve got enough ideas to plan 8 weddings! What has been very helpful is creating a ‘secret’ Pinterest board of all my ideas. From there, I’ve narrowed it down to a few key elements. I do however know that I’ll be utilizing my crafting expertise and likely creating a few fun DIY projects, I may even add my own Wedding Bells Marquee Letters to the list! Seeing I want to keep this an element of surprise for our guests, I won’t be able to share too much information with you yet. But rest assure, I’ll be giving you plenty of sneak peeks!

8) Start Wedding Website

Outstanding! I haven’t started this task yet, so I’ll report on my progress next month!

I hope you’ll find some of this info useful and please bookmark this and check back from more Wedding Planning 101 posts alongside with Wedding DIY inspiration and fun-filled Wedding DIY projects! Hope you have a lovely weekend!

*A Special thanks to my MOH Claudia for keeping me so on track* XOXO

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