Welcome to the third segment of Evelyn Clark Weddings’ series of posts on the Top 5 Things To Do When Planning Your Wedding. In this blog post series of wedding planning tips, I share my wedding planning expertise as a Calgary wedding planner. We explore my 5 “must-dos” for wedding planning and hopefully these tips will help you get your wedding planning on the right track.

If you just joined us, be sure to read these previous posts to get caught up:

#1 of The Top 5 Things To Do When Planning Your Wedding – Determine your wedding type & style

#2 of The Top 5 Things To Do When Planning Your Wedding – Prioritize

#3 of 5 Things To Do When Planning Your Wedding — Manage expectations

Yes, this is a whopper of a topic because it covers so many areas. Now that you have started digging into your wedding planning, it is very important to have clear and honest conversations with the key people involved in your wedding. Let’s break it down into parts to make things more manageable for you:

• Wedding expectations from your fiancé

  Stereotypically, the Groom is happy to hand over the control and decision-making to the Bride. In my experience as a Calgary wedding planner though, modern couples understand that their wedding is a big step in building their future together. Therefore, it’s important to go over your wedding tasks together. Sit down together and find out what areas your fiancé would like to be directly involved in. Don’t assume that your fiancé won’t be interested in picking out florals, but then leave him wondering why you have gone over in your budget!

• Expectations about your wedding budget

  Again, this is a big topic that relates to every aspect of your wedding. You will need to talk about who will be contributing towards your wedding, if any contributions are happening at all (many couples are paying for their wedding themselves, today). Money is a topic that needs to be handled delicately, but these difficult discussions need to happen early in your wedding planning so that there are no assumptions on anyone’s part.

• Expectations about others’ roles in your wedding

  a) aside from monetary contributions, parents traditionally fill the role of “hosts” and unofficial wedding coordinators. This may go without saying, but if you are considering hiring a wedding planner to help you streamline wedding details, you should discuss this with your parents in case they had always envisioned planning everything about your wedding with you.

  As a Calgary wedding planner, I am happy to work with mothers of the bride/groom to create your dream Calgary wedding (if not Calgary, then insert __________). But my goal is to create the wedding of yourdreams, so I also need to set parameters on how I work with you in order to serve you best.

  b) We have all heard the nightmare stories from friends about the time they were bridesmaids/groomsmen in a wedding, and how they were completely stressed out about their roles. Conversely, we have also heard from past brides who were upset at their Best Man/Maid of Honour for not performing their wedding duties up to standards. Because of the emotional and intimate nature of weddings, sometimes bitter feelings arise if you are not clear about your expectations of people in important wedding roles.

  In order to keep everyone happy and excited about your wedding day (because it is exciting!), communicate clearly, and often. Both you and your fiance need to sit down with the key members in your wedding and talk about what everyone is willing to commit to in terms of time, effort and finances. Please remember that these are your friends/family first and not just a piece of your wedding, so try and be understanding if any time and financial restrictions come up. After all, the important thing is that these are the people you are choosing to stand with you as you commit your love and future together…at the end of the day, nothing else matters!

  

  Photo credit: My Portland Photographer

  A large part of my role as your wedding planner is often to help you manage expectations, and I help you by keeping you grounded because I am not emotionally involved. If you would like to find out more information on how I can help you with your Calgary wedding (or wedding beyond!), feel free to drop me a line by emailing me or calling at 403-837-9667 — I would love to chat!

  Join me next week for the last two topics in my Top 5 Things To Do When Planning Your Wedding.

  

  I am a Calgary wedding planner offering wedding planning, coordination & design to chic couples in love. You can learn more about me & Evelyn Clark Weddings and our beautiful sweet table designs, and don’t forget to look at our Gallery of stylish wedding couples too!