The day after Thanksgiving, I was contacted by a mom about planning a wedding for her daughter on January 22nd of the next year. Yes, if you calculated that correctly. November 24th - January 22nd is only eight weeks. Most brides that call us two months before their wedding day are requesting a little help with planning or just day of coordination. However this client was looking for the full thing, from start to finish. Not only did they want full planning, but they wanted a very elaborate, upscale wedding that consisted of very specific details with a guest count 150 people.
The Details
Some of the details included a venue in uptown Charlotte with a view of the city, she wanted a calligrapher for the invitations, three limos, a Rolls Royce, photos’ with her dogs, to have her ceremony in a church with stained glass windows less than five miles from the reception venue, a live band, and a DJ, two specific singers, favors that represented how they met and more.
Not only did the bride give us a list of things to complete, but due to her busy work schedule she was hardly ever in town. Most of the meetings consisted of the groom, the mom, and I.
Why did they want to get married so fast? The bride and groom both had high demanding jobs working for Nascar. January 22nd fell during off season and it was the only weekend that they had available before race season started again.
How We Made It Happen
Step 1: Setting a budget: After giving the bride an estimate of how much they would spend on their wedding and they secured the funds, we were on our way planning their dream day.
Step 2: Positive Energized Attitude: I explained to the bride I could only do her wedding if she was willing to do everything exactly as I asked. (Follow the items on her timeline.) This bride was awesome to work with and did not drag her feet.
Step 3: Securing the venue: Without a venue, there is no date, and without a date there is no wedding. Even though her details about the venue were very specific, this actually made my job easier. I knew the exact part of the city to search and I knew the exact type of venue to go after, this saved us so much time. A few places still had openings; we were able to schedule tours, until there it was the perfect space for them, they fell in love with this space as it actually had the best view of the entire city.
Step 4: Send out Invitations: Usually in traditional wedding planning, sending out invitations are usually done after everything is booked. In this situation we had to send them out once the venue was booked, while we still had not even met with the other vendors.
Set 5: Book Vendors: We spent one full day from about 10am-7pm and we booked almost all of her vendors. Our day was packed; we left one appointment and went directly to another one, Cake, Catering, Florist, Linen, DJ one by one booked. The other vendor’s band, singers, and transportation were all booked within two weeks.
Step 6: The Day of the Wedding: Our team had her day scheduled out to a "T". Vendor arrivals, photo times and locations, transportation drop offs and pickups, when each song should be played, what time food would come out. Everything ran smoothly the bride and groom were very happy and the guest had no clue that the time frame of the wedding planning was done any differently than any other wedding.
Fun Memory
One of our most interesting memories? The wedding dress! Shopping for a wedding dress is a joyful experience. Once a bride has found the perfect dress, it can usually take up to four months for the dress to come in, and then after it’s back the bride has to do 2-3 fittings for alterations all together this can take 6-7 months. My bride was a size 0. When she found her dress, the only dress in stock like the one she wanted was in a size 8. Shipping the size 0 would not have come back until March. Our amazing seamstress was able to alter the dress down from a size 8 to a size 0 in only 4 weeks, and the dress was perfect on the bride.
Why Did We Do It?
Why did our team take on this wedding? Every bride does not live the traditional life that includes having the ability or even the desire to plan a wedding for 1 full year. When I was planning my own wedding almost 5 years ago, I was one of those brides. My husband and I did not have the time and did not want to devote 1 full year into planning a wedding. We also did ours in 8 weeks, and since that day planning last minuet weddings has become one of my favorite types of weddings to pull together.
Brides it doesn’t matter the situation with your wedding, when You Dream It, We Plan and Design it, You’ll Get It.
Your Dream Day Planners
