I headed home to California (where the wedding will be) last Tuesday night-Sunday to cross off some to-dos on my extremely long wedding planning list. My job is super flexible, so I was allowed to work remotely in California Wednesday-Friday that way I had longer than just a weekend to start planning. That flexibility will be so helpful over the next couple of months.
My mom, sister and I were able to get so much done over the 5 days I was in town. I honestly think we should be part-time event planners! What helped our productivity was prior to heading to California, my mom and I did extensive research on venues so we already had a short-list of the places we wanted to tour with the available dates we were looking at. We had our scheduled tours on the calendar the weekend before as well as dress appointments for both the wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses. Additionally, we had a to-do list of other wedding planning tasks we wanted to accomplish while I was home to help keep up on track. The first day I was home I was able to knock out creating and mailing the bridesmaid proposal boxes, see those HERE.
After touring a total of 7 venues in the Sacramento area, we decided on Morgan Creek Golf Club. We loved the ceremony and reception areas and it had the available date! Plus, the price isn’t bad for everything that is included. When I go back home in April, this time with Paul, we will decide on the menu, which will be difficult because all of their food options look amazing!! On the day we toured and fell in love with Morgan Creek Golf Club, we also found my dress and picked out the bridesmaid dress shade from David’s Bridal. I probably tried on a total of 8 dresses and absolutely fell in love with the winner. And to our surprise, it was under $1k! I am excited to debut it on the big day, but until then it is a secret!!
Once we had the date and venue, I started working on the save the dates! Me and Paul’s friend Anthony is an amazing photographer (see his work here), so we had him take our engagement pictures. I will do a post on our favorites from that session soon! I picked out one of the pictures for the save the dates and was able to finalize and get them ordered Monday! They should be delivered next week, so as soon as they come in Paul and I will get them mailed out. Our wedding is at the end of October 2018, so we want to make sure our guests can mark their calendars as soon as possible!
As you can tell, we got a lot done! If you are saving money by not hiring a wedding coordinator, this is proof that you can do it on your own. I highly recommend starting a Google Doc (there are actually wedding planning templates), and giving access to anyone who is playing a part in the planning process. My mom, sister, Paul, and I are on the Google Doc daily tracking progress and brainstorming ideas.
I want to hear from you! If you have super helpful wedding planning advice or tips, comment down below or send me an email!
xoxo
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