I'm Back and Now a Missus!

It feels good to be back!  Finally found some time to visit my blog and write again.  I've been extremely preoccupied with a lot of things in the last few months like wedding planning.  Yes, I got married!  Wohoo!  Still can't believe it really happened.  The day was such a blur, a really happy one at that.  I was on cloud nine the whole day.  Thank goodness for the photos and videos, I get to relive the day again and again.

While a lot of people would say that wedding planning is a nightmare, I enjoyed every moment of it.  Maybe I'm just girly like that.  I had this idea in my head, and I was just glad that it unfolded as the months pass by.  Thank goodness my hubby was into the planning as much as I was and helped with the supplier hunting.

I has such joy planning my wedding that I just have to share my learnings with all the brides-to-be out there.  So bear with me as I write this post and hope I could help in one way or another.

1. Set Your Budget

This would probably be the most important part of your planning.  Do not only plan for your overall budget, but break it down into how much you will spend for each of your suppliers.  Your budget will be your anchor; it will keep you grounded and prevent you from spending all your money in one supplier.

2. Guest List Rules

For me, this was the hardest one to finalize.  There were a lot of questions to be answered.  Who should we invite?  Should we include all relatives and officemates?  Baka naman magtampo si ganito kung di kasama.  And the list goes on and on.  However, what helped us trim the list down is to establish a rule.  For us, we only invited those people that we have a direct relationship with.  People who we know we will still be able to talk to in the near future.  This is one factor that made our wedding special.  We know that the people who attended the wedding loves us and cares for us and we love them a whole back!

3. Research Suppliers 

A lot of known suppliers are there for a reason.  They have provided quality products over the years.  Tried and tested.  However, with popularity comes high prices.  If you can afford it, by all means, go and get them.  But for us who were working on a budget, a lot of our suppliers were booked by researching.  And you wouldn't believe how many talented photographers, videographers, and florists are out there.  We researched first by going to wedding fairs, collecting a lot of flyers.  We also relied to blogs and wedding websites until we found the suppliers whose work we really like.

And oh, do not book suppliers in wedding fairs just because they offer competitive prices.  Remember my tip, fall in love with their work and you won't be disappointed..  You don't want to go wasting your money on reservation fees.

4. Define Non-negotiables

With all the details that you have to finish, once in a while your inner bridezilla is bound to come out.  That's why you have to define your non negotiables early on so you can let go of other details.  For us it is important to have good photos and videos.  After all, at the end of the day, those photos and videos are all you're going to have to look back to.  So we tried as much as we can to get the photograhers and videographers that we really like.  We adjusted the budget allocated for them a bit.

5. Haggle

There's no harm in trying!  Don't be intimidated with the initial price list your suppliers will present you.  Of course, they will always give you the one with higher price for profit.  But do not be afraid to customize packages or ask for a lower price.  We got a lot of discounts because of my hubby's haggling skills.  Yes, he haggles waaaaay better than me.

6. Personalize 

This is the most fun part!  Adding personal touches and DIY to your wedding preps.  I did my entourage's boutonnieres, props for the reception games, and ring and arrhae pillows.  I had so much fun doing everything!  It was a good outlet to practice my artistic skills :P  Here's a photo.  Yeah, I'm proud of my work!

Copyright: KM Cunanan

Our emcees were also our brother and sister. Who knew us better than them, right? We got good feedback from our guests about our reception program because of those two.  Everybody was laughing and having a good time.  They were relaxed and felt included.  So if you can get someone who can do that for you, I recommend doing so.  And it saves you a lot of money from getting professional emcees.

There you have it!  Hopefully, these will be very helpful in your wedding preparations.  Share with me your thoughts by commenting below :)

PS: Suppliers review in my next post.