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4/13/2009

A Bride's Wedding Planner (P.1)

Jessie jots...

Wedding fever is going around huh?
*Warning* Long post ahead

Recently, a bride-to-be emailed me about her getting overwhelm with planning for her wedding. I feel for her. Feeling like you're not in control can be daunting. I know how frustrating it can be too when vendors are not agreeable. She asked for my advice about all the whats, whens, whos and hows? Obviously, this future Missus has too much to worry! Instead of answering specific questions that does not correlate, in which I didn't think would make sense to her, I laid out my whole wedding plans for her in hope she understand and tame the increasing stress.

Lucky for her, I still have my notes in my organizer which I found buried somewhere. So what better way to recycle all the months of intense effort of planning and organizing than sharing it with future brides. With this self-made planner, I'm proud to say my wedding went well with so many memories to share, which until today friends and family still talk about it. I'm sure you'll also benefit from it too. When you're able to complete one task at a time, it will only make you feel better as you're under control. That way, you can relax easier.

My wedding preparation list is based on Asian/Malaysian culture. If your wedding tradition is entirely Western-based, some of the things listed may not pertain to you.

Without further ado, here's my to do list for my wedding assuming you only have 5 months or less. By now, you should have these down.

  • photographer
  • bakery
  • wedding gown
  • reception venue
  • invitation card
Use it at your own discretion. HINTS tons of ideas at http://www.knot.com/

3 to 5 months ahead:
  • A picture of the cake you want, print it and send it over to a reliable friend who can do the favor. Let her bring the picture to the Cakehouse to see if the cake is feasible or if she can book the date and make arrangements for you quickly. Cakehouse can get booked up very fast!

  • Wedding cards must be almost done by now. If not, may God be with you.
  • Find your perfect makeup-do through pictures online. Buy your make up items if DIY and trial run it yourself at least several times. Make up artist are pretty good too, I trust them. Some make-up artist do a trial work for you, for a fee.

  • Find your honeymoon spot. Confirm flight or car, or travel itineary.

  • A picture of your ideal reception decoration. If you want to personalize your wedding reception, show this to your hotel event manager/florist and see if they can do it for you. If not, DIY is possible. Like wedding place cards, program cards, table cards, trinkets or small gifts for guests are easily attainable these days.


  • Contact the music DJ and set them up for the wedding. Get quotations. Make a list of songs you like them to play for reference so that they get an idea of what kind of mood you want to set. If you don't have a live band, get a CD with your favorite songs or compile them for the hotel manager to play the song during the reception. You need to entertain the guests.

  • Wedding dance. You can go for classes or if you're frugal like me, buy a DVD that teaches ballroom dances and practise at home. Practise! Practise! Practise!
  • Contact Hotel Event Manager for further arrangement (decoration, time, flowers, food, whatever is in the package) with the ballroom/exchange vow ceremony.



  • Set up your first appointment with florist - FIND pictures of your ideal flower bouquet for them to picture the color combination that what you want. If this florist doesn't understand you, find another. Be assertive to what you want, otherwise you'll regret it. Florist can do car flowers, crochets, decoration, draperies, candles, and any other decors. So you might want to plan with them.
  • Set up appointment with make up/hairstylist - FIND pictures of your hairstyle/hairdo. It's good to let the make up person/hairstylist see this before they do anything to you.
  • Prepare a wedding speech - when a bride talks, it adds a personal touch to your guests.
  • First Facial Rejuvenation
  • First Body Rejuvenation - Body Scrub/Body Massage/Body Wrap
  • Check budget, see if you're on track

*To be continued*

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You were so right about the wedding speech! I wasn't going to give one, but I ended up saying something at the end, and everyone really liked it. PLUS, I felt good telling everyone how happy & blessed we were to have them there.

See you NEXT WEEKEND!! : D