DCCWC Couture 2009 Bridal Show

We’ll return to our series on how to start planning your wedding in our next post, but I had to take a short break today to tell you all about the upcoming DCCWC Couture 2009 Bridal Show! The DCCWC is the DC Couture Wedding Consortium, and its members are among the most stylish and sought-after in the Washington wedding community.

This year’s DCCWC wedding show is scheduled for Saturday, January 31st, from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The location is the beautiful Decatur House on Lafayette Square in Washington, DC. Admission is free but limited, and you must preregister if you plan to attend.

Don’t miss this chance not only to meet some fabulous wedding vendors, but also to take a look at Decatur House — it might be just what you’ve always imagined for your wedding!

Head on over to the DCCWC website to register and learn more about the show.

And thanks, Sara, for the heads up! (Sara Bauleke is the fabulous wedding planner behind Bella Notte. If you don’t hire us, then be sure to give her a call!  We promise you’ll love working with her.)

So far in this series, we’ve talked about budgeting and drafting your guestlist.  In today’s post, we’ll talk about what to consider when setting your wedding date.

Now, there’s no reason why you have to wait until after you’ve determined your budget and approximate guestlist to set your wedding date; you can do this first if you like.  But do at least be sure to have a good handle on the number of guests you’re expecting and the amount of money you plan to spend before you start committing to various wedding vendors.

The obvious place to start when choosing your wedding date is with you:  What dates are special to you?  What seasons are your favorite?  For example, if you and your intended had your first date on a magical winter evening, then you might want to recreate the magic with a candlelit winder wedding.

Obviously, more than personal preference generally needs to go into choosing your wedding date, so here are a few guidelines I share with my couples:

1. Try to be flexible about your date.  It’ll be easier for you to find the perfect venue if you’re willing to look at a range of dates, rather than a specific day on the calendar.  So instead of looking only at the second weekend in October, for example, you could be open to any weekend in October or early September.

 

2. Holidays will almost always be more expensive.  Think about it:  Do you want to be at work on New Year’s Eve?  Neither do most of your wedding vendors, and most of them will charge you higher holiday rates for their products and services.  Holidays are also likely to be more expensive for your guests, as everything from airfares to hotel rates jumps up during popular travel times.

 

3. Do you have to have your wedding on a Saturday?  Friday and Sunday weddings are becoming increasingly popular because they’re less expensive.  Most venues and some other vendors charge less for these less popular days.  If most of your guests are local, then a Friday or a Sunday may work well for you.  If many of your guests are coming in from out of town, then a Saturday will probably be simpler for them as they won’t have to take as many vacation days for travelling.  Also, be aware that Sunday weddings often don’t have the same party-all-night vibe as Friday and Saturday weddings do, because people want to be bright and alert for work on Monday morning.

 

4. Be aware of the typical weather conditions on your prospective wedding date, and think about how your plans may be affected.  Of course, you can’t predict the weather months ahead of time, and you can only plan for so much.  But if you’ve always dreamed of an outdoor wedding, then winter obviously isn’t the season for you (depending on where you live, summer may be a poor choice as well!).

 

5. Know the costs associated with particular times of the year in your area. For example, here in DC, autumn weddings are the most popular.  It’s easy to see why:  The weather is usually temperate and the autumn leaves provide a gorgeous backdrop.  What does that mean for you?  If you want an autumn wedding, then you’ll need to start planning well in advance — that means giving yourself at least twelve months to plan the wedding if you want to have the best selection of vendors.  If you’re looking to cut costs, then consider planning a wedding in your area’s off season.  Many venues and other vendors will give discounts for services booked during times that are normally slow for them.

Sunday’s blog post was all about the importance of starting out your wedding planning with a well-defined budget. Today, we’ll talk about putting together your guestlist.

You don’t have to know exactly who you’re going to invite to your wedding at this point, but it is important to decide how many guests you plan to have. You’ll need to know how many people you’re expecting before you can start looking at venues, and until you have your venue booked, you can’t start booking other vendors. So you can see how important this first guestlist draft is.

That brand-new budget you just created is a great place to start when deciding how many guests you’re going to invite to your celebration. Here in DC, I like to see couples budget at least $150 for each guest invited. So, for example, on a $20,000 budget, you could start with 130 or so guests as your working number.

Of course, that’s only a starting point. You’ll also need to consider the style of wedding and reception you want to have. If you’ve always dreamed of a party worthy of Platinum Weddings, then you’re going to need to either substantially increase your budget or substantially decrease your guest count. $20,000 won’t cover a 130-guest wedding if you’re going to have the most luxurious of everything. Conversely, if doing things as simply as possible is more your style, then you can probably afford to invite more than 130 guests on that $20,000 budget.

Not sure how many guests your budget will realistically accommodate given your idea of a dream wedding? A professional wedding coordinator can be invaluable in helping you sort this out. As I mentioned in Sunday’s post about budgeting, many planners offer their services on an a la carte or hourly basis, so even if you’re not planning to engage a coordinator to help you from start to finish, you can still take advantage of a planner’s expertise on your own terms.

Aside from the practical consideration of how many guests your budget will support, what do you need to take into account when deciding who to invite? First and foremost, remember that this is your wedding and you can invite — or not invite — whomever you please. Obviously you’ll probably want to invite your close family (parents, grandparents, siblings). You’ll also probably want to invite your closest friends. Beyond that, where you draw the line is up to you.

I frequently hear couples and their families worrying out loud about what so-and-so will think of them if they’re not invited to the wedding, and I always tell them the same thing: Remember that the wedding day is primarily about the beginning of a marriage. While the reception typically takes up the bulk of the budget and planning time, the wedding day is really all about the ceremony. If it’s genuinely important to you that a potential guest witness and participate in the moment the two of you become partners for life, then add them to the list. If not, then consider cutting them if you’re running out of room.

The other important decision you’re going to have to make at this point is how you’re dividing up your guest list. Do you and your future spouse get a third, with both sets of parents getting a third of their own? Or are you going to divide your numbers up some other way? How you negotiate this is up to you, but be sure all parties agree to a plan and stick to it.

There are so many other points I could discuss relating to drafting your guestlist, but I think we’ve covered the really important stuff here, so the rest can wait for a future post. I know guestlists can be a difficult sticking point for many couples, though, so if you have questions about how to approach yours, then please feel free to post them in the comments section. I’ll do my best to answer any questions you have.

In the next post: Setting the date!

POSTS IN THIS SERIES
You’re engaged! Now what?
Budgeting
Drafting your guestlist
Setting the date