Your wedding is bound to be one of the most defining moments of your life. When you go up to the altar and say ‘I do’, you make a solemn commitment to another person. It is exciting and definitely a major milestone to be celebrated, but it should also be planned for. To help you avoid making any expensive mistakes during your special day, here are a few key things to avoid when planning your wedding.
Mistake #1: Not Researching Venues
There are a ton of places that would happily host your wedding if you are willing to put up the funds to have it held there. Sadly, only about 1 in 4 (24%) of millennials research wedding venues before they get engaged. All of the information that they need is right there on the Internet, but they just don’t take the time to put in the homework necessary to find the ideal venue for their wedding. Everyone has particular tastes and particular needs for the venue, so it should be common sense that they would set aside some time to research the venues to find exactly the one that they need, but it is just not happening.
Mistake #2: Not Doing a Background Check on Vendors
It’s crucial that you do the proper research when you’re looking for vendors for your wedding. Without the right research or background checks, you could end up with a vendor that has had poor reviews in the past or, even worse, is actually a scam. Only about seven out of 10 convicted felons serve time in prison, which means there are many scammers still out there that could take advantage of you. That said, put in the time to research who you’re choosing to work for you at your wedding so you’ll not only save time and money but also save yourself the heartache.
Mistake #3: Buying Everything From One Place
You find a great place that can provide you with many of the items that you need for your wedding and get excited to start making your purchases. That is wonderful, but don’t get so hung up on just one provider that you forget about alternative options that may provide you with a mixture more suitable for your wedding overall. As much as you might like the first place you go to for wedding supplies, there is a whole universe of websites operating every day. In fact, it is estimated that there are approximately 1.8 billion websites all operating at the same time globally every day. Why would you limit yourself to just one provider?
Mistake #4: Not Budgeting Enough Money
Weddings are expensive, there is no getting around it. You can say that they are worth the expense, and this is often true in the eyes of the happy couple, but they are expensive. You need to set aside a significant amount of money to pay for it, or you need to look into options to finance the wedding. Either choice is acceptable, but you need to pay attention to the rising costs of weddings and budget according to the inflated price that they will likely reach in the future. Start now to make things easier on you in the future.
Mistake #5: Underestimating How Many People You Will Invite
Most couples talk about hosting a small wedding for their close friends and family, but that rarely works out as planned. There are just so many people that they want to invite in the end, and what starts as a small wedding can quickly morph into something much larger. Don’t sell yourself short on invites. You deserve to have as many people at your wedding as you would like, but you should understand that you need to prepare for a larger wedding than you expect at first.