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with this guide i thee organize
The Bride Guide:
A practically useful timeline for planning your big day!
As soon as your question is popped:
- Re-Consider.
- Have the ring appraised.
- Pick your date.
- Get an idea notebook with lots of folders and pockets to hold your feverish wants and needs. Save pictures torn out of magazines, be discreet when tearing in the Doctor's office. Keep everything you love and edit with your stylist later.
- Select your style: Formal, casual, indoor, outdoors, in town, out of town, out of the country…Goth.
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- Argue about the budget. Cry. Try to be reasonable, figure out with all fiscally participating parties, what you can actually afford.
- Stop eating.
- Hire a Coordinator. Venues often have an in-house person but these can range from a 19 year-old college kid to an accomplished professional. Don’t risk it. If the venue only provides ceremony services, you'll need help!
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One Year to 6 months
- Hire a Stylist: To keep your event beautiful, unique and unified, a stylist is a must. If you are lucky, your coordinator and stylist are one and the same. Just don't count on it.
- Find your venue: Think outside the box; the hotel ballroom only as a last resort.
- Select your Attendants. Weigh drama vs. diligence. Remember, you will be asking them to spend a bundle on a questionable dress or tux and respond to your every unrealistic and emotional whim. You don't need 12; you honestly don't have 12 close friends.
- Book your dream band & DJ. The really amazing ones in big cities are up to two years out. Don’t dawdle.
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- Hire your caterer. If the food isn’t in house at your site, get your caterer booked well in advance. Wedding food can be very disappointing and it shouldn't be.
- Decide on an officiate or two. Mixed unions require great tact and diplomacy. No ugly cat fights between the MOB and the MOG. Compromise is key.
- Create a Wedding Web Site: This can be a good thing if there are lots of travel arrangements, logistic issues or you want to let people see further details of your life or the wedding.
- Order your Custom Save the Date cards from PartyInk!
- Hire your Florist. Good ones book up to a year or more in advance.
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6-9 Months
- Shop for your gown. Only bring one friend, the fun one who won’t lie to you, who laughs in the face of a three-martini lunch. Leave your mother and his, at home.
- Arrange "day-of" Transportation. Limos, town cars, a bus…a vintage Bentley.
- Purchase or reserve the Groom's Attire. Buy a suit you cheap bastard don't you know what her dress cost?
- Send your fabulous PartyInk Save the date cards.
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- Arrange airline deals or group accommodations for the out-of-towners. It is always nice to put together welcome kits for the guests who will be traveling. Custom welcome packages are available from PartyInk.
- Order your Custom Invitations from PartyInk. Ready to Write options have a shorter lead-time. Give us time to rock your world.
- Order Bridesmaids' & Groomsmen’s Attire. Be kind…
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4-6 Months
- Book Hair and Make-up. If you are comfortable with your own hand, by all means skip the make-up application. Look on your wedding day like a slightly better version of you. We encourage extra eyelashes.
- Check Licensing Requirements for wherever you plan to tie the knot! Many countries have crazy restrictions. You can always opt for a legal one at your home courthouse and the romantic one in a castle in Ireland.
- Dance lessons. Seriously, unless you are Latin or a professional ballroom dancer, invest in a terry cloth headband and run on down to Arthur Miller.
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- Get your Shots. If you are planning to go abroad for your honeymoon or the ceremony, check with travelvaccines.com to see what shots are required. Nothing like a little Malaria to dampen a romantic getaway.
- Purchase your shoes and naughty under bits. Your shoes don’t have to be white… Garter toss equals boy legs. Grandma doesn’t need to see your piercing. Wear your shoes around the house with a pair of thick socks. For a week. That way, your shoes, no matter how impractical, will be comfortable.
- Choose gifts for your attendants. They have had about enough of your histrionics at this point so make it something thoughtful and frisky.
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2-4 Months
- Finalize Décor for the ceremony and reception. Make sure you, your coordinator, florist and stylist are all on the same page. Then run it past the venue, some places might not appreciate dyed to match livestock.
- Order your Event accessories from PartyInk. Don’t forget escort cards, place cards, welcome kits based on your theme & location, menus and favors. They can all be customized to go with your décor and invitations.
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- Mail your Invitations! 8 weeks for Holiday, destination & summer weddings, 6 weeks for the rest. Remember to have delicate invitations with jewels or wax seals hand cancelled at your post office. Be thoughtful with your stamp selection. (I used Princess Grace stamps for my wedding.)
- Order Wedding Bands. Choose them together and surprise him by having your name and your wedding date or your safe word inscribed on the inside.
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2 Months
- Consider your Play List. Get a list to your DJ or cover band of must plays and play upon penalty of death. May we gently suggest Michael Bolton, Kenny G and any "theme dances" be relegated to the latter?
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- Play Julie the Cruise Director. Arrange for several small get-togethers or activities for visiting guests that include the families of the Bride and Groom.
- Schedule a tasting with your caterer. Finalize your menu. Bring the groom; he'll like this part. It’s food and wine.
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1 Month
- Take your attendants to the spa. During their spa pedicures, discuss and coordinate ceremony & reception responsibilities. Don’t forget your Guest Book attendant. It is a small but important job.
- Start your seating chart. As much of a headache as it will be, it is less stressful than finding yourself short of tables when people don’t play well with others leaving odd empty seats and causing endless headaches for the venue staff.
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- Confirm with Vendors. If you did not hire a coordinator, confirm all day-of details with your vendors. Write everything down! No surprises!
- Write your Vows. Got a problem with the “obey” part? Make something up. Write them in iambic pentameter.
- Get your marriage license. Choose your “official” witnesses. Traditionally it is the Maid of Honor and the Best Man.
- Have a rehearsal of the big day do. Bring your veil, tiara or any other accessories you will be using in your hair to your hair stylist.
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2 Weeks
- Freshen your Hair. Get it trimmed. Now is not the time to try something Flock of Seagulls. If you dye, freshen the color and add some pretty highlights.
- Alert the Press. Even if no one cares but your Mom, it’s fun to publish an announcement in the paper. It could be your only shot at a Google reference.
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- If you didn't get them from us, assemble "welcome" kits for your guests that are traveling. Have things to do locally and location appropriate trinkets and treats. It's always nice to have something special waiting at their hotel room! They came far to celebrate with you.
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1 Week
- Finalize seating. A worthwhile nightmare! When you have finally placed every last bore, biddy and drunk, celebrate with champagne for a job well done.
- Update your Guest & Vendor meal Counts. A good coordinator will do that for you but if you are flying solo, make sure you have your guest counts ready for the caterer, the venue and the florist.
- Pick up your Dress.
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- Organize vendor payments. Put all final payments in envelopes and give them to your coordinator or an attendant for distribution on the day of reckoning.
- Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. This is the groom’s responsibility and is traditionally held after the rehearsal the day before the wedding. Just in case, ask how his plans are going.
- Confirm your Honeymoon Plans.
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The Day Before
- Deliver welcome packages to the hotel where your guests are staying. This can be organized with the hotel staff ahead of time to make it one less thing to do.
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- Manicure and pedicure, any necessary waxing…
- The rehearsal. Have fun and hopefully Prince Charming took care of it.
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Your Wedding Day
- Freak out.
- Eat Something. Provide light snacks for the entire wedding party, bride and groom.
- Get a Massage. Have the masseuse come to wherever you will be getting ready. It is worth it! Get one for the groom. Trust me, he needs one too.
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- Enjoy. This is the person you love. Your friends and family are so excited to celebrate with you and the party will be fabulous, elegant, talked about and remembered.
- Don't walk down the aisle without a hanky. Trust me.
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After The Fact
- Send out your thank you notes! Find something personal to say to every gift giver. Never let on that you will be selling the rooster gravy boat on Ebay. But before you do, consider having a cute, country denim and checks, BBQ and use it for your new husband's fabulous, secret recipe, barbeque sauce. On your first anniversary.
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- Have your Gown and accessories cleaned. Have a professional, qualified in textile preservation to clean and box them up. Sometimes those red wine stains can be tricky!
- Change your name. Or not.
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Best Wishes and don't forget to breathe,
Your friends at PartyInk
Notes:
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