Outdoor Wedding Planning
Planning a wedding outdoors can be both exciting and stressful depending on what you know and who you know. You will be able to save a lot of time, effort and money by knowing how to delegate certain tasks and finding cost-effective ways without reducing the overall beauty and essence of your big day. Here are some tips on how to pull it off and still look great on the aisle.
Getting to Know Who
First of all, decide who you want to plan for your wedding. If you have enough experience in the past or simply like the idea of fixing everything yourself, you can choose to do the outdoor wedding planning independently. Although you’re responsible for most of the brainstorming, it will help a lot to have two or more persons handy whom you can delegate some tasks to. You may want to assign a special friend or relative who can serve as your assistant in the process and step up just in case you burn out or run out of ideas. Be careful about harnessing a perfectionist attitude since it requires some flexibility on your part if holding a wedding outdoors.
On the other hand, you can take the easier but more expensive path by hiring a professional wedding planner. You are very fortunate if you know someone who can do this at a much lesser cost or for free. You may have to allocate several hundreds to a few thousand dollars for a good wedding planner. The person will take care of all your outdoor worries like weather, ceremonial process, food, reception, entertainment, guest lists, witnesses and documentation. It is recommended that you talk to your planner first to indicate a few things you wish to include for a more personal touch. To save costs, you may want to look for other agencies who can give you a discount like photographers, entertainers and emcees.
What You Need to Plan
If you intend to do things yourself, there are a few aspects to consider to ensure that your wedding goes smoothly regardless of nature’s course. One of the top priorities would be the venue. How many guests and participants will be there? How can you keep them comfortable? How does the place look like during the time and date of your wedding? You may need to provide some artificial materials to prepare for external changes like lights for time shifts, tents or canopies for weather shifts and a good sound system for remote locations. Consider how the guests can arrive as well and make sure that they are well-informed about the venue and what to expect about the weather. It would be better if you hold the wedding ceremony and reception at one place for added convenience and easier preparation.
List down the important details such as your wedding dress, wedding cake, wedding officiator, wedding ceremony participants, wedding rings, wedding favors, food for guests, music and decorations. It will help if you have a certain theme so that you can select colors and patterns accordingly without wasting too much time. You should also fix legal requirements beforehand such as getting a permit and documenting your marriage.
When planning an outdoor wedding, it is always useful to have a backup plan since you cannot tell just how things may get no matter how well-prepared you may be. Having an alternative indoor venue and reception will ensure that you get married regardless of drastic weather changes. Even if you do the planning yourself, it is also useful to have a professional or someone knowledgeable prepared to take over just in case.