Pinterest is NOT a Wedding Planner

Don’t get me wrong — I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Pinterest. I have found some of my best wedding decorating ideas on Pinterest, but also some of my biggest wedding fails. And there is that problem of falling into the Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole of Pinterest and not coming up for air for days — I will confess it has sucked me in more than once! Proof of my addiction can be found on my Pinterest boards.

I’m not saying that everyone needs a wedding planner, but I do think everyone should seek some help from “real people”. You are actually supposed to ENJOY your wedding day. Weddings have gotten so complicated — in the day you could book the church for 10:00 AM, have the church ladies serve little roast beef sandwiches, make some frilly aprons for your younger cousins to wear serving people, get Aunt Mabel to cut the cake and Aunt Tulla pour punch and you were pretty much done — by noon at that!

Nobody in my town ever had a wedding dance or fancy reception. A few flowers stolen out of neighbors’ gardens in borrowed white vases in the church basement was pretty much the standard.

Getting Some Planning Help

5 Smart and Efficient Ways to Get Help

1. Hire a professional wedding planner. I know I said not everyone needs one, but a good planner can save you time, money and stress. Your planner will do all of the legwork based on your preferences and help you find a venue, caterer, photographer, DJ or band, cake, decorator, etc. A good planner will help you with your budget and help you stay on budget. They will know all of the tricks and have resources you don’t have access to and that knowledge will save you money and time.
2. A wedding decorator may be your answer if you think you are a great planner and don’t need a wedding planner or maybe you feel you can’t afford one. Don’t let that stop you from getting some help. Much of the time-consuming work preparing for the wedding is the decorating. It can be extremely stressful going to 10 stores looking for the dusty rose silk flowers you need for your centerpieces. Plus the 3 hours x 25 centerpieces are going keep you up many a night. And the worst is yet to come. Getting the ceremony and reception areas decorated in the time allotted by your venue is crazy. In some cases, it has to be up and down on the same day! Oh, and you still need to get your hair and makeup done and dressed for your big day!
3. Start thinking out of the box. Do you have parties or events at your work? Consider hiring one or more of those creative people from work to handle the decorating and/or planning if you don’t think you can afford either a planner or a decorator. Workmates and/or friends who have good experience planning work events and parties will probably be happy to do it for much less. But remember they aren’t professionals, so you do need to provide them with more direction and you can’t expect perfection. Be kind.
4. Look for venues that have inclusive wedding packages that will do all of the work for you. There are venues that will customize your wedding to fit your dream and not expect you to fit what they offer. These venues can often save you tons of time and money. Although you might have a little sticker shock, just go home and add up what it would cost you to do it yourself. I’m pretty sure most packages will be a bargain, plus you don’t have to do it!!! Here is a link to our packages to give you an example.
5. Hire the neighbor kids to do some of the setup the day of your wedding. Ok, you should probably have their parents help too… But I’m not kidding about finding some help to hang lights, put out the centerpieces, set the tables, etc. It is a time-consuming job and you need to get beautiful and drink mimosas with your girls. If you set up sample tables at home, take pictures of how you want them set up, organize all of the items in tubs, mark them where they should be set up, and then go through all the details a few weeks before the wedding with your help, you should be golden. A couple of hundred bucks will go a long way and you can relax and have fun.

Farm Girl Weddings is a rustic farm venue with several different packages ranging from $1750 for a DIY Wedding, $3250 for Value Added and an Inclusive Package that is priced by number of guests. We also provide full Wedding Planning and Wedding Decor services at other locations.  
See how you can save up to $3000 without giving up your dream wedding on my latest blog.