Your Tasks to Complete 11 Months Before Your Wedding

Let's talk about things to get done when you’re 11 months prior to your wedding day. For tips and tasks for 12 months prior to your wedding be sure to check out that blog post here. Now that you have a budget configured a guest was compiled and you thought about hiring a planner we can move on to the next set of tasks. 11 months prior to your wedding we're going to focus on a time frame, think about the overall style of your wedding, start searching for ceremony and reception venues, think about your wedding party, and it's time to start thinking about the dress!

 Before we think about the time frame of your wedding I would like you to think about your overall style for your wedding. Thinking about your color scheme is a good indicator of whether or not you should consider a fall, winter, spring, or summer wedding.  You can also think about whether or not you picture your wedding to be indoors or outdoors. Other styling elements to think about is your dress design. Do you picture a long sleeves or maybe strapless?  Some couples I work with like to incorporate a specific theme into their wedding. Is this wedding being modeled after a favorite movie? Is there a certain flower you just love and want to center around? Are you having a rustic Kansas wedding out in the prairie with the wildflowers blooming? Are you in love with the idea of a winter wonderland wedding? All of these factors can help you narrow down your time frame. Now that you have a better sense of your style you probably know what season you're after. If you're having trouble determining the styler theme of your wedding, reach out. I offer style and Decor plans to help you define the vision you are after for your big day.

With a season in mind you can now start searching for wedding dates. A couple of things are going to factor into this. Number one you'll have to make sure the venues you're researching are available on your day. I recommend finding a couple of dates that would work for you so when inquiring with venues you can give them some options. The other thing to think about when choosing your day is to look at your community calendar. Is it homecoming weekend making all the hotel rooms jam-packed? Are there other community events happening that either nicely compliment your wedding or might be a distraction to your wedding? And finally, you're going to want to run your dates by some key family members. In my post about 12 months tasks before your wedding we talked about compiling a guest list. Go back to that top tier of people who must be at your wedding and start clearing that date or dates with those very important people. 

Okay you're doing a great job! You've got a style or theme nail down and we have a general idea of when we want our wedding to take place. Now we can start searching for the perfect ceremony location and reception venue. Oftentimes these are the same location. It is very doable to flip a location from a ceremony set up to a reception set up. Often times I find this to be a point of stress for couples, wondering if it can be accomplished but I'm here to tell you I've seen it done with ease and it only takes 20-30 minutes to flip a room. With that said, choosing separate locations for ceremony and reception also creates for a really wonderful day. The advantage of this is it allows you to have a late morning or early afternoon ceremony, then take a little bit of a break for pictures and some down time, and then invite your guests back for a later reception. When searching for your ceremony and reception venue you want to be sure that they accommodate the guest count that you're hoping to have. You will also want to ask the venue  what amenities they provide and what you will be responsible for. For example, do they have tables and chairs? Do they provide Linens? Is there an arbor design for you to get married near or will you need to design your own? Do they have staffing to help out during the reception? Do they offer bar services? There's a lot to consider when choosing your your venues. When doing your initial research I encourage you to take good notes so that later you can make a pros-and-cons list of what's included at each venue.  Knowing what amenities are provided will also help you fill in some gaps on your budget. You will now know what other expenses will be required for you to fill that aren’t provided by the venue.

 The next category to tackle 11 months prior to your wedding is choosing the members of your wedding party. This might include a maid of honor, a best man, bridesmaids, groomsmen, ring bearer, flower girl, and ushers.  This task can feel overwhelming and it does take some time to think through it. My biggest piece of advice is not to stress over having an equal number on the bride and groom's side of the wedding party. If the bride is really feeling close with three women, then let those ladies be by your side on your big day. If your groom has five dudes that he just has to hang with that day then so be it. I promise you your pictures will be great, and we can figure out a procession that works flawlessly. Most importantly you and your partner will have your people, the rocks in your life, the ones that have your back and the energy you want next to you throughout your big day.  The other part of the wedding party that I highly encourage is choosing some people to beat pushers. These people can help gaskets seated when they arrive at your ceremony. They can pass out programs, make sure people sit on either the bride or groom side, and just help get people into their seats for an on time start for your ceremony. Of course a darling little ring bearer and flower girl is a cute moment to include but certainly not necessary. Or maybe instead of a little kids, this is a dog, or another family pet… I've even heard of someone rolling a hamster down the aisle! The most important thing to consider when choosing the members of your wedding party is that these people are going to be by your side throughout the day. You want to find the people whose energy things to you, who won't add to the stress but will alleviate it, who will go with the flow instead of creating the flow.

Last but not least it's time for you to start thinking about the dress! You may be someone who's been dreaming about your dress since you were a little girl and you think you know exactly what this dress looks like. My advice when searching for your wedding dress is to first book of a time to just have fun! Invite your ladies, pop that champagne and just try on anything and everything! You might be surprised what styles, shapes and designs flatter your body the most. Of course it's also recommended to not try on something that exceeds your budget because you don't want to fall in love with the wrong price tag. I promise there are styles and designs in a wide range of cost that will look fantastic on you!  now that you have one appointment under your belt go ahead and book another appointment at a new shop. This time I only want you to bring the people Whose advice you really want to have when choosing the dress. At this fitting you're going to focus in on the Styles and shapes you discovered during your let's have fun appointment. This appointment is going to feel a bit more real and you're probably closer to saying “Yes” to the dress.  This is why I only want you to bring the people whose opinion you really do want when finding and making your final decision. If you find the one you're done. If today was not your day, you know the drill, and you can book another appointment at another shop. Each time you make an appointment you're going to be more and more clear on what you're looking for, getting you one step closer to finding your dress.

 That's it! Month 11 is in the bag and you are one month closer to getting down the aisle. Don't forget I'm right here whenever you need me so let’s book a Planner Date so I can help you get over whatever hurdle you are experiencing right now. You’ve got this!