Help in Planning a Wedding

[servie]

Hi everyone,

I just got engaged to my wonderful fiancee` March 30, 2006. We agreed on a December 30, 2007 wedding date in Hawaii. We would like to have a decent but memorable church wedding (Roman Catholic) but have no idea where to start.

Since this will be my first time as well as her first time to ever get married. We would like to get some suggestions or advice from anyone who is willing to help.

Are best bet would be a wedding planner who knows what he/she is doing. Guests would be around 100 people.

Does anyone of you nice folks here know of one who could do the job for us. My fiancee` would like to do it ourselves but just early today we got into an argument that almost cost us our dreams to fade away.

I would like to give her a nice but memorable wedding and the only solution to this is getting a wedding planner.

Please help us, we are trying our best make this dream possible. We have been in a relationship for about 10 years now and I would very much like to spend the rest of my life with her.

Any help about links or wedding planner names would be appreciated. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Servie:(

[WebLady]

Welcome to the board Servie! I am sure there are lots of us here that would love to help you with tips and ideas and maybe even referrals ... you mentioned a Dec 2007 wedding in Hawaii, so do you live there or is that where you are going for the wedding? So what are your ideas so far?

[theweddinghelper]

Hi Servie, welcome to the board! Congratulations! I sent you an email.
Good luck & Best of wishes!

[Kacie_bride]

Welcome to the board! You are getting married exactly one year after me!

[servie]

Hi everyone and thank you for the cheerful advice.

Sorry if it took time for me to reply to this thread. Last week, I was in Illinois and now I am back in Jersey. Anyways, the date moved earlier from December 28, 2007 to July 28, 2007. My bride to be would love a Hawaii wedding but it seems that we might just have it in Illinois near her family and friends.

Sorry, I have not received any emails about referrals yet. Also, so far we have only agreed on a July 28, 2007 church wedding date. Wedding entourage list of participants have already been discussed.

We are in the process of thinking of a nice but affordable party favors. My Dad has quite a number of demonitized coins from the Philippines about 30 - 40 years old and we are thinking of putting it in a book-like looking item which could hold the coin in the center.

Another thing that we have discussed so far is the cost of reception. The cost of food alone is astronomical. We would be spending approximately $7,500 at the reception for food for 60 - 70 guests. This does not include alcoholic beverages, sound systems, DJ's and other incidental costs along the way.

We are still looking for some affordable wedding planners who may be able to lend us a hand in preparing for this important event in our lives. At this time, my fiancee` is already burned out in the preparation process and I just want her and that includes myself to be able to relax from this stressful and lengthy preparations of a wedding. At this moment, she wants to cancel the church wedding and just have a civil wedding. But for me, I wanted her to have a nice and decent wedding of some sort because wedding memories are too precious for all the brides to be and families as a whole.

Any links, tips, advice or help would very much help us. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Servie

[WebLady]

I did a search on OneWed and found these Wedding Consultants/Planners in Illinois - http://www.onewed.com/vendors.php?category=111&state=IL&submit=Search&name=vendors

Planners can help in some cases and in others can just add to the budget. I think you and your Fiance' may need to sit down and figure out your budget and what you really want and what you can do without ... then go from there.

I know you can have a really nice wedding on a budget, I know many of the girls here are or have done it. DIY (do it yourself) stuff helps but will add to things you have to worry about too.

Best of luck to you!

[Kacie_bride]

What type of food are you planning on having? That quote you gave seems very high to me. Tell your FW to relax. You guys have a good amount of time to get everything accomplished. It is good that you are starting early. Have you booked anything yet? Perhaps you should shop around before you decide on wherever you got the quote for food at. I am having over 200 people at my wedding and our food is running us a little over $13 per person. I'm assuming with taxes and with the final count of people it'll run us $3000 or a little more.

[usahgrad]

I have to agree with Kacie, the quote you got for food does seem quite high. Although, if it fits in your budget, then go for it! I know that a lot of this may seem quite stressful, but I look at it as a test. If my FH and I can get through this, then we can definitely survive anything else.

We couldn't squeeze a wedding planner out of our budget if you tried (heck, we couldn't even squeeze out a caterer), so I'm all about DIYing it! Besides, I'm a control freak and want everything planned my down to the teeniest tiniest detail. So as far as wedding planners go, I can't suggest much there, although I know that's something Brandi does and she has been wonderful on here! (There's my reference for you Brandi!):)

As far as the church wedding goes, you can have just as beautiful and decent a wedding in a civil ceremony as you can in a church ceremony; it entirely depends on your tastes. I can see why she would want to forgo a church ceremony (recently being self-excommunicated :) ) but then I can also see why you would want a church ceremony (being raised Roman Catholic). These are all things you need to sit down and discuss.

And PLEASE if it matters to you DO NOT SAY "Whatever you want honey" because when you turn around later and say you don't like it, that will just cause her more stress (just some helpful advise from some slightly annoyed brides...I'm sure there are others here who would echo my sentiments). However, since you're on here, I'm sure you wouldn't do that.

I agree with Brandi that you need to figure out exactly what your budget is and you definitely need to shop around. Good luck with everything and welcome to the boards! By the way, this is your wedding, the biggest day of your life to this point (in theory anyways) there is no way you're going to get through it without any stress or worries or frustrations. Being two weeks away, I can honestly say, it's no easy, but it is SO worth it!

[WebLady]

... So as far as wedding planners go, I can't suggest much there, although I know that's something Brandi does and she has been wonderful on here! (There's my reference for you Brandi!):)
Thanks dear :) Too bad for servie I am not in Illinois ;) But as you all know, I am happy to help where I can here.

[servie]

Thank you Ladies for the replies.

I am glad that there are fine and nice married ladies such as yourselves who is willing to help.

Going back to the topic. My cousin who got married here in NJ in May 2003 spent $30,000 for his wedding. This was very expensive because it was held in a nice NJ hotel. They paid to accommodate for 250 guests, paid for the hotels of relatives from Virginia where some of them stayed. Got Emcee and DJ (Disc Jockey) and Dance Instructors. Got a nice video and photo package worth $3,500, Limo Service for the entourage and much more.

As of now, my fiance and myself discussed the finances and so far we have come up with 60 guests which may go up to 100 people. Food at the reception costs about $35/person. No alcoholic beverages but we will order fruit punch for the drinks. Photography package and no video coverage. Party favors and hair and makeup of bride, wedding dress and other incidental costs totals to around $8,500...

I am trying to raise around $10,000 for the wedding itself. But this amount would not include the cost of honeymoon and wedding planner. At this point, I would just like to relax a little bit and worry about the money matters later.

We are already booking for the church and reception as early as mid May. Again, thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Servie