As the day of your wedding nears, you get to focus on the little details. Every wedding requires an exchange of vows as a way of your promise with each other that you will fulfill for the rest of your lives together. You may opt not to share your wedding vows on the wedding ceremony and just do it prior to the wedding. Here’s what you should know about exchanging vows:
Exchange of Vows
The exchange of vows is one of the most important part of the wedding as this is when the magic comes in where you get to hear the vow of your partner to you and share it with your family, relatives and friends. This is where your audience and especially you, get to smile, laugh and even ugly cry. It is where all the emotions will be shown bare and raw.
Who Goes First
Traditionally, the groom is the first one to share his vows first. As time goes by, people are more accepting and open that this tradition is shifting to a gender neutral and equal ceremony where whoever wants to go first can do so. You may discuss it prior to the wedding to avoid waiting time during the ceremony itself. This decision will also show how your family relationship dynamics will be. If you are still undecided after you talked with each other, then you may let fate do its work by tossing a coin or rolling a dice. It will be so much if you do it like that.
Why Exchange Vows Before The Wedding
Exchanging vows before the wedding is not often done as the tradition taught us to exchange vows during the wedding ceremony itself. As time goes by, wedding traditions are altered and change causing some traditions to be gone. Some officiant of weddings encourage a married couple to exchange their vows beforehand instead of sharing and reciting it in front of their guests. This is to give a chance for the couple to keep their own personal and written vows with each other and understand what they are agreeing to each other with their vows. The most important thing about vows is you get to understand each other and be committed with your marriage.
With COVID-19 still a threat in the world today, many life events like weddings have taken a different course. Many couple opted to spend their weddings at the comfort of their home together with their close friends and family. Still, a wedding should be memorable even when it’s done at home. Here are some things you should take note of when planning a wedding:
Do: Still Hire a Team of Professionals
You may be planning to have your wedding at home but it is still an important event not only for you but also to your family. A wedding at home does not mean that you should just take the preparations for granted. It will still be a great idea to hire an experienced wedding planner to help arrange the whole wedding and remove a bulk of responsibility off your shoulder. There are many ways for an expert to beautifully décor your house and turn it into a different place that is intimate and unrecognizable. Most of the people who did home weddings usually use their backyard. It is not a bad idea as it has great space and it lessens the expenses.
Do: Consider Other Elements
Check the season of which you plan to do the wedding. Is it cold, snowy or even a warm and hot sunny day? The whole wedding planning also considers this as a factor as you may need to prepare more things if it’s going be on a cold season as you have to prepare heaters in advance to make sure that your guests will not get too cold. Knowing the date and season will also help the wedding planners to anticipate what could happen at such time and they will immediately be able to come up with a solution months before the wedding.
Do: Have a Catering Kitchen
We usually have one kitchen in our house but we don’t really want them to make a mess inside our house don’t we? Unlike wedding venues, they have a designated kitchen area for the caterers. Since you don’t have it at home why not make one? You may use your garage or driveway, whichever has a bigger space, to have them a good enough space to prepare the food while being away from the eyes of the guests. Wedding planners have all the connections that they need in order to provide you with the best caterers in town.
Do: Consider the Flow of Events
This isn’t something that a couple who is about to be wed is concerned about. However, hosting a wedding at the comfort of your home means that you have to make sure that you planned out every step and every flow of the wedding event – from the guests’ perspective. Think of where the guests will park their car, how they will get to your house and where will they go before the wedding ceremony starts. This will definitely put your creativity and patience to test.
Don’t: Forget to Check your City Rules
Different cities have different rules. You may need to check with your city if home weddings are allowed and if there restrictions or noise ordinances that may affect your celebration. You wouldn’t want a group of police to be dispatched at your home and ruin your wedding celebrations, wouldn’t you? Better do your research before doing anything. Also, it would be nice to send some courtesy to your neighbors that you will have a wedding party on a certain date for them to be aware that there will be a number of people who’ll be going to your home.
Don’t: Assume your Bathroom will Suffice
Not all houses have the luxury of having more than 2 bathrooms in their home. If you have more than 2, then you are probably lucky. Still, don’t think that your bathrooms will suffice for your guests. We better expect the unexpected in order to avoid any mishaps during the wedding day. If you are not so confident with the number of bathrooms you have and the capacity of your sewage system, then you should consider hiring a portable bathroom. It does not only saves you a lot of time from cleaning the bathrooms afterwards, it also lessen the hassle for your guests in finding the bathrooms.
Don’t: Forget to put Good Lighting
You may have done the ceremony during daylight, but don’t think that the wedding proper will be finished any time soon as the program will only start after the ceremony itself. Don’t forget to invest on a good lighting especially in the evening to make the venue bright and lively. Also, light a path from the backyard to the front yard in order for your guests to not get lost and easily find their way when going in or out of the house.
Planning for the wedding of your dream does not only cost a lot of money but also takes so much of your time! A wedding is done to celebrate the union between two people who love each other. Some cultures have different wedding traditions and customs that an engaged couple will need to follow, and this might be taxing to the couple. You might need to consider hiring a wedding planner to make your wedding stress-free but if you’re on a budget is it ideal to hire one?
Wedding Planner
The Wedding is very significant to the couple since it is the celebration of their union. Their family, friends and relatives are all invited to celebrate and congratulate them on their happiest day. The most difficult part of a wedding is the organizing of it. Most couples are too busy with their jobs that they can’t give most of their time to planning while some brides opted to handle everything by themselves.
This is why wedding planning business became a thing. A wedding planner is a professional who provides services like design, planning, and management of a couple’s wedding. They basically make sure that the engaged couple will not be stressed out by the planning and their wedding day would be a day to remember.
Wedding planners are experienced professionals who have planned weddings all-over the city. What’s unique about them is that their skills and knowledge about weddings were not learned from the book but are mostly from their experiences from working from the wedding industry for years. Their previous experiences give them an edge especially during unexpected events in weddings. They are able to act and think fast to make sure that problems are solved before it even happens.
Wedding Planner Services
Planning a wedding is much harder than you think it is. Here’s some ideas as to the services that wedding planners provide:
Interview the couple to identify their needs and visualize their dream wedding.
Preparation of the budget according to the couple’s financial capabilities.
Designing and styling of event
Look for receptions or locations (maybe indoor or outdoor depending on the couple preference)
Book and schedule photoshoots
Planning a detailed checklist (months or a year prior to the wedding)
Preparation of the lists of guests and performers if warranted.
Booking venues such as the church, reception, hotels etc. needed on the day of the wedding.
Look for suppliers, wedding professionals, caterers who could provide the couple’s needs.
Contract signing with the chosen suppliers.
Coordinate and organize deliveries and services on the wedding day.
Have a back-up plan in case an event or a disaster happens.
Create the wedding program.
Help prepare legal documentation needed for destination weddings.
Involves in the event layout such as the dance floor, buffet, tables and chairs.
Coordinate the wedding day, conference and pre-event assembly and follow-up.
Can it save you money?
Wedding planners usually ask for a reasonable price for their services. The more experiences a wedding planner has the more expensive their fee is. But If you want a wedding planner on a certain budget, you may consider looking for wedding planners who are new in the business. Make sure to look at their portfolio as some of them worked previously under the guidance of popular wedding planners.
Wedding planners considers your budget when planning for a wedding. You just need to talk about the budget, the possible numbers of guests and the theme that you want. From there, your wedding planner will tell you if the budget you gave them is enough or you may need to increase it a little more to better accommodate your request. Some wedding planners can also provide their designing services. You may avail this with an added fee, this is great especially if you have specific details in mind that you want to add which some designing services can’t provide.
Getting a wedding planner may cause you some money but it is definitely worth it if you want to have a hassle and stress-free wedding. They are your wedding heroes! Who doesn’t want to have a fresh and younger looking face on their wedding day, right?
