Besides shoe shopping, reading romance novels and traveling, planning weddings is definitely one of my favorite things to do in this world. It's what makes up most of my business, and it is by far what I am the most passionate about. Seeing clients get married and having the opportunity to map their love stories out through beautiful details never ceases to amaze me. I truly love what I do and I wouldn't change my career for anything. For these reasons it pains me to see clients fall victim to any of the many misconceptions that the wedding world (unfortunately) has to offer.
I see clients budgeting far too much money on their dream venue alone, leaving little to no funds for things like food and beverage or floral and décor. I see clients forget to budget their time correctly and end up rushing so close to the big day, and worst of all I see clients try to plan their own weddings and end up with way too much on their plate and stressing out before they can even say "I do". At Enraptured Events, we want our clients to know exactly what to expect and what to plan for, so we're going to debunk some common misconceptions in the wedding world!
Image Courtesy of Social Shots Photography
Misconception 1: Silk flowers are cheaper than real flowers. Brides tell me all the time that their mother, aunt, or best friend, said that they should use silk flowers instead of fresh ones to keep the décor costs down. Up front, they are not cheaper! Silk flowers that look real costs the same as real flowers, if not more. In the short-term, silk flowers aren’t cheaper, because you’re going to spend approximately the same as you would on fresh flowers. In the long-term, silk flowers will be cheaper because you can use them again and again, as fresh flowers will die, therefore costing more because of the one-time use you’ll get out of them. This is the biggest misconception where flowers are concerned.
Image Courtesy of Social Shots Photography
Misconception 2: Hiring a day of coordinator will save you money on wedding planning. I have brides contacting me all the time because they’ve tried to plan their own wedding, thinking that in the end, they’ll just hire a day-of coordinator. Well, if you haven’t done proper planning and asked the right questions up front, that day-of coordinator that you may be looking to hire will end up putting out fires, on your behalf, and won’t save you any money at all. In fact, you’re likely to spend more money because some of the things you didn’t know you needed from the beginning, you’ll need before your wedding day, causing you to spend last minute dollars, which could result in rush fees. When I did day-of coordination, this was often the case.
Misconception 3: That you can have a wedding for 200 guests with $20,000. I get calls from brides on a daily basis with a large guest count and small budget. I have to be the one to say that mathematically, this just isn’t feasible, after adding up all of the major costs of a wedding, such as the venue, catering, flowers, photography, not to mention all of the details that make your wedding YOUR wedding, such as the dress, your invitations, the cake, just to name a few. To touch on this misconception a bit more, I did an interview with Mark Brown of For Goodness Cakes, speaking a little more about it.
So, there you have it! Those are some of the most common misconceptions I see almost on a daily basis. My job is to educate my brides, be upfront and realistic with them, and to help them get from concept to execution in the best way possible. As always, I’m Delighted by Design and Inspired by You. Happy Planning!