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- Alexis Alvarez
7 Parts of Wedding Planning That Are a Pain in the Ass, but Have to be Done
Were you one of the 100K people that got engaged this holiday season & quickly went from being super stoked to plan your wedding to realizing that it's going to be a huge pain in the ass? (this is a completely arbitrary statistic used only to make a point).
If you are, you're not alone & today we're going to stop beating around the bush & help you see the annoyances coming. Here are our 7 parts of the wedding planning process that are a complete & total pain in the ass, but are unfortunately all necessary tasks to complete.
1. Deciding on a budget. Any wedding budget whether it's $5K or $500K is a lot of money. Add in the fact that you're going to have to have some uncomfy convos with each other about money that you might not have had before & some uncomfy convos with your fam... It sucks. Buuuuut it's necessary to pay for all the things.
2. Deciding on a guest list. Oh boy. There's so many layers of pain to this task. First of all, every single person you invite has a dollar amount attached to them, but you also don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Then you've got parents who want to invite their friends & if they're helping pay for the wedding, it gets even trickier. But before you can even start shopping for a venue, you need to have some idea of how many people you are inviting. PRO TIP: if you're wanting a smaller wedding, book a venue with a capacity limit of where you'd want to max out & use that as your excuse.
3. Picking a venue. So this is one of those tasks that is so much fun, but also just the fucking worst. It's the first contractual decision you need to make (besides if you decide to work with a planner for full service) & there are so many damn variables that all affect the end cost. Does the venue include table & chairs or will you need to rent them through your caterer? Is catering provided through the venue, is there a list of approved caterers or do they have an open catering policy? What about weather? Will you need a tent or some other last minute decision that might need to be made that will come with an added cost? What about bar? Do you have to get your bar package through your caterer or can you BYOB? What about the layout? Will it require a flip? Do they require insurance? But alas, you need a physical location to host your wedding so it has to be done.
4. Selecting a caterer. Again another task that is a lot of fun because FOOD, but it can be extraordinarily overwhelming and difficult because it is by and large the most money you'll spend on your wedding & there's so many damn options that all have different price tags. Trying to narrow in on the right caterer can be v v sucky. But being a good host requires you to feed people.
5. Receiving the initial floral proposal. Oh man, I love getting into the pretty part of wedding planning, but the first proposal you'll receive from your florist will most likely knock you on your ass because who knew flowers could cost so much?? (We'll be doing another post specifically about this soon) I guess this one isn't a NEED but we all want a pretty wedding, right?
6. Receiving RSVPs. I'm just going to come out and say it - wedding guests are the worst. Their the bane of my existence and will be yours too. Some people are not going to send back their cards & have you chasing after them for an answer, some will send them back late, some will lose them, some will change their minds & make you change the seating chart you already spent hours working on & some will RSVP and not show up because apparently that's acceptable, but we need a guest count so we know how food to order so...
7. The night before the wedding. Well meaning family (& Aunt Karen) will all be calling & texting you with a thousand questions that you've definitely already answered a thousand times, for example in the reminder email you sent out yesterday about the time & location of the rehearsal dinner. PRO TIP: This one doesn't have to be this way. Give your phone to someone else & tell them to deal.
Planning your wedding is a very exciting time, but it's also a giant piece of shit task that at times will make you seriously consider eloping, but I have to meet a newly married couple that didn't feel like it was all worth it.
Wondering if you need a Wedding Planner?