New Ring for New Years – First 3 Wedding Planning Steps for 2010 from Elegala.com

Getting Engaged – First Three Steps of Wedding Planning

Here are the first three steps in your countdown to “I do!” Get started now by tackling these first wedding-planning tasks.

So your partner popped the question…now what?

Unfortunately, for most newly engaged women, the excitement of finally finding “the one” is dampened by a hard dose of stress and anxiety. Sure, you’ll find about a gazillion wedding planning checklists out there, but they all tend to overwhelm more than they help, and all essentially fail to address the fundamental question: “Where do I begin?”

We’re here to help. After you’ve announced the exciting news and taken some time to bask in your newly engaged glow, it’s time to get cracking. Here are the first three wedding planning tasks you absolutely must accomplish before anything else. Cross these items off your wedding checklist – and you’re on your way.

First Steps of Wedding Planning:

Step 1: Determine Your Budget

Every decision stems from the wedding budget. Before you can plan anything, you must know how much you can spend and who plans to contribute. Your budget will determine the type of wedding you can have – from how many guests you invite, to where and when you host your wedding, right down to the specific blooms in your bouquet. And with the ever increasing cost of weddings, financing the event is often a group effort; the bride’s parents no longer need to take out a second mortgage just to fund the upcoming nuptials. You’ll need to talk to your families about who will pay for what, and arrive at a total wedding budget. This complete wedding budget guide will walk you through the process.

Step 2: Tackle the Guest List

Some “checklists” suggest setting a date and commencing other wedding plans before this step, but Elegala considers the guest count is the most vital decision after the budget. Here’s why: Capacity is one of the most important criteria in finding a suitable wedding venue – more so even than style and vision – and you must secure your location before you can successfully plan anything else. Trust us, cramming 300 people into a venue that seats 150 will not go over well. You don’t need to have the list finalized just yet, but you’ll need an estimate from both sides of the family (and yourselves) right away to avert countless planning headaches down the road. This complete wedding guest listguide will help you get started.

Step 3: Set on a Site and Date

Only once you have an estimated budget and guest count can you begin searching for a place to hold your event with any accuracy. Remember: Many reception sites book over a year in advance, so you really can’t decide on a wedding date until you have officially booked your venue with a signed contract. Find as many reception sites that meet your budget, capacity, and overall style quotient as you can. Use our wedding reception site search to find venues in your area, and narrow down your list. Then schedule appointments to tour each wedding venue and meet with the manager. After that, it’s decision making time.

There is one wedding planning truism that we hold dear. As you may have heard it said, once you find your wedding venue, everything else falls into place. Once you have accomplished these steps, you will find the rest of your planning task list a piece of, ahem, wedding cake.

Don’t stop now. Our complete ideas and advice guide will walk you every step of thewedding planning process, from setting the theme and style to managing every wedding detail.

Still Playing Catch Up….




Moving, albums, portraits, launching a new business… (This is a teaser- more info to come soon!) This is always a busy time of year, so posting here gets pushed to the bottom of the list. We do have a few more 2010 weddings that we’ll be posting, so watch for those.

New Wedding Packages will be coming soon, with new additions and NEW ALBUMS! I always love variety, and am ready for some new options. We should have a couple of the new albums at bridal shows in January.
One of our new Reception Guest Books arrived today, which is so cute! An engagement album is a wonderful way to show off all of your favorites from your session, and using them as a guest book allows you to have everyone see them on the wedding day. This 8×8 book has sturdy pages that are designed to lay flat when the book is open, making it perfect for guests to sign. This design asks fun questions to get interesting answers, which are more entertaining to read than a standard signature.

Party Today!

It’s A Party At Appleby Photography!
We would love to see you-
Wine & Dessert Party!


When: Today, Monday, October 25th

6pm-9pm
Open House Style- stop in quick to say “hi”
or
stay for a few glasses of wine!
Please feel free to bring a friend!


Where: Appleby Photography Studio
402 East Wilson Street, Madison
608-280-8845

What: Wine, Dessert, Doorprizes
We will even do a free Facebook
profile picture for you that night!

(If you would like to bring a canned food item to donate to the food pantry as “payment” for the facebook pic, that would be wonderful!)

Why: We are celebrating our move from the downtown studio to our home-based boutique, with mainly location sessions, but we really just wanted a reason to throw a party!


This is not a public event. This is a private party intended for our invited guests and their friends.

Party Today!

It’s A Party At Appleby Photography!
We would love to see you-
Wine & Dessert Party!


When: Today, Monday, October 25th

6pm-9pm
Open House Style- stop in quick to say “hi”
or
stay for a few glasses of wine!
Please feel free to bring a friend!


Where: Appleby Photography Studio
402 East Wilson Street, Madison
608-280-8845

What: Wine, Dessert, Doorprizes
We will even do a free Facebook
profile picture for you that night!

(If you would like to bring a canned food item to donate to the food pantry as “payment” for the facebook pic, that would be wonderful!)

Why: We are celebrating our move from the downtown studio to our home-based boutique, with mainly location sessions, but we really just wanted a reason to throw a party!


This is not a public event. This is a private party intended for our invited guests and their friends.

NAWP Leadership Award!


Madison has the newest chapter of National Association of Wedding Professionals (NAWP), which was started last spring. This is an organization where all types of wedding professionals get together to learn more about what one another does to help brides and groom’s on their wedding day. Our chapter has professionals from a variety of businesses: officiants, planners, photographers, transportation, registries, and so many more. As board members, we enjoy seeing the local excitement about this group.

At last night’s meeting, we were happy to celebrate that we are 50 members strong. That’s a lot of wedding knowledge in one room!
Also, at last night’s meeting, awards were presented. These were awards that were officially presented at the national convention in Florida, which took place in September, and were brought back by our “delegates” who attended.
We are absolutely thrilled that Appleby Photography received the Madison Chapter 2010 Leadership Award! Of course, this puts a bit of pressure on us, as we feel that we need to live up to this honor. We appreciate the award and are looking forward to seeing NAWP continue to grow.

Wedding Traditions & Superstitions

I love wedding traditions! I think it’s fun when brides and grooms pull fun or meaningful customs and traditions from the past. Here are a few fun ones from theknot.com:
  • The English believe a spider found in a wedding dress means good luck. Yikes!
  • Saturday is the unluckiest wedding day, according to English folklore. Funny — it’s the most popular day of the week to marry!
  • Rain on your wedding day is actually considered good luck, according to Hindu tradition!
  • Peas are thrown at Czech newlyweds instead of rice.
  • In the symbolic language of jewels, a sapphire in a wedding ring means marital happiness.
  • Aquamarine represents marital harmony and is said to ensure a long, happy marriage.
  • In Egypt, the bride’s family traditionally does all the cooking for a week after the wedding, so the couple can…relax.
  • The custom of tiered cakes emerged from a game where the bride and groom attempted to kiss over an ever-higher cake without knocking it over.
  • The bride stands to the groom’s left during a Christian ceremony, because in bygone days the groom needed his right hand free to fight off other suitors.
You can read more wedding traditions on theknot.com:

Wedding Traditions & Superstitions: 50 Wedding Facts & Trivia