Taking Advice

When you first get engaged it seems like everyone from your mother to your recently wed friends to the lady behind you in line at the post office has some advice about what you must or must not do at your wedding. And let’s face it, a lot of it is probably irrelevant to the wedding you and your betrothed are planning (“Your napkins need to be the same color as your dress!” “Make sure you have at least one harpist!” “If you serve cupcakes your marriage won’t be valid!”) But one of the things I’ve learned to do while planning this wedding is not to shut everyone out; sometimes you can learn from those who have been there before (as brides, grooms, MOHs, guests, vendors, etc…).

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I’ve had two recently married friends insist that I hire a videographer. One had hired one and was in love with her video, the other hadn’t hired one and it was her one wedding regret. So I listened. We hired a videographer. And now we have big plans for our videographer, that you’ll just have to wait to see...

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There is another piece of advice the hive has echoed over and over again: hire a Day of Coordinator, or DOC. Without the hive I’m not sure if I would have set aside room in the budget for a DOC. But I read over and over again how helpful a DOC (or a full planner) could be, and again I listened. We will have a DOC for our wedding. I want the wedding day to be as stress-free as possible, and knowing that the DOC will be the one taking care of all the little details and putting out any fires is a huge relief. As much as the detail-obsessed-control-freak in me wants to be setting up the escort table and arranging the cupcake/dessert table myself, I’m pretty sure I’ll prefer spending my time getting dolled up with my bridesmaids and taking some pretty pictures with my groom. Bonus: our DOC is also our florist—I love hiring two vendors with one stone—er, I mean one contract.

Franck at work

What advice have you taken in planning your wedding? What advice would you give to people just starting to plan?