Hello friends! I’ve been hinting and hinting about this post in my weekend vlogs, and today is the day! Since getting engaged in November, I thought I would film a video walking you guys through what my wedding planning experience has been like so far. I thought I could do an update every six months or so, as well as a video after the wedding, to give you guys all of the details! I decided to film a video because I knew it would be long, and I’ve briefly listed the things we have done so far below the video. And it’s already been a journey!
For privacy I won’t be giving details/names of our vendors until after the wedding, which I hope you can understand! You can watch the video where I go through the last 8 months below:
A brief summary of the last 8 months!
November
We got home from out trip to Walt Disney World in the second week of November, and started the venue search right away. We knew we wanted something a little less traditional, and a place that we would feel reflected us and where we could feel comfortable. We looked for venues any spare moment we had (and it was exhausting!) but we found one we liked! We arranged a meeting for December.
December
We met with the venue- a brewery that was expanding to a new location, and hadn’t been built yet. It would be three floors, the actual brewery on the first floor, the venue space on the second, and a restaurant and patio space on the third floor. Estimated completion was September 2017.
January
We booked the brewery for September 2018! The venue is inclusive with food and alcohol, so we had a big check mark on things to do, and took a bit of a breather! I also attended a few bridal shows and got lots to see lots of things! Photographers, invitations, it was a lot!
February
We met with and booked a month of co-ordinator, to help take some of the stress of the final months before the wedding off, as well as having someone to make sure everything runs smoothly. I didn’t want to be the person everyone was asking questions to!
March
We took a break and basically just researched different vendors.
April
We met with and booked our photographer, the sister of the co-ordinator of the brewery! We also started our registries with Hudson’s Bay, Bed Bath & Beyond and Disney Honeymoons. Yes, Disney, but I won’t be saying anything about that right now!
May
Oh May! Definitely the hardest month so far. In the second week of May I received an email that the brewery building had to be re-done to accommodate an accessible parking spot that is required by law. Remember the original completion date of September 2017? Since the plans would have to be re-done and resubmitted, the new estimated completion date is July 2018, aka 2 months before our wedding. The sinking feeling in my stomach was not one that I wanted to re-live, especially that close to the wedding, so we decided to look for another venue. Don’t worry, we got our full deposit back!
We spend the next two weeks researching venues, and picked a new one :D! It’s at a conservation area and is more of a DIY venue where we hire and bring in all of the vendors. But it will be an all weekend events because it also has lodging for 86 people! I think the new venue suits both of us, and I really fell in love with it. I got that feeling that I think you should get when you find the place you are getting married! We also had a tasting with a preferred caterer and booked them as well! Below is a picture from our new venue
June
We hired the bartenders in June, and relaxed a bit after checking off a big item! We also brainstormed ideas for centrepieces and décor, and the overall “look” we are going for. It was something I found overwhelming to think about, but the ideas just came to me
July
In July I spoke with and booked our officiant, so we are definitely getting things done! And I made a dress appointment for the beginning of August! We also scheduled our engagement pictures for September! We’re on a roll!
Overall thoughts
The past 8 months have seriously flown by, and although we had a major setback, I’m feeling really good with where we are on our list! I can definitely start to see the day coming together in my mind, and I can’t wait to be married!
If I could give one piece of advice to any future bride reading this: don’t book a venue that isn’t built yet! Even if you think it is going to be finished really far in advance (we thought we were going to have a year), don’t book it. The feeling of a venue falling through is not good, and I wouldn’t wish that feeling upon anyone.
Like I mentioned above I think I will do a video and post like this probably towards the end of this year or the beginning of next year to cover what we have done by then, and so on until the wedding, plus a recap after! I definitely want to share the wedding planning experience with you guys, and if you have any advice, let me know in the comments!
Thank you so much for reading!