Wedding Away From Home
Excitement and Stress!
Getting engaged brings so much excitement and joy, of course, but can also come with its fair share of stress. You have your perfect guy and a stunner of a ring, but also a bundle of pressure about what to do next.
Where do you even start looking for a wedding band? Which of the city’s 10 caterers has the best food? Which photographer will make you and your fiancé feel the most comfortable? It’s easy to see why the pressure of making all the right choices for a picture-perfect Big Day can quickly turn you from overjoyed to overwhelmed.
Imagine how much more stressful it would be planning your wedding in a different city than the one you live in. …but it can be done with grace, ladies.
Many couples today are planning weddings outside of their own city limits. Some brides may meet their hubby-to-be while away at college, but still want their hometown wedding. Some may want to trade that hometown Big Day for a destination wedding somewhere with fewer rolling hills and more palm trees.
Whatever your reason for planning a Big Day away from home, consider enlisting a wedding coordinator as a planning partner.
Picking the perfect team!
A planner who lives and works in the city where you’ll be getting married is your very best bet. They can pop into meetings and be your in-person proxy for anything that needs to be handled face-to-face. They’ll also be able to most confidently pair you with vendors to match your personalities and budget, since they will likely have worked with most vendors and be able to recommend the best fits for you. This absolutely beats doing a Google search for each vendor and hoping for the best, right?
Planners – whether they live in your wedding city or not – know the questions to ask to ensure every one of your bases is covered. Does the band need a stage? Does the cake baker provide a cake stand or do you need to rent one?
Does the church have any restrictions on where your photographer can stand during the ceremony (many do!)?
On the phone or in person!
These days, most planning can easily be done through emails and phone calls, but you’ll want to plan at least one visit to your wedding city. You’ll definitely want to visit at the very beginning of planning, when you’ll want to pack in as many venue visits as you can handle. See the spaces, check on costs (and all that those costs include) and availability for the date(s) you’re thinking about.
Book these tours in advance of your visit to ensure you’re able to see each space. If you have time, try to schedule a couple cake tastings as well, since this isn’t something you can do from home. Set up a coffee date with your favorite potential photographer. And if you have some time to visit with a potential caterer or two, this can be helpful, especially if the caterer happens to have a restaurant, where you can stop in for lunch or dinner to get a taste of what they can do. It’s amazing how far meeting your vendors in person can go to making you feel a million times more comfortable.
Take time to enjoy!
Finally, remember to enjoy every bit of planning, and remember that while planning in a different city can present its challenges, there’s a reason you chose that city, and all will pay off when you’re tying the knot in your picture-perfect spot.
In the meantime, enjoy every second of your engagement and that brand new stunner of a ring.
Shannon Reeves, Shannon Reeves Events
