FROM COURTNEY

As a wedding planner, when talking about your own wedding...where do you begin? After planning countless weddings for others, it was finally my turn to be the bride! Despite what most may think, I was not the person who thoughtfully planned out my entire wedding prior to being engaged, but thankfully after being in the industry for years, I knew where to start and where to focus my money and time.

As I would always suggest to any of my couples, we picked our venue first. We chose Fete the Venue in huge part to the owner being so gracious and kind to us on our tour and also because of all that they provide. I wouldn’t have to bring in my own tables, chairs, etc. which I knew I wanted to avoid as it can be such a headache! They also provide catering through their sister company, All Above Catering, which was another vendor checked off my list.

The next vendor I chose (which was a huge no brainer for me) was Carla Kayes Floral. I have worked with her countless times and have always loved everything she creates so she was by far the easiest vendor choice for me!

Another easy vendor choice was my hair and makeup. Crystal of Golden Glow Beauty is a dear friend of mine and an extremely talented artist. My bridesmaids all loved their hair and makeup and raved about Crystal! And I, of course, loved the way she made me feel on my big day.

I think one of the toughest vendors to choose was our music. I work with so many great DJ’s and bands that I had a really hard time narrowing it down. We ended up going with Vox DJ’s (Ralph + Ricky are amazing) and they provided a DJ plus a saxophone player for cocktail hour and a drummer for the reception. We are SO happy with our decision and our guests loved the mix of a DJ with live music.

Another tough vendor choice was a photographer/videographer because again, I work with so many talented people. I had worked with Ted + Lexie of Selcouth Creative before and loved their work but once my husband and I met with them, we all really hit it off (plus they were totally okay with our two crazy pups being apart of the wedding). They were so fun to work with on our big day (and for our engagement shoot) and we have received so many compliments on our wedding photos!

I could go on + on about all the decisions that went into planning the big day but that would make for a really long blog post so, I’ll leave you with this last bit of advice. Your wedding day is YOUR day (and your future husbands, ha) so make sure that it reflects the two of you. Try to tune out as much of the unwanted advice as possible and ensure that the decisions you are making are truly what the two of you want for your special day. And now, I shall get off my soap box. ;)

xo

Courtney