You Said Yes! What's Next?

From the desk of: Phoebe Allen

Coming from someone who has planned countless weddings and worked with many couples over the years ~ I am here to give you my tips and tricks for what happens after you said yes!

You found the person you want to spend your life with, you have the ring and now everyone is asking you questions on what next… Fear not, we are here to help! Follow the steps below, in order, and you will be golden.

Enjoy being engaged! - Please don’t let the wedding planning journey take over and overwhelm you. It can be very daunting because (ideally) you only do this once and you don’t know what you don’t know! So first step is just to practice enjoying the process and enjoy being engaged without rushing to the next step.
Budget - As I am sure we all know ~ there are thousands of different ways you can spend your dollars on a wedding. Coming up with a specific dollar amount you feel confident spending on your wedding day or wedding weekend helps the next steps run smoothly. My hot tip is to have your top (3) priorities in line first. Maybe you and your partner each pick one and then you pick one together? However it pans out, you want to know what your priorities are before going into the planning process.
Guest Count - Each venue hosts a different amount of guests and in order to start searching and viewing venues, you have to have a rough range in guest count. You cannot go from 150 to 250 guests that easily, at least in Boston!
Hire a Wedding Planner! - You will inevitably need help. We have a job for a reason! We focus solely on full service planning and are able to help you every single step of the way. Some planners out there help a couple months prior to the wedding date and some help just on the day of. We really like to be fully immersed in the planning process so on the day of there are no questions asked and you both just get to be the happy couple!
1. I also like to think of myself as part therapist - inevitably you will have some conflict with a family member, your significant other and whoever that might be - you want someone there to assist along the way!
Venue Research - Lets find you a venue!!! We can work in any venue possible… private homes, hotel ballrooms, open warehouse spaces… truly anything. Finding a venue really revolved around point number 2 and 3! It has to fit your guest count and your budget. We assist with venue sourcing, attending all the site visits and ultimately helping you pick the right place.
Now lets get into the actual planning phases since we have a venue booked!
Phase 1 - I like to break up the planning process into phases. Of course with AE Events you will receive a detailed timeline showing you each step of the way but to make things simple… it is broken up into three phases. Phase 1 consists of building what I like to call your vendor dream team. WHO is involved in your special day. We book your photographer and entertainment first then hair and makeup teams and all your design needs… lighting, floral, rentals and so on.
Phase 2 - Phase 2 consists of what is your vendor dream team doing and how does it cohesively work together. Making sure the lighting and floral teams have seen all your print materials so they can understand the design… making sure the caterer knows what our tablescape is going to look like so they can present the food to match. We want it all to go together!
Phase 3 - the tiny tiny details! We get so into the details that on the day of your wedding we know exactly what is happening every 30 minutes! What are you eating for breakfast, when are you getting dressed, a full photo timeline, when can you and your partner have a moment alone? All the day of details that matter the most!