Wedding Planning Four

The next step is to decide the type of reception music you would like. A live band - large or small can usually only do one "gig" a day so it's important to book early. If you want a particular DJ you may also want to book early although most DJ companies have several DJ's working for them. I often recommend booking a small part of the group for the cocktail hour, adding a player or 2 for the dinner/lunch hour and then the full group for dancing.
A good wedding band should be able to perform all types of music so you can please all the age groups and music tastes at your reception. Listen to demos, see them in person if possible and check out a song list before booking. Not sure of your timing yet? Book the lesser number of hours with an option to go longer.

Wedding Planning Three

You have your date, your budget, your location and the save the date cards are in the mail.
Now is the time to book your wedding photographer. Booking a photographer early is important because they are usually just one person(with an assistant) and can only photograph one major event per day. The best photographers book up quickly. When I am working with clients, I tend to refer them to the web site of our wonderful organization, the Santa Barbara Event Professionals (I am currently VP) http://www.sbep.com
From there one can view many different excellent photography web sites and determine a style they like and then determine if their pricing will fit their budget.
Here is a nice article written by a former SBEP member Marcia...
http://marciaphoto.com/2009/11/how-to-hire-your-wedding-photographer

Wedding Planning Two

So now that you have a budget, date and location, it's time to get out those save -the-date cards. There are many choices of style & papers. Photos, magnets, postcards, cards that match your invitation or theme...hundreds of choices to fit every budget & style. I have an entire album of just save-the-date's or you can click on the save the date link at http://www.weddingsbydiana.cceasy.com
When you are putting your addresses together, put them into an Excel spreadsheet that you can use again & again; for the invitations, for thank you notes & later for holiday cards, etc.

Wedding Planning for 2010

Congratulations to all the happy couples who became engaged over the holidays!
So you are getting married and now what do you do? The minute you become engaged, all your friends and even complete strangers take pleasure in providing you with endless amounts of advice and information based on their own wedding experiences. (The same thing unfortunately happens when you become pregnant!) You listen patiently to all they have to say and yes, there may be some great advice that you can use. They all mean well but don't let people pressure you into feeling like planning a wedding has to be stressful and you have to hurry, hurry hurry. It can be overwhelming, and, as a wedding planner with over 30 years experience, my advice is WIN...do what's important now. Take it one or two steps at a time...keep it fun...enjoy the process!!!
So you may ask, what IS important now?
The first thing is to inform your families and maybe discuss budget. The second thing should hopefully be to hire a professional wedding planner (would LOVE for it to be ME!) and thirdly, two things that go together...the date and the location.
Tune in soon for more...