Wedding Planning Apps

Wedding planning can be stressful and time consuming. These phone apps can be a great help when you’re planning your wedding, and even after planning! 

Budgeting- Mint

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Weddings can be expensive no matter where you’re getting married. Creating a budget for your wedding can be a surefire way of making sure you don’t go overboard and break the bank. Sticking to a budget and recording your purchases can be helpful when things start to add up, especially those small costs that you don't necessarily think of.

We recommend creating a budget with a free app like Mint, its a great way to budget for a fixed amount each month to go towards your wedding expenses, or to add wedding-related line items to be budgeted for. When creating a budget for your wedding,  keep in mind that unanticipated costs can add 30% to your budget, so it can pay to prepare.

Wedding Website - The Knot

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The Knot is soon to be your best friend. It’s a wedding website host, checklist, it keeps a handle on your guests for you, and has a ton of reviewed wedding vendors from across the country. The Knot is a great app no matter where you are in the wedding planning process. It can help you find vendors at the very beginning of your planning process and the checklist helps keep you right on track so you don't fall behind. 

The other great thing about The Knot is the wedding website tool. A wedding website can be a great and efficient way to get a bunch of information to your guests. You can link your registries, share specific wedding details and hotel block information. You can also personalize your website with pictures, wedding party information and even share your love story. 

Registry- Zola

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We recommend trying Zola to mix it up when it comes to registry shopping for your guests. This company has created a dream registry, it’s everything you’d hoped a registry could do for you. Through one registry you can combine all of your favorite brands and allows  add some unconventional gift ideas that your guests can contribute to, such as experiences and cash funds. This registry also allows group gifting. Multiple friends can contribute to any item that you mark for group gifting.

You also have tons of control over your registry. For example, once a gift is purchased for you, they will notify you and give you the choice of shipping the product now, swapping it out for something else, or convert the purchase into store credit.

Inspiration- Pinterest  

An obvious choice. I'm sure many of our couples have had their dream wedding board filled with dreamy inspiration even before they were engaged. Pinterest can still be your go-to after you’re engaged. You can create public and private boards for all the specific details of your wedding. Be careful, sometimes things you see on Pinterest are really cute but can be very expensive or might not work with your venue and other vendors or time of the year you're getting married. Before you begin obsessing with a projector or look you found on Pinterest, please make sure to contact your vendors to make sure that it will be achievable. We have a Pinterest page that has a lot of different real wedding and inspirations that we highly reccomend you check out! 

Assigned Seating

Photo by Cory + Jackie. Styling and planning by Stellaluna Events.

Photo by Cory + Jackie. Styling and planning by Stellaluna Events.

One question that we often get is whether or not clients should do assigned seating. Our answer is always yes! As with most decisions when it comes to wedding planning, we acknowledge that it's a personal and if you opt not to, that's fine too. We know that assigned seating creates a bit more work for you ahead of the wedding, but it's definitely worth it. This is one of those last minute details that must get done as you often don't know your final RSVP count until about a month before the big day, but not one to overlook. 

So, why do assigned seating? We often hear from guests that it's comforting to know that there is a certain spot for them to sit. This is especially true to guests who might now know that many people at the wedding and finding their own seats can be overwhelming and quite frankly, awkward. The other thing that we've seen happen is that, inevitably, not every table gets filled to capacity so there might be 1 empty seat at every table, and then a family of 5 comes in and we either have to set up an extra table for them to sit at (so awkward!) or the family has to split up between tables. We've seen both of these scenarios happen quite often, and trust us, it is not ideal. Plus, how cute are all of these seating displays?!

Photo by Bekah Taylor.

Photo by Bekah Taylor.

Again, we know that creating a seating assignment can be a daunting task, but it definitely pays off in the end and your guests (and catering staff!) will thank you. So, grab a glass of wine with your fiance and make it as fun as you can! 

Photo taken by staff member.

Photo taken by staff member.

Photo by Ashley Dru.

Photo by Ashley Dru.

First Look

Photo by Bekah Taylor.

Photo by Bekah Taylor.

While we understand that waiting to see your bride and/or groom until the ceremony is tradition, we can't stress enough how great a first look can be! We understand that this is a personal choice, but there are so many benefits to a first look. We’ve often heard couples comment on how meaningful it was to have a moment that was just theirs and how this allowed their true emotions to show. Trust us, it’ll still be magical when you walk down the aisle no matter how many times you see each other beforehand.

As stated above, doing a first look has many benefits:

  • It can ease pre-wedding jitters, couples often don’t feel quite as nervous before the ceremony as not seeing each other can add a great deal of pressure.
  • It is a special, intimate moment between you and your fiancé. A first look will allow your true emotions to show as there’s no pressure of an audience watching.
  • It will allow you to take all of your pictures before the ceremony, meaning that you don’t have to miss out on your reception due to taking pictures. The biggest complaint we hear from guests is that they often have to wait over an hour after the ceremony while the couple is off taking their pictures. You have put so much time and effort into the day, spend as much time as possible with your guests and at the party. You are missing out on a lot of valuable time by spending so much time taking pictures after the ceremony.
  • You will be able to spend even more time with your soon-to-be-spouse on your wedding day. The day is all about you and it goes by in the blink of an eye, why not make the most of the day and spend those extra few hours together.
  • The pictures are amazing!
  • You will have more time to get the pictures that you want. When couples wait to take all of their pictures after the ceremony, they are often stressed and strapped for time and find that they don’t have nearly as much time as they’d hope. Taking all of your pictures before the ceremony will allow for a much more relaxed reception and often better pictures.
Photo by Ashley Dru.

Photo by Ashley Dru.

Hear it from Eleny, a Bread & Chocolate bride who was married in April 2015: “My advice for a first look would be to keep it private. We decided to have our photographer and videographer capture the moment, but we didn't want anyone else there. We wanted it to be a time between us where we could just be ourselves and have a private moment before the day got even crazier. By having a first look, we were able to spend a few minutes with one another which would have been difficult after the ceremony. We also were able to get pictures done before the ceremony to allow us to spend more time with our guests at our reception! Some say it ruins the moment of walking down the aisle, but we both still got emotional when I walked down.” Check out Kyle's super sweet reaction to seeing his bride for the first time...

So sweet! Photo by Josef Samuel Photography.

So sweet! Photo by Josef Samuel Photography.

We’ve often heard that no matter how many times you see each other before the wedding, it’s still a special moment to see each other for the first time during the ceremony. We know that it is a personal choice whether or not to do a first look; however, we highly recommend doing a first look. We haven’t had a couple regret doing it!

Photo by Ashley Dru.

Photo by Ashley Dru.