You grew up in New York City, but life has taken you to Texas. You’ve always imagined a NYC wedding where most of your family and friends are. So now you’re living in Texas, planning a NYC wedding, and it’s daunting. Planning a wedding in your own town can be overwhelming let alone when you’re thousands of miles away and can’t physically be there to see all your options and be confident in all of your decisions.
Don’t freak, we’ve compiled our top 3 foolproof tips for planning your out-of-town wedding and maintaining your sanity:
Hire a planner
Alright, this may seem obvious and as if we’re tooting our own horn, but let’s be real. You are miles and miles away from your final destination, you have a full time job, and you’ve never planned a wedding before. You NEED a third party unbiased opinion (we love our moms but this is not their wedding) to help you navigate this terrain. A planner can take what you’re envisioning and help you make it a reality in an organized, well-informed, and creative way. Find a planner familiar with the area your wedding is in and use them for their local vendor relationships and expertise. You’ll come out of it with an awesome wedding and a new friend.
• SKYPE/ FACETIME religiously
If you haven’t yet, meet Skype, your new best friend. And yes, we know Facetime exists but not everyone is an Apple user and in case you’re overseas, Skype is the way to go. You may feel inclined to rely on email, but some true face time can go a long way when you’re already physically removed from the local setting. So when reaching out to planners and vendors ask for a Skype call to discuss details. And often, whether or not this companies and individuals are accommodating with time differences (e.g. having early AM or late night calls), will be your first clue at who to work with. Oh, and it’s free so expensive phone calls to add to your budget!
• Divide and Conquer
A planner would really guide you on this step creating a planning timeline, but if you decide to tackle it on your own, please please please don’t fall into trap #1 of getting too excited and trying to book everything at once. Split up the work in order of priority. 1-2 decisions a month is great. How do you prioritize? List out all the vendors you’ll be needing, figure out which are most important to you, and don’t move on to the next until the first is done. And if you say ALL are important, consider which need the most lead time (e.g. officiants, photographers, entertainment, etc.). Always finalize the crucial vendors before getting lost in Pinterest and Etsy over your favors. Somehow we always find time for that ;)
Still, don’t believe you can do it? Call us for some advice or check out this recap of a transatlantic wedding we worked on in New Jersey with a couple from Australia!