5 Common Wedding Planning Questions Answered

Photo: @abbyrosephoto

Hey guys! I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to answer some questions that I see pop up regularly in wedding planning forums and Facebook groups.

Before we get started though, I want to let you know that the all new Wedding Planning Blueprint Course is still live! Designed to help guide couples through the overwhelming process of planning a wedding, I’ll walk you through the actionable steps you need to take to go from feeling lost and alone to confident and excited about wedding planning again! If you’d like more information on the how the course can help you, please visit planningcollective.com/wpbcourse

Ok, let’s move on to the questions that I’m seeing asked over and over, in some version or another.

How do we pick the date?

First, you need to determine the time of year or season that you want to get married. Think about your work schedules, especially if you have a “busy season”, and ask family/friends about any other potential conflicts like weddings, graduations, or other celebrations. Next, check with your church, temple, or other religious institutions, if that’s a priority for where your ceremony will be held. If you’re not particular on where the ceremony will be, this is the time to start looking at potential venues for the ceremony and reception.

When you’re looking into venues, you’ll need to consider the day of the week you’d like the wedding to be held. Saturdays are considered the “prime” day of the week for a wedding, with Friday’s and Sundays as runners up. If you’re open to a Friday, Sunday, or even a weekday, you’ll likely be able to snag some deals from the venue and other vendors.

And finally, you may just need to make a decision! For some, certain dates “call to them," and for others, you’ll just need to pick out of the options that work best for you. Yes, it will be your anniversary date for years to come, and for some, that might put pressure on you to “get it right”. But keep in mind that the date will become special to you BECAUSE it’s your anniversary, and sometimes it just comes down to picking from a few perfectly fine options.

The second question is about your stationery timeline, more specifically seen asked repeatedly in some form of:

When do we send out our save the dates?

The quick answer to this is 6-9 months before the wedding, but I go into more detail about your stationery timeline, including save the dates, invitations, and RSVP’s in episode 10 of the Wedding Planning Collective podcast, so make sure to check that out. I also linked a graphic on how to know when to order and send your save the dates and invites in the Wedding Planning Collective Facebook Group, so please make sure to head over there and check that out.

Do you need a hotel block?

I’m going to cover hotel blocks in more detail in a podcast episode, but I wanted to talk a bit about who would benefit from a hotel block, and when you don’t need to worry about them. First, let’s touch on what a hotel block is first. The general answer is that it’s when the hotel will hold a certain number of rooms at an agreed upon rate for you and your wedding guests. I’ll address the different types of blocks, and all of the details that go into the contract in that episode, but they are most beneficial for couples that have many guests traveling from out of town for the wedding.

With a hotel block, you can encourage everyone to stay in the same hotel, which will make it easier if you need to arrange for transportation. Having a hotel block can also serve as a central “hub” for the other weekends events, like the rehearsal dinner and post wedding brunch, if you’re planning on doing that. Now, if most of your guests are local to the wedding location, you may not need to worry about having a hotel block, people can always make reservations on their own wherever they would like to stay.

I see this one a lot, and believe it or not, it can be controversial, haha! I think mostly because it can take over the feeds of these wedding forums, which can be annoying for those that are indifferent to this, and that’s...

What should our wedding hashtag be?

Having a custom hashtag is certainly not necessary, but if you and your friends or family are big on social media, encouraging everyone to post with the hashtag will allow you to easily find the pics from the big day, and the events leading up to it. So how do you come up with a hashtag?

Start with your names, first or last. It might seem a bit basic, but some couples really have the PERFECT names to create a cute hashtag. If you’re a fan of a good pun, this is the perfect time to show off your skills! Try to think of wedding related words that rhyme with your first or last names, and see what you can come up with. When in doubt, you can keep it simple by using your names with the the date, to make sure it’s a unique hashtag.

If the hashtag is on the longer side, or maybe a bit confusing to the eye, capitalize the first letter of each word to help the eye read it easier. And finally, make sure to check that it hasn't been commonly used before, or definitely that there isn’t a potential alternate use for the hashtag. On to the last question we’ll cover today.

Where is the best place to host your website, and/or to get your checklist app for your planning?

While there are many of them out there, (including the planning tips we host on planningcollective.com), there are a few that are more “inclusive” than others. My favorite to recommend is Zola, as I feel like it has the best integrations for your website, so you can pull in your registry items, honeymoon funds, and many other components into your wedding website. You can also accept RSVPs via the site, and they have pretty comprehensive checklist apps to help you keep track of you planning tasks.

WeddingWire and The Knot also have great platforms, but Zola continues to be my number one. Now, why am I recommending other sites for these things when I just told you I have my own wedding planning resources? While the websites and checklists are very important components to planning your wedding, they lack the actual advise that you simply can’t get from a free site. This is where our Wedding Planning Blueprint Course comes in, as it dives into the information that I know you NEED to know about checking off those wedding planning tasks, not just a list of what you need to get done. You can find more information on what’s covered in the course at planningcollective.com/wpbcourse.

There you have it, my answers to 5 top wedding planning questions I see posted in forums! Do you have other questions you’d like to have answered? Head over to The Wedding Planning Collective Facebook Group and ask them there! Thank you, I’ll see you in the next post!