The Waters, Oshkosh WI

March 23, 2016

Amanda and Jordan's wedding at The Waters in Oshkosh was perfect! The weather was amazing and the setting was brilliant. (Hint: Brides- if your setting is amazing, you will not need much for décor and could be a money saver in the long run!) I loved what Amanda talks about here in her advice for wedding planning. I think there are two solid points here you should remember #1- keep it simple and #2 choose what's important to you as a couple, you will not make everyone happy. Thanks so much to Amanda for sharing!

1. What was your favorite memory from the wedding?
It is really hard to choose just one favorite moment, because there were so many. I think that overall, seeing our family and friends there to support us in our marriage was awesome and the best feeling. When our officiant had us turn around and look at everyone that was there for us...it was just really special.

2. What could you have done without?
There wasn't really anything we could have done without...at least not something that comes to mind.

3. What is your best advice for planning brides?
I think my best advice would be to not worry about the small things or the little things you cannot control. What I mean by this is that too many brides worry more about the superficial details that no one cares about. I definitely kept things simple and did not waste a ton of money on things that were not THAT important in my opinion. Also, I think to just not worry about what you cannot control-like the weather for example. It is hard not to think about, but it is also out of your control-so just go with whatever is handed to you that day.

4. Looking back, what was the MOST important?
To us, the most important thing was to have pictures done early, so we could mingle and converse with our guests. Pictures were very important to us, but the people and the memories we made together from that day were more important. I have been in weddings in which pictures consumed over 80% of the day and to me, that is just overkill. Also, it was important that we just had fun and enjoyed the day, which we definitely did :) Best day ever!

5. What did you plan/Book first? Dress, venue, Photographer ?
We booked our venue first, then photographer, We only had a 7 month engagement, so it was important to make sure we were able to get both the venue and photographer we wanted. It helped our wedding was on a Friday evening too! But, my advice would be venue and photographer as the two most important and first things to book.

Comment

1 Comment

Wedding Inspiration from Ashton

March 14, 2016

My girl Ashton planned a sweet soiree in only 6 months! She is uber resourceful and had amazing details at her wedding at The Lageret. I'm super happy to share her wedding inspiration with planning brides, she has a lot of really great points here especially how she felt about her ceremony, Pinterest, making it about you and not others and hiring a wedding coordinator like the sweet girls at Elevate Events!

1. What was your favorite memory from the wedding?
I think my favorite part of the day was our ceremony, which actually surprised me a lot. During all of our planning I wasn't very focused on the ceremony because I kind of figured it was just something we had to do to get to the party :) I also wasn't sure I was going to be comfortable being emotional in front of a big group of people, and I knew I was going to cry because I always cry. But I was really surprised how much the entire ceremony meant to me. From my dad walking me down the aisle to Josh's vows, there was so much emotion throughout the ceremony, it was far more special than I could have imagined. It made us realize how lucky we are not only to have each other, but to have the love and support from our family and friends. We also wrote our own ceremony and my cousin officiated it, so it was very personal to us, and I felt like it really represented us as a couple. I really just loved how relaxed but special it was to us.

2. What could you have done without?
I can't really think of anything. Throughout the entire wedding planning process we really tried to be thoughtful about our decisions and choose things that were important to us. We tried to make the wedding as personal to us as possible, and chose things to reflect this. I think it also really helped that we were working with a tighter timeline, 6 months, so there really wasn't a lot of time to over plan things.

3. What is your best advice for planning brides?
Don't let Pinterest get into your head! Don't get me wrong Pinterest is awesome to get inspiration and ideas from, I definitely used it during my planning process, but there is just so much out there. You can always find bigger and better ideas, or one more cute detail to add to your wedding. But I think spending too much time Pinteresting can give unrealistic expectations and make you feel overwhelmed. I think it is an awesome resource to use for inspiration, but knowing when to stop is an important thing.

I also think it's important to decide first what is important to you and your future husband and then plan your wedding around those things. Your wedding day should really be one of the happiest days of your life, and if you makes decisions and plans based on other peoples interests it's not going to be. Start your wedding planning by identifying what parts of they area the most important to you and start planning from there.

Last, I would say get a wedding planner, even if it is just for the day of. I initially had not planned on working with a wedding planner, I figured I could manage it all, but our venue required one. We worked with Elevate Events and they were absolutely awesome! I am a huge worrier, and they took all of the stress out of the wedding day. I did not worry about a single thing, and truly enjoyed the entire wedding day because of them. I even had a friend who had recently been married say she wished she would have had a wedding planner because she saw how beautiful and smoothly they made the day run. Definitely worth the investment in my opinion!

4. Looking back, what was the MOST important?
Keeping the day personal to us made it a truly special day. From my dad building our ceremony podium and all of the crates we used for decorations to our favors which were my dad's homemade maple syrup and my mom's jam we really tried to personalize as much as we could. We chose to do a dessert table with treats from our favorite local bakery. We chose my cousin to officiate our ceremony. We even had people take Polaroids with cutouts of our cat for our guest book! In the end the we felt like we had a wedding that was representative of who we are as a couple, and unique and special to use. We felt so much love and support from everyone, it was more than we could have ever asked for!

5. What did you plan/Book first? Dress, venue, Photographer ?
Our first choice was actually the venue. We had been engaged for about 6 months, but hadn't done any serious wedding planning (when you date for 12 years, there really isn't a big hurry to tie the knot :). I came across a picture of The Lageret on instagram, and fell in love immediately. I felt like it was the prefect mix of relaxed, rustic, and classy. I knew it would be the perfect place for our wedding. After we looked at it we were in love and because it wasn't open yet we were able to choose a date in 2015, which was already booked for every other venue. A close second to choosing the venue was choosing the photographer, and I actually started emailing before we even had a date set. I think I sent Dani an email that just said are you available anytime in September? Because we were one of the first weddings at The Lageret we got to be a little flexible with the date and chose it based on Dani's availability. Quickly after those two things I ordered a dress because 6 months is about as close as you can get and still have a dress arrive in time.

6. Anything you want to add!
Don't be afraid to ask for help! Your wedding vendors are professionals, and have so much experience. Don't be afraid to pick their brain even if it's not their area of expertise! And don't be afraid to delegate, I really felt like I wanted to be in control of every detail, even though my friends and family kept offering their help. The week before the wedding I ended up taking a lot of people up on their offers and my stress levels immediately dropped when I did!

1 Comment

Wedding Inspiration from Kara

March 7, 2016

Kara and Tyler are this amazing couple who moved to Wisconsin from Kansas City in the middle of their engagement, they planned a wedding in Wisconsin and invited their closest friends and family to enjoy their new home. Kara has amazing taste and put together a perfect wedding even with a last minute venue change to The lageret! What a resourceful bride! it worked like a charm. Major props to Kara and Tyler, I would take their wedding advice any day! Enjoy!

1. What was your favorite memory from the wedding?

Ah! This question is so hard because there were so many favorite memories shared, and so many captured throughout the day. But, one that stands out from the rest was the "first look" moment that Tyler and I had with one another. Leading up to the first look, the day was so hectic, with getting ready and getting everything in order before our guests arrived. But, the moment that I tapped Tyler's shoulder, and he turned around to see me for the first time that day, it was like time stood still, and everything stopped around us. It was finally just Tyler and me- and all that mattered was each other. We realized in that moment that it didn't matter if everything wasn't "perfect" like we had been planning for the past year, all that mattered was that we were going to get married. It was really special, and a moment I won't ever forget.

2. What could you have done without?

I agonized over all of the small details- like painstaking, agonizing - where I spent hours trying to make sure I found the right decor, like my lanterns. I searched high and low for the best-priced lanterns and other table decor, and even though I love my pictures with my lanterns, and table settings, it wouldn't have been the end of the world if we didn't have them, or if they would have been a little different.

3. What is your best advice for planning brides?

Sometimes paying a little bit more for the non-DIY is well worth the price tag. Some DIY is great! But, if you're going to DIY all of your wedding, make sure you plan well ahead and get all of your craft projects done at least a month before the wedding, otherwise, you'll be crafting the day before the rehearsal dinner and that's never fun :/

Also, do make sure you eat a SUBSTANTIAL lunch AND dinner!!! so you can still enjoy a drink or two without getting intoxicated too quickly after dinner

One more thing ;)

If you plan to have your wedding outside, definitely plan a "Plan B" well in advance of the wedding.

4. Looking back, what was the MOST important?

Enjoying your day. Take it all in. Trying to relax, and breath, without letting it fly by. It really goes by so quickly and it's easy to let the stress of the planning take away from the real meaning of the day, which is celebrating your love story and promise to each other with your friends and family!