The Organized Partner

Whether you are new to the engagement scene or been here for a while, Congratulations! Over the next 3 weeks you will find the most important steps to beginning your wedding planning in 2010.

Step 1 – Establish a budget This is one of the most important steps to beginning the planning process that many people overlook or don’t believe is important, but it is! Whether you are newly engaged or have been engaged for a while you will need to start here BEFORE talking to a venue or vendors.

• Determine who is contributing to the wedding budget. Will you and your fiance pay for the entire event or will you have funds from parents, grandparents, or savings?
• Have a conversation with all involved. Determine how much each person will contribute and put it down in an Excel sheet or deposit into a checking account just for wedding expenses.
• You don’t have to worry about how much things cost or detail each category at this point, just find out how much you have to spend.
• Remember, the sky is the limit when it comes to ideas, creativity, products, but your budget will determine what you can afford.
• Determine a couple of possible dates for your wedding.

Come back next week for STEP 2!

The Organized Partner – Jody VanBogelen www.theorganizedpartner.com 269.760.9991

Photographers are an important part of your wedding. They will be capturing “your story” to create memories of your once in a lifetime occasion for you and your families to enjoy forever.

When hiring a professional photographer or videographer remember that you are not just paying for a block of time on your wedding day but you are paying for the entire experience. They will be spending a great deal of time with you and your families. To do it right takes time,money,personality, a heart for what they do, education, and skill.
Professional photographers will often put in time for your engagement session, 10-12 hours on your wedding day, and then 20-40 hours on your albums and design. Remember, you get what you pay for!

Thinking about using a friend or family member to take your pictures to try and save money?
Here is testimony on my own wedding photography experience 25 years ago before I trained in planning weddings and knew better. Yes it was a while ago but the experience was one that lasts a lifetime!

My parents had a friend of the family that was a great nature photographer and insisted that we use him for our wedding. (We did not have a wedding planner to help us) Nice man, but very inexperienced at setting up formal shots, dealing with people, being able to capture the events as they were happening, or knowing how important they would be after the event was over. He took very few pictures at the ceremony and formal shots afterwards because he didn’t know how to make that happen in the time we had and he wanted to get to the reception. So we took a few family shots and we were on our way to the reception. The pictures were our gift from him so we didn’t want to cause any issues. We arrive at our reception and when he wasn’t visiting with the guests, he took a few photos of us dancing and opening some of our gifts. After the wedding, he insisted on sending the film to a developer in Florida instead of someone locally. (remember, this was when they used film). We never saw our pictures. The developer lost all of our rolls of film. We had nothing but a couple of slides that we eventually received. (one had a gift in front of our faces and another had no faces at all!)

Don’t let this happen to you! We had nothing for an album, nothing for a wall or picture frame, nothing to share with family or friends and nothing to pass down to our children.

So when you are looking for a photographer for your wedding day, hire a professional wedding photographer.

If you need more help with the planning process, contact the wedding planning professionals at The Organized Partner. We work with you to bring you the best professional vendors in all areas of planning that will satisfy you and your budget. 269.760.9991

Step 3 in Planning a wedding

Hire a wedding or event planner – they are not just for the rich & famous anymore.
(If you missed Steps 1 or 2 please review before proceeding to this step)

Did you know that planning a wedding takes just under 300 hours on average? It’s a full time job and will take all the time you have to plan it right! It’s about planning,timing,organizing,scheduling, knowing who to work with, dealing with stressful situations, and more during the planning process and on your wedding day! Who has the time or wants to add the stress of doing this all themselves with no experience?  If you are not located in the same area you would like to get married in it will bring even more challenges. There is so much information to decifer that it becomes very overwhelming for many brides trying to do it all themselves or with family that does not have the expertise in planning a wedding. Experience matters! Hiring a wedding planner is not just for the rich & famous anymore. That is a thing of the past. Now, almost EVERYONE can hire a wedding planner to help them plan their wedding and the events surrounding it! Experienced, full time wedding planners have all of the knowledge you need to take you through the entire process while making it less stressful and more enjoyable. They will pull everything together and show you how to save money and time in every area while still giving you the ability to make the final decisions.

There are many services planners have to offer. Full service, Wedding Day Management, Lake Michigan Destination Weddings, and more. They will be different from each planner so make sure you do a consultation to find out what service is best for you. Remember, planning is done differently in each area of the USA and even different areas of each state so the information in magazines and on the internet may not be accurate for your situation. Ask your planner for help.  If you are planning a wedding in Southwest Michigan or along our beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline, Call the professionals at The Organized Partner today for the answers you are looking for and the experience to back it up.

The Organized Partner, Jody VanBogelen
Over 20 years in planning- 269.760.9991

Newly engaged?, Been engaged for some time?, Don’t know where to start?

Whether you are new to the engagement scene or been here for a while you will find these 3 important steps to give you the boost you need to start your planning off right!

Come back each week to get these important steps as we reveal what brides need to know. This will give you time to work on each step before moving on to the next!

Step 1 – Establish a budget
This is one of the most important steps to beginning the planning process that many people overlook or don’t believe is important right away, but it is! No matter if you are newly engaged or have been engaged for a while and just need to get started you will need to start here. First, you need to determine who is contributing to the wedding budget. Will you and your fiance pay for the entire event or will you have funds from parents, grandparents, or investments?
Once this is determined you will need to sit down or at least have a “speaker phone” conversation with all who are involved. Determine how much each person will contribute and put it down in an Excel sheet or open a checking account just for wedding expenses. If you have an unlimited source of income for the wedding it is still important to determine how much you are willing to spend on your celebration! You don’t have to worry about how much things cost or detail each category at this point. Also, it is important to know that your budget may need to be flexible to an extent. This allows you to change your mind if you decide that those beautiful speciality linens are more important now then they were at the beginning or if you decide to purchase gifts for your attendants not included in the first budget. Decisions are made not by the people contributing the most amount of money to the event but should instead be decided by the bride & groom and their desires and priorities. Remember, the things you can do to make a wedding truly unique to you are plentiful but your budget will determine how far you can go!

-The Organized Partner – Jody VanBogelen
Over 20 years in planning – 269.760.9991

Look for the Grand Opening to our new Event Design Studio in 2010! We are very excited that we signed the lease for our new space today! Watch for more information coming in January 2010 or call for more information.
269.760.9991 or email: info@theorganizedpartner.com.