Planning a wedding — big or small — can become a daunting, stressful task. What’s supposed to be one of the most exciting and memorable days of your life turns into a collection of open tabs on your desktop, 300+ inspo images on Pinterest, and everyone from well-meaning loved ones to complete strangers offering their “crucial piece of advice.” Add in the additional nuances of hosting a destination wedding and you can get easily overwhelmed on your own.  Although there is ton of good articles, advice, and ideas out there, as planners with over 15 years experience in the industry, we’re here to help you make sense of it all!

Work Smarter, Not Harder

The ol’ adage strikes again, but rings true. A recent study by Wedding Wire found that “On average, couples spend nearly 2 hours a week planning their wedding and spend 80% of their time planning online. When looking at online planning behaviors based on time of day, mobile usage peaks from 9 PM – midnight after couples are home from work and often multi-tasking, though Sunday is also a popular planning day on mobile.”  That’s a lot of personal time spent on wedding planning — the time you need to relax, enjoy each other, and decompress from the work week, and doing those chores! Hiring a seasoned professional wedding planner really will cut down all of that time.  We’ve developed close relationships with the best in the business. We know the logistics [distance from venues to airports, transportation options for guests, legalities, and much much more] to get you the answers you need fast and in a reliable fashion.

Our Business is Organization

The most commonly searched terms online for newly engaged couples include “wedding checklist,” “how to plan a wedding,” “venues,” and “wedding planning / timeline.”  After you’re done sifting through every website, magazine, and blog’s piece of advice on how to get organized, you’re still a bit overwhelmed with which way to go. Spreadsheets or google? Hourly timeline or by the minute? Which vendors need a timeline? These check-lists all have different things they say you need! As seasoned planners, Waterlily Weddings has developed a successful method of organization to support you from the planning phase through every minute on the day of your wedding to keep everything organized and on track: contracts, deposits, who to hire, what payment is due next, who gets paid in cash versus overseas bank transfer, etc.  We also walk you through ever element of the day, from flowers to cake to making sure you have all of your accessories! Our Design and Style Brief is a comprehensive go-to document that breaks down your wedding day to the finest detail, giving you a cohesive glance into how your day will look and making sure all of your vendors are working in unison and that nothing gets forgotten on the day!

Venues:  don’t fall into the venue coordinator trap!!!

Some couples think they are saving a lot of money forgoing a wedding planner and working exclusively with the venue coordinator. Sometimes the venue will be cheeky and even call themselves “planner,” further muddying the waters on the huge difference between the two. Simply put:  a venue coordinator will only manage things having to do with your venue (food, chairs, etc.) whereas a wedding planner will manage everything having to do with your entire wedding (venue, photographer, flowers, making sure everyone arrives on time, contracts, and much more). As the date gets closer your vendors will all begin asking you questions on arrival time, where they can park, an restrictions they should be aware of, will they get fed — it can get overwhelming quickly and we have many clients who come to us desperate for someone to take it all over and make sense of it all.  A wedding planner will work together with your venue coordinator and the rest of your vendors as a team to make sure everything is taken care of, including those smaller details you didn’t even think of!

Apps & Websites: close but not quite

“10 Great Wedding Apps to help you plan your day!”  “The 25 best wedding websites and apps!”  Yes, 25 websites and apps to pour through and get even more suggestions and ideas to further drag you into the planning quagmire. At the end of the day, are they helpful? For some. Will they translate to a destination wedding? Maybe. Organizing and wedding planning apps are great to get the initial conversation between you both started but they won’t get you through the whole process painlessly.  They give you a glimpse into the territory, but many time end up confusing couples more than helping. Think of them like a syllabus for a class: a great outline, good information, some ideas and a good view of the trajectory your’e going in, but not a substitution for actually studying and getting to know the material.  At the end of the day, it’s worth it to reach out to the professionals to get the right information that’s most pertinent to your vision and tailored exactly to what your unique needs are.

Working together on an accurate budget

The same study on Wedding Wire found that “On average, couples underestimate their wedding ceremony and reception budget by nearly 45%.  Nearly 80% of couples set a rough budget prior to researching any vendors – often times under-estimating the cost of products and services.”  This is true for domestic and destination weddings alike.  A less stressful wedding begins with an accurate, realistic budget at the start of the planning process.  Once we have a good idea for the vision of your day, we can give you recommendations on vendors who can execute those details and give you a ballpark on how much they cost.  Maybe you love a particular florist but their travel fee is blowing your budget — we can recommend others who are equally talented and versed in your design who are closer or have a lower travel fee, for example. It’s those kind of nuances that only a seasoned planner will know that will help merge your vision for the day with a realistic budget that won’t stress you out! 

 

Want to know more on how we can help? Contact us today to get more details on our custom service packages, support, and sharing your vision for your dream destination wedding in Ireland! We can’t wait to help!