TheGoodWedding

Top 5 List: How to Save on Your Wedding

jana — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:50:23 +0000

A wedding photographer is going to be a significant expense at your wedding no matter what. Getting a good one is more than worth it as the pictures will last long after the wedding cake is eaten and the reception guests have left. Still, there are some smart ways to decrease the financial onus that many brides feel when consulting with the photographer. Here are 5 of the best ways to save:

Tip 5: Skip the engagement photos.
Some photographers offer engagement photos for free if you buy their services. If you can bargain with them, tell them that you want to skip the engagement photos and just get the wedding photos instead at a discount.

Tip 4: Keep it short.
Only hire the wedding photographer for the ceremony, for a few formal family shots and the first hour or so of the reception. For more coverage of the reception, just have your friends take pictures with disposable cameras. It will save you a lot of money and you’ll get a great mix of professional and impromptu shots.

Tip 3: Research, research, research.
When you meet the right photographer, you’ll know. But to get to that meeting you’ll have to do a lot of research first. Luckily TheGoodWedding.com makes it much simpler to find a qualified wedding photographer within your taste and budget, but you should still meet with at least 3 to 4 before you make a decision. Find someone you’re comfortable with, like their past work and is willing to give you their total package cost up-front, so you’re not surprised after the reception.

Tip 2: Skip the album services.
Leather albums are pricey and pretty outdated at this point. Just skip ordering the album, get the digital copies of your photos (see #1 below) and make your own albums online. This way you save money now and have the option to make different albums down the line as your tastes change. You’re not stuck with the one and only option you choose today. Much less stressful and one less wedding planning decision to make. Win-win.

Tip 1: Go digital (No prints!)
Digital photography is less costly than film, and with technological advances in equipment digital images are no longer a sacrifice in quality. Actually, many digital photographs look better than film. With digital, you can get the original files and keep them on your computer forever. They’ll never fade or rip. You can re-touch or re-print them any way you like as many times as you like. Even better, for digital photographs you don’t have to pay sales tax! In California, this is a sizeable savings.

For a full step-by-step guide on wedding savings, please read our blog series:
How to Plan (and save on) your Wedding in 5 steps

Plan a good wedding. Start a good life.
This post was written by TheGoodWedding.com | Los Angeles Wedding Planning Directory

Top 5 List: How to Save on Your Wedding

jana — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:04:10 +0000

Your wedding reception is by far your biggest wedding expense and will largely decide your final budget. Luckily, there are ways to save some big bucks on your LA wedding reception with just a few simple tips. Here are the best ways to save:

Tip 5: Trim your guest list.
Most venues charge per guest for everything (the reception rental, food, drinks, etc). So every additional person you invite costs you exponentially more. Trimming the guest list can save you anywhere from $50 – $200+ per person. So just ask yourself “Do I like this person enough to buy them a $100 dinner?” and that should help you trim the list down quickly!

Tip 4: Have your Ceremony and Reception at the same place.
This is a must. First it will cut out transportation costs of getting you, your family and guests from the ceremony to the reception. Second, the day will flow much better without a two hour motor transition. Finally, you’ll save a lot with the venue if you book a whole wedding package instead of booking a la carte.

Tip 3: Choose a beautiful venue that is its own decoration.
Decorations and rentals are an expensive and unnecessary part of your wedding budget. If you choose a reception with its own ambiance, like a golf country club, a yacht, a vineyard or any of our stunning venues recommended on our LA wedding venues directory, most can stand on their own without additional ornamentation. You will save both money and preparation time by cutting out this step.

Tip 2: Research for online discounts.
Sometimes, a venue will have a discount that can only be found on their Twitter feed, their Facebook page or on their website. First Google the venue name and the word “discounts” to see what they offer online. Then follow up with a call to their event manager and tell them you found their venue on TheGoodWedding.com and what the best deals are now GoodWedding brides. If you have any questions or problems, please email us and we’d be happy to contact the venue for you.

Tip 1: Prioritize.
What’s more important to you: the location, the guest list or the date? Each of these will be a compromise for your budget. The nicer the location, the bigger the guest list and the more competitive the date the more you’ll spend. But the more flexible you can be, the more you’ll save. Pick a less expensive but more inclusive location, cut down your guest list and pick an off-season, non weekend date.

For a full step-by-step guide on wedding savings, please read our blog series:
How to Plan (and save on) your Wedding in 5 steps

Plan a good wedding. Start a good life.
This post was written by TheGoodWedding.com | Los Angeles Wedding Planning Directory

PERFECT MUSIC FOR WEDDING

jana — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:53:30 +0000

Multiple Bands available: Classical Strings, Swing Orchestras, Bluegrass and Foldk, Classical and Latin Guitarists, Solo Violin Performers

ACE OF HEARTS

jana — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:50:43 +0000

Tremendous Variety, both in instrumental and bands. Soloists, Duets and Trios with any instrumental combination or Jazz, Swing and Rock Bands are available

FAQ: Vendor Pricing

jana — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:08:33 +0000

Q: What do your vendor prices mean?

A: If you try to research any wedding vendors online, you are quickly faced with the reality that there is little (or no) pricing information for most vendors. Even when you call the vendors directly, most will be vague about pricing. They will ultimately all say the same thing “It depends. Every wedding is different”. And they’re not lying to you. I’m sure they’ve serviced a wide range of weddings with equally diverse budgets.

But all of us brides-to-be really want to know is one thing: “Please just give me a ballpark! Where do your rates start and whats the average wedding cost?” And that’s exactly the question we try to answer for you. Our prices are either :

The starting price: If you see just one number, this is the least expensive option or package this vendor has available.
Average price range: If you see two numbers, this is the price range for the vendor’s average wedding.

This was the best way of showing you at least some pricing ballparks you could use to actually compare vendors. But please note, if you’re at all interested in a vendor, it is definitely in your best interest to call them. Their pricing could be different for your particular date or they might have current specials (mention that you saw them on TheGoodWedding.com and ask for their “best available rate”. They’ll help you out.)

Q: How accurate is the pricing you have listed?

A: We continually strive to update our pricing information based on what the vendors tell us and any feedback we get from former brides. However, pricing will vary greatly based on your wedding planning specifics. For example: Is your date in June or December? Is your wedding on a Tuesday or a Saturday? Some miscellenous factors could impact you as well: the vendor could have just received a cancellation for your specific date and is willing to give you a discount. We cant say this enough, please browse our Vendor Directory to pick your favorite vendors, but when you decide a vendor is interesting, call them directly for the most current information.

For a complete guide to what you should consider and how to save when booking your wedding, please read our blog series post: How To Plan A Wedding

Plan a good wedding. Start a good life.
This post was written by TheGoodWedding.com | Los Angeles Wedding Planning Directory

FAQ: Vendor Listings

jana — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:24:28 +0000

Q: What do you mean by the “top 5″ listings? How do you select them?

A: While in large metro areas, like Los Angeles, there are thousands of “qualified” wedding vendors our mission is two-fold:

Provide a variety of vendors while still keeping the overall choice set manageable (max 5 vendors per category)
List vendors that were “top” in terms of value.

What does that mean for you? It means that each of our categories lists 5 vendors that have slightly different offerings, while still within the same category and budget. So if you’re looking for a Golf or Country Club venue, and you have a Moderate Budget, you would be completely covered if you just checked out the 5 vendors we recommend under “Golf & Country Club -> Moderate Budget” in our directory. We think those 5 vendors will give you enough of a variety to make a good decision without having to call the other 300 golf courses in the LA area. Further, we think they provide a great value per dollar spent. No you’re not going to get the same grand wedding at the Budget place for $5,000 that you would at an Exclusive venue for $20,000. We all know that. But for the money, each place will give you a good return in terms of customer service and the finally wedding day experience.

Q: Why don’t you have user reviews for your vendor listings?

A: Today’s internet seems to be filled with anonymous reviews and comments on just about everything and we are fighting this trend for many good reasons. First, and most importantly, the core mission of our site is to condense information for the consumer and be as simple to use as possible. We save you time by summarizing the most relevant information you need to know to make your decision. If we opened up everything to comments and reviews we’d be no better than the mega-directories where you’d have to scour hundreds of reviews and try to make out whats true and what’s not. And honestly, how could you tell? On TheGoodWedding.com, we are your trusted filter for information. That’s the core of the service we want to provide.

That brings us to our second reason, which begs the question “How helpful are anonymous reviews anyway?”. It turns out that anonymous internet reviews are severely tainted or even blatantly fraudulent. Many studies have shown that one is more likely to write a review if they had a negative experience, so that would mean that a very good business would be unfairly represented as the few bad experiences would be overrepresented (and please understand that every business on the planet will at some point have one unhappy customer). Further, competitors have been known to “anonymously” write negative reviews and even go so far as to hire online freelancers to write hundreds of negative reviews for as little as $5 (this New York Times article was enough to close our thoughts on the subject).

Finally, its unfortunate but inevitable, that any site open to reviews and comments by users will be hit by an exorbitant amount of SPAM. We actually tried it as a test and within one day 99% of the comments we received were automated SPAM messages. Clearly this isn’t good for anyone.

Plan a good wedding. Start a good life.
This post was written by TheGoodWedding.com | Los Angeles Wedding Planning Directory

How To Plan A Wedding: Step 5

jana — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:56:10 +0000

In summary, this series has covered:

Step 1: Breakdown of typical wedding costs by budget and vendor

Step 2: How to save on big budget categories

Step 3: How to save on (or eliminate!) small budget categories

Step 4: Finalize your budget and planning (in detail)

And now our final word of advice:

Step 5: Outsource Outsource Outsource!

We’ll keep this post short and sweet, especially since we know the first four steps were tough and you’ve been a trooper taking it all in.

Outsource Outsource Outsource!
We hope that our series has helped you organize your budget and find the perfect LA Wedding Vendor. So after all that work and money spent on hiring the right help (we say this with love) please sit back and let them do their job. This might be the single most sanity saving tip a bride can give a bride-to-be.

There are just too many details and if you let yourself get involved in everything, you’ll burn out in no time. And if you constantly feel like you need to control everything just ask yourself one question:

Do I trust the people I hired (florists, caterers, wedding planners, reception coordinators, etc) to do their job well?

If the answer is no, then hire new people immediately. If the answer is yes, then SIT BACK AND LET THEM DO THEIR JOB. It really doesn’t have to be hard and you should never feel guilty if you outsource outsource outsource!

Plan a good wedding. Start a good life.
This post was written by TheGoodWedding.com | Los Angeles Wedding Planning Directory

How To Plan A Wedding: Step 4

jana — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:53:11 +0000

In Step 1 of this series we got the “big picture” view of a typical wedding budget and the breakdown of that budget into the usual categories of spending.

Step 1: Breakdown of typical wedding costs by budget and vendor

Then in Step 2 we realized that two categories of spending, the reception and the wedding attire, account for almost half of the wedding budget. We went over how to save on both of those categories in great detail.

Step 2: How to save on big budget categories

In step 3, we trimmed or eliminated many of the small budget items that just aren’t necessary with good planning.

Step 3: How to save on (or eliminate!) small budget categories

And now we are ready to get to the specifics of your budget. Numbers and all!

Finalize Your Wedding Budget And Planning (In Detail)

The previous 3 Steps in this “How to Plan A Wedding” series were undoubtedly educational and certainly necessary in order to understand the entire wedding planning process, but surely you’re left wondering “Where do I start?” and “How do I keep track of all of this stuff?”. Well, this section is for you.

First, download our Complete Wedding Planner and Checklist. (We’ll wait a minute right here)

In the download you’ll receive two files: a PDF and an Excel file. Please open the Excel file first. Here you will see two tabs: the Timeline and the Complete Planner.

1) Timeline
The Timeline schedule is exactly as it sounds. It’s a 12 month, step-by-step guideline for what plans should be made when so you don’t have to stress with multiple to-do lists, it’s all in one place, in chronological order. The instructions are in column Q (for Questions) and they’re fairly simple:

Insert your name and your groom’s name
Insert your wedding date (all the scheduling dates will automatically update)
Finally, starting from left to right, go down each column and find the check-boxes for that period. Check the box when you’ve done that task and move on to the next item in that column, making sure you’re on track to make your due date for each item (highlighted in grey on top of the chart)

Again, the Timeline is your very first step every day to see what tasks you should be working on and which tasks you can comfortably not think about till further down the line.

2) Complete Planner
As much as the Timeline is the indispensable first step in organization, the Complete Planner is where everything else happens. And we mean everything!

Set Your Budget
Yup, it’s that time. To actually write down your starting wedding budget. We say starting because we are sure this number will change, either up or down, but it will change. In the real world nothing ever comes in on budget, weddings are no exception. So input your total wedding budget on the very top box next to “TOTAL WEDDING BUDGET” label.

Keep Track of Each Budget Sub-Category
Now after you enter your total budget, a little excel magic happens, and what you’ll see below is that each wedding budget section is listed with “typical” percentages of the total budget and then a total dollar value of how much they’ll cost you. So if you enter in $30,000 for your total budget, you’ll see that the Reception is traditionally 35% of the total cost so your reception budget is $10,500.

Note that the budget sections are organized from highest to lowest percentage of budget cost, so the Reception, at 35% of total budget, is first and then Transportation,at 2% (or 0 if you followed Step 3!) is last. We ordered it in this fashion so you could prioritize where to save and what to book first. Again, the Reception is the most important and the other things fall in line depending on that decision.

Keep Track of Vendors and Item Costs
So as the timeline gives you “to do” items, go to the appropriate category on the Complete Planner sheet and each category, browse our LA Wedding Vendor Directory, write down all vendors you’re considering and track your communication with them right here on the Complete Planner. There are convenient columns for contact person you spoke with, price quoted and follow up items as well as the date you agreed to follow up, so nothing slips through the cracks.

Every item and vendor you need for the wedding should be listed in the items column. If it isn’t, add new items in the “Other” section. Also, when you’re completely done booking a service or buying and item just check the “Done?” box on the far left so you can easily keep track of what’s completed and what’s next.

Summary
So now we have all of the following information organized in one place thanks to TheGoodWedding Complete Wedding Planner:

A total wedding budget (on top)
All typical wedding costs organized by category and line item (left column labels)
Line item costs, budgted and actual (middle two columns of numbers)
All vendor pricing and contact information (far right columns)

Please note that a summary of these instructions is also in column Q (for questions).

3) Wedding Binder
Now open up the PDF file that came in your download packet and print it. What you’ll see is a simple table of contents and section dividers that cover all of the budget categories we listed in the Complete Planner. No, this isn’t a coincidence, it just so happens that as much as we’d like to try you simply cant eliminate all paper from the wedding planning process. So please hole punch these sheets and put in a new 3 ring binder.

In addition to keeping track of vendor information and contact history on the Complete Planner, you can also find the vendor in our LA Wedding Vendor Directory, and click the “Print” button. This will print a full sheet for your binder with all the information you need for that vendor: their listing summary as well as a grid for contact history and a lot of space for your hand written notes. This is a backup for those times you’re not near your computer but have an idea or talk to the vendor, just jot down your thoughts right here and nothing will get lost or forgotten.

Also, the binder and its convenient categories will come in useful for many other things like ripped out magazine articles you liked, the initial price quotes from multiple vendors and eventually the final contracts you signed with each vendor.

Wedding Planning Summary
There you have it, our signature 3 step wedding planning tool kit:

1) Timeline: For scheduling
2) Complete Planner: For budgeting, item cost and vendor options tracking
3) Wedding Binder: For paperwork

So if you haven’t yet, download our Complete Wedding Planner and Checklist! You have nothing to lose and only time and money to save.

If you like our Wedding Planner Download, please tell your friends and don’t forget to mention it to our listed vendors. They love to know that we’re helping make your experience with them even better!

Plan a good wedding. Start a good life.
This post was written by TheGoodWedding.com | Los Angeles Wedding Planning Directory

How To Plan A Wedding: Step 3

jana — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:50:08 +0000

In Part 1 of this series we got the “Big Picture” view of a typical wedding budget and the breakdown of that budget into the usual categories of spending. If you didn’t catch that post please do so now:

Step 1: Breakdown of typical wedding costs by budget and vendor

Then in Part 2 we realized that two categories of spending, the reception and the wedding attire, account for almost half of the wedding budget. We went over how to save on both of those categories in great detail.

Step 2a: How to save on big budget categories (Wedding Reception)

Step 2b: How to save on big budget categories (Wedding Attire)

Now we concentrate on the other 65% of the budget which is spread across “little” things that just add up so quickly.

Typical Budget Categories You Should Trim
Good news. If you followed our reception guidelines in Part 2 you already did most of this work! So here is a quick recap of categories we trimmed (or eliminated) by combining them into the reception:

Expense % of Total Budget New % of Budget

Ceremony
Decorations
Rental Items
Transportation
Total

5%
3%
3%
2%
13%

3%
1%
1%
0%
5%

The ceremony, decorations and rental items we bundled into the reception venue package deal and the transportation need was completely eliminated by having the ceremony at the reception site.

On a typical $35,000 wedding budget, that means you’ve saved 8%, or $2,800 in addition to the $3,500 save on the reception in part 2.

Just to assure you, we are not double counting the savings. In Part 2, the 10% savings on the reception we counted all the other factors not including these four categories listed here. For example, scheduling your wedding off season, on a non-Saturday, trimming the guest list and booking a package deal etc.

Typical Budget Categories You Should Eliminate
But wait. There’s more cutting. In addition to the budget problems some good venue planning can solve, you can (and should) eliminate these too:

Expense % of Total Budget New % of Budget

Stationary
Parties
Gifts
Total

4%
4%
3%
11%

0%
0%
0%
0%

Stationary
Send beautiful invites online. Yes. Save trees. Save the environment. Save your friends from having to throw out your hard earned, expensive invitations. It is the 21st century and we no longer need calligraphy or stone etchings to communicate. There are beautiful online invitation services that keep track of your wedding list RSVPs as well, saving you precious time and money. You can send us an electronic thank you note for that advice. To make sure this article isn’t dated, the newest and most popular services will be listed in Google if you search “online wedding invitations”.

Parties
Don’t have them.

Gifts
Don’t need them.

If you need more convincing, we just ask you this: How many wedding favors did you keep? And how many more showers do you really want to go to?

Total Small Item Savings: 19% of Your Budget
If you follow the rules in this section, you can trim 8% of the budget and eliminate another 11% for a total fo 19% savings. On the average $35,000 budget we just saved another $6,650.

Wedding Savings Summary
Here is how we have transformed the “typical” wedding budget in just 3 short steps:

Expense % of Total Budget New % of Budget

Reception
Wedding Attire
Photographer
Flowers
Music
Videographer
Ceremony
Stationary
Parties
Miscellaneous
Gifts
Decorations
Rental Items
Bakery
Transportation
Total

35%
10%
9%
6%
5%
5%
5%
4%
4%
4%
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%
100%

25%
2%
9%
6%
5%
5%
3%
–
–
4%
–
1%
1%
2%
–
63%

Total Wedding Savings: 37% of Original Budget
In conclusion, we have cut the typical $35,000 budget to just $22,050 while still throwing a grand bash!

Have we earned your interest? Well it only gets better because we can actually help you execute this budget with our Free Complete Wedding Planner strategy and tools!

Please continue on to the next post: Step 4: Finalize your budget (in detail)

Plan a good wedding. Start a good life.
This post was written by TheGoodWedding.com | Los Angeles Wedding Planning Directory

How To Plan A Wedding: Step 2b

jana — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:10:06 +0000

How To Save On Your Wedding Dress And Attire

Why Is The Wedding Dress NOT So Important?
Unless you’re a celebrity, a socialite or a reality TV star, no one cares (or will even know) how much your bridal gown cost or who designed it. If you are one of those people, we are flattered you are reading our blog and we encourage you to spend an outrageous amount of money so we can all talk about it. However, if you aren’t on that list than our rule is simple:

Do Not Spend More Than $500 On Your Wedding Dress!

Yes. We said $500. One of our staffers got an online special for $109 of a dress that was originally $1,200. So if you’re paying full price, you’re just not trying.

Buy Cheap, Spend On Alterations
The most important thing about a dress is that it fits well. It should both fit well visually as well as comfortably. Your wedding day is a long day. A very long day. And if your dress is heavy (because you have five pounds of beaded crystals on it) or too tight (because that corset really makes you look two pounds thinner) it will be one of the most uncomfortable days of your life and is that really how you want to remember your wedding day?

So buy something simple and classic (because in 10 years you don’t want to think how dated your wedding pictures are). Make sure the material and cut are flattering and comfortable and then get a tailor to just nip and tuck a few spots. You’ll be amazed at what a difference that makes.

How To Skimp On The Dress

Shop Designer And Sample Sales

We don’t recommend it, but if you have to have a designer label then please go to a department store sale or a designer’s sample sales (Though you might get hurt at Vera Wang given the crowds). Even better, keep checking any online specials they may have. As you’ll hear us repeat, online is the best way to shop for almost anything. You just can’t beat the amount of information and selection you can go through in a much shorter time online versus live shopping.

Consider Renting A Dress

Again, we don’t recommend this as the best option (since you cant alter the dress), but it’s certainly better than buying an expensive dress, so if you have to go big, rent and don’t buy. Just Google “rent a wedding dress” for the latest deals.

Online Sales

Our best advice is to check reasonable label websites. For example, J. Crew has a great wedding line. We still think their retail prices are too much but their clearance prices can be amazing buys. And no, you don’t have to try on the dress first. They don’t even have to have your exact size. Buy something a little bigger than you usually wear and have it altered to fit you perfectly. Ta da! You’ll have a million dollar dress for $200 bucks.

Note that the “save on a dress” section was much shorter than the “save on the reception” section because, as we have tried to drill in to you, the reception is much more important (both monetarily and for your enjoyment). You’ll forget about the dress the minute you put it on (unless it’s uncomfortable of course). The best that dress can do for you is get out of your way of enjoying your wedding day.

So with our budget in mind, we have full faith that you are more than capable of shopping for your own clothes at this point in life. Go on. Have fun with it!

How To Skimp On Menswear
Ok. We can’t really help you here. Renting a nice tux shouldn’t cost more than $100 and we just think that’s as good of a deal as it gets.

So if you follow our guidelines instead of spending 10% of your budget, $3,500 for the average wedding budget we are using, you’ll only spend about $700-800 (with accessories). A $2,700 (or 8%) savings.

Total Dress and Attire Savings: 8% of Your Budget

Wedding Savings Summary (So Far)
Here is how we have transformed the “typical” wedding budget in just 2 steps:

Expense % of Total Budget New % of Budget

Reception
Wedding Attire
Total

35%
10%
45%

25%
2%
27%

Wedding Savings (So Far): 18% of Original Budget

For more brutal truths on how to plan a real wedding, please continue on to the next post:
Step 3: How to save on (or eliminate!) small budget categories

Plan a good wedding. Start a good life.
This post was written by TheGoodWedding.com | Los Angeles Wedding Planning Directory