wedding planning resources Archives

Jul

First Steps to Planning a Wedding

For couples who are planning a first wedding, on the surface, it always seems as if it’s just a matter of picking this and that, scheduling a few things and signing a contract or two. But when couples get about knee keep in the wedding planning process, many begin to feel overwhelmed, defeated and stressed out. Wedding planning is much more than picking colors, scheduling the caterer, and signing a venue contract. In order for your day to go as smoothly as possible, it needs to run with military precision. Before you dive headfirst into your wedding planning, take a second to read these very first steps to planning your wedding day. I think they’ll help.

Wedding Planning Step #1: Choose a Wedding Planner

Step one. Choose a wedding planner.

First mistake. Many couples think they can save money by not hiring a wedding planner, but the honest truth is that nine times out of 10, a wedding planner will not only save you money, they will also save you time. AND, they will make your actual wedding day much more enjoyable (and memorable) because they will be the one stressing out about all the minute details of your day while you freely celebrate your love. (What would you rather be the most memorable thing about your wedding day—how you had to look for your wedding bands for an hour-and-a-half before the ceremony, where the champagne flutes got misplaced, why Grandma Betsy was the last one to eat OR how your husband gazed straight into your heart during the first dance and whispered the most amazing love notes in your ear?)

But how does this added expense save you money exactly? By hiring a wedding expert right off the bat, they can lead you to reputable wedding vendors who will perform exactly as you need them to. You don’t have to waste time researching and interviewing possible candidates. A good wedding planner will already have knowledge of vendors’ styles and price ranges. They will have a library of vendors who are trustworthy. You minimize the chances of having to re-do or re-purchase things because you started out on a solid foundation.

First Steps to Planning a Wedding

Wedding Planning Step #2: Set a Rough Budget

Step two. You should have a general idea of your wedding budget. This doesn’t have to be an exact dollar amount, but you should know if your budget is closer to $15k or $125k. This will set the guidelines for everything that follows.

Planning Step #3: Create an Estimated Guest List

Step three. When asked, I like to advise my couples to use the tiers of wedding guest selection and the ABC’s. How does this work? Create three tiers: 1) immediate family and bridal party 2) anyone you can’t imagine celebrating without 3) all others. Include your ABCs in group 2. These are people that you usually share or celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, or Christmas (or other religious holidays) with. I would even go so far as creating a fourth group and putting everyone in there who you haven’t seen in the last five years (or whatever your personal threshold is.)

Make sure you get both mothers to help with this list, but remember you (the couple) have the final say—especially if you’re footing the bill.

Planning Step #4: Select Your Venue/Set Your Wedding Date

Step four. Now that you know what you can spend and how many people you need to accommodate, you can begin looking at wedding venues and simultaneously, set your wedding date. It’s a good idea to have a general idea of what you want your wedding day to look like or a wedding theme. For instance, if you’re envisioning a black tie affair with chandeliers and vaulted ballroom ceilings, there’s no sense in visiting rustic venues. A barn venue can certainly be transformed into just about anything your heart desires, but it’s going to cost you.

Planning Step #5: Hire Photographer/ Videographer

Step five. This is where I come in. Please book your photographer (and videographer) out early. First off, we generally book out a year in advance. So, if you have your heart set on someone, make sure you grab them up quick. Secondly, by having a long-term relationship with your wedding day creatives, it increases the chance that your actual wedding day photos are going to be that much more incredible because these are not just people showing up with cameras. These are friends. And you trust them. And you feel comfortable when they give direction and get in your personal space with your lover.

I have to add that these are not how couples usually do things. They usually don’t opt for that wedding planner (step one) and rush to the nearest bridal dress boutique to pick out a gown. They lust for all the fun, exciting parts of the wedding planning which, more often than not, causes headaches, stress, and the need to pivot down the line. And, here are some additional tips from Brides.com if you don’t want to take my word for it.

Do yourself a solid. Take your time and do things in a chronological order that makes sense. Work with professionals who won’t let you down. And love hard.

Let’s “hangout!” I wanna hear about your love story!

Schedule a virtual or in-person discovery meetup!
For more options, visit my “Let’s Connect” page.

About Ata-Girl

I am a San Antonio-based wedding photographer and I cater to outdoor-loving couples who prefer to have all the realness captured on their wedding days. I am the wedding photographer for the outdoor adventurers, the romantics, the laid back, the snugglers, and those who wish to capture all their realness.

I am absolutely in love with capturing the kinds of weddings where there are more hugs than handshakes, the dance floor rumbles all night long, and chairs are pretty much rendered useless after dinner. Whiskey bottles are passed around, most of the wedding party has been best-best friends since kindergarten, Grams is likely to lose her shoes and your partner is much more emotional than you are. These kinds of weddings are my jam!

You can always call or text, but if you really want to get to know me, schedule a meetup!

I started Ata-Girl Photography Co., LLC in 2010. I firmly believe that the unique set of circumstances I have faced in life has prepared me to take a personal and genuine interest in my photography clients. I enjoy documenting the important milestones and captivating moments in people’s lives. I love being a part of people’s journeys and consider myself privileged to document their legacies.

If you enjoyed this blog post and would like to get your hands on 20 FREE interactive wedding planning tools that every couple needs, please take a moment to access them here.

I am a published author (purchase my book here), a podcast host (listen here) (watch here) and a WPPI-C certified professional, full-time wedding photographer. I specialize in a 10-day image delivery, same-day prints, same-day slideshows, Italian handcrafted wedding albums and I have a mobile meeting space.

When I’m not behind my camera, you can find me hiking, cycling, backpacking, camping, enjoying water sports, listening to music (Elvis and Prince), hunting for arrowheads, reading audiobooks, occasionally eating a few glazed donuts (my only weakness to sweets) and then re-starting my keto diet about every 10 days. The most important things in life are for me to see my two daughters happy and to create a family history my grandparents and grandson would be proud of.

The post, The Very First Steps to Planning a Wedding, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

Dec

Predict Your Vendor Experience

Over two years ago, I delivered some tips about how you can better improve your odds at hiring trustworthy wedding pros for your big day and that blog post is still 100% on point today. But today, I want to dive in just a tad deeper and discuss ways in which you can actually predict your vendor experience you would have if you were to hire any given wedding or event professional.

The best part is that you don’t even have to be telepathic or rush out and buy a crystal ball to predict your vendor experience. (Truthfully though, where can I buy one?) You can totally predict the experience you would have with a vendor if you were to hire them simply by doing some very basic investigatory work. The clues are all there. You just have to look beyond the pretty pictures and slightly below the surface to see.

Predict Your Vendor Experience

Can you pick up the phone and call?

Is a phone number listed on the website, Instagram profile, Facebook page, etc?
Do you have to “schedule” a phone call?
Is your call answered?
Are you greeted professionally?
If the call is not answered, is the voicemail box full?
Is your phone call returned within a reasonable amount of time… say at least by the same time the next business day (preferably much sooner)?
Can you also text the number listed?

Guys, this is the age of the Gen Z’ers and everybody—including us—wants their personal space. But the truth of the matter is that we are running businesses. If I can’t pick up the phone and answer it when you show interest in including me on your special day, what message does that deliver? I have a personal policy to always answer the phone unless I’m with a client, with family, sleeping, or in the ladies’ room. Period. It’s that simple for me. Beyond those four things, you are my next priority. And in the event I can’t take your call, I return it the minute I am not with a client, with family, sleeping, or in the ladies’ room. My only rule is that you have to actually leave a voicemail. I’m not about to accidentally return a call to the guy checking on my car warranty.

If your voicemail or text goes unreturned… clue. Obnoxious, in your face, clue.

Is there a contact form or an email address?

Can you easily find a link to fill out a contact form or send an email?
Does the form ask all the pertinent questions without asking for too much information?
Is there a comment box for you to leave any information you feel is relevant that the form did not ask for?
Do you receive an automated reply to confirm your form was sent?
Lastly, do you receive a personal response within a reasonable amount of time?

You should be able to very easily find a way to contact every wedding vendor via some digital method—either a contact form or the old school way of just clicking on an email link. And this shouldn’t matter what platform you’re on—except for maybe Twitter, Pinterest, SnapChat. You should either have to click over to a web address and then access the form or email link or just ask for the best contact method.

If you’re filling out of form, I think there should be some sort of balance between getting enough information from you without asking you to write your entire life history for the last 11 generations. You should always receive a confirmation screen and/or email that your form was successfully sent. It’s always so creepy to me when I hit “submit” and nothing happens. I never know if I communicated with someone or not until three days later when I finally receive a response. By then, I may have forgotten what I wanted.

And again, this time I’m going to scream it, YOU SHOULD BE ANSWERED WITHIN A DAY. There are times when wedding professionals might be on vacation or working a destination wedding somewhere far away (you should definitely get an out-of-office reply in that case) or away from their desk for an entire 16-hour day, but if you’re not responded to within 24 hours… clue. Big fat hunk of a clue.

How are public conversations responded to?

Do Instagram and Facebook comments go ignored?
Are bad reviews argued and debated with or apologized for?
Are good reviews appreciated and properly thanked?
How does the vendor interact with other vendors?

All of a vendor’s public behavior is usually available for you to fully inspect. How a vendor behaves online is a very good indication of how they will engage with you. It will not only give you great insight into their professionalism, but it will also give you a clear indication of their personality, their work ethic, and their reputation and how well they are respected by peers in the industry.

When you see digital tracks that a vendor has misbehaved online… gigantic, in your face, clue.

So there you are. Three easy peasy ways to tell the future experience you will have with any wedding or event professional.

Don’t overlook any of these clues and then wonder why you received bad service, slow service, or no service at all.

Let’s “hangout!” I wanna hear about your love story!

Schedule a virtual or in-person discovery meetup!
For more options, visit my “Let’s Connect” page.

About Ata-Girl

You can always call or text, but if you really want to get to know me, schedule a meetup!

If you enjoyed this blog post and would like to get your hands on 20 FREE interactive wedding planning tools that every couple needs, please take a moment to access them here.

The post, Predicting Your Vendor Experience, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

May

Tips for the Best Man

I’ve written my 17 tips for the maid of honor, 16 tips for the bridesmaids and 16 tips for the groomsmen, now I give you my best tips for the best man!

Compared to the maid of honor, your job is simple really. Your two basic functions are to plan the bachelor party and make sure the groom has whatever he needs. In a nutshell, that’s it.

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Tips for the Best Man

Keep a clear line of communications open with all of the groomsmen and let them know all dates, times and locations for events that they are expected to be present at. This will include showers, fittings, rehearsals, etc.
Rally the guys together and organize a great wedding gift for the groom—something functional that he can use as a married man. You can gift this at any of the showers, the bachelor party, or wait until the actual wedding reception.
Help to arrange accommodations for all of the out-of-town groomsmen.
If your wedding day attire includes pocket squares or actual ties (not the clip-on variety), make sure you know how to complete this task prior to the wedding day. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen groomsmen scrambling for someone in the know on the wedding day. This is your chance to be a hero!
While we’re at it, learn how to put on your boutonniere too!
Be a great escort for the maid of honor and keep in mind that this doesn’t automatically qualify her as your date for the night.
Write a killer speech for the groom. Make it personal with real stories funny enough to make him laugh out loud yet not send his mom to the ladies’ room in embarrassment.
Dance with the groom’s mom!
Above all, remember to behave and do your best to keep the other groomsmen in line as well. Alcohol has a tendency to make people do crazy things.

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The post, Tips for the Best Man, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

May

Tips for the Maid of Honor

I’ve written my 16 tips for the bridesmaids and 16 tips for the groomsmen, now I give you my 17 best tips for the maid of honor!

Metaphorically speaking, if the bride is the quarterback, you are the center. You too must memorize all the plays and make sure they are carried out to perfection. And as the bride is planning to make that 99-yard touchdown pass, you are guarding her on your hand and knees from a three-point stance. You are the buffer zone, the shock absorber, the safety line and the free fall net. Your sole objective is to become her second right arm, supply a constant stream of positive support and shield her from as much stress, drama and circus-like behavior as possible. Planning a wedding is a HUGE endeavor and you are a crutch… a very important crutch. You are about to become her on-call counselor, her party-planning assistant, her shopping companion, her sounding board. Very likely, this will become your second full-time job.

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Tips for the Maid of Honor

Gather and absorb as much wedding information as you can. You should be able to field questions from guests right up to the wedding day. In fact, early on, word should be put out to come to you first. This will not only save the bride a lot of time (she’s busy doing other things), but relieve her of a lot of stress as well. Be available by phone, text, email, and in-person. If you do receive questions that you can’t answer, keep a running list and take them to the bride in batches—assuming they are not time sensitive.
You will be the central intelligence line to all the other bridesmaids and the best man/groomsmen.
Be available 24/7—especially to the bride. You will need to be open to listening to everyone’s concerns about the wedding. Be judgment-free.
Offer to go on any wedding appointments the bride may have such as dress shopping, cake tasting… especially cake tasting, venue scouting, flower selection, etc.
Attend all of the wedding events and encourage all of the bridesmaids to do the same. You were handpicked for this job for a reason. Don’t disappoint.
If you don’t know all of the bridesmaids, plan a fun activity where you can start to build a relationship. This will make the showers, bachelorette party and wedding day more relaxing if you have already have a friendly foundation.
Plan to do the same with the groomsmen. The better all the bridesmaids know the groomsmen, the better.
Stress to the other bridesmaids that you are second-in-command to the bride. This isn’t to be snippity, but rather to alleviate stress on the bride by having a chain of command.
If at any time you see drama brewing among the other bridesmaids, put a damper on it asap. Don’t participate in the drama and don’t take the drama to the bride. Just do your best to resolve the issue and bury it.
Set a budget for each event and expect a few incidentals. Things will get expensive… especially without a plan. Unless you plan to go broke, stick to your budget.
Plan the bachelorette party and take responsibility for this bash. Give all of the bridesmaids options about when, where and how much it will cost. Don’t assume everyone has the same budget to spend. If necessary, be prepared to cover some unexpected costs. Make sure to honor the bride’s wishes about what she wants/doesn’t want (ie. male dancers, alcohol, etc.).
Don’t be afraid to delegate. If you feel that your plate is becoming too full, enlist the help of the other bridesmaids. Ask for help when you need it.
Record the gifts at all the showers. As the bride (and groom) opens the gifts, write down who got her what to make ease of the thank you cards later.
Write an awesome speech for the toast. The earlier you start on this, the better. Include lots of history and personal antidotes. And practice, practice, practice. The last thing you want to do is choke on the wedding night.
Even in the darkest days of wedding planning, keep the bride laughing. When things are super stressful and undoubtedly overwhelming, find a way to make light of the situation and make the wedding planning as enjoyable as possible for the bride. Always remain enthusiastic and optimistic.
Assist with any post-wedding duties. Just because the wedding has come and gone doesn’t mean your job is over. Offer to clean up the reception decorations, sort through wedding gifts, babysit the dog during the honeymoon or write thank you notes.
Above all, remember the day is HER day!! Do whatever is necessary to keep the peace, avoid catastrophe and prevent anything with the even tiniest resemblance of a meltdown from happening. You can achieve this by smiling, being kind and giving, and adoring HER.

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The post, Tips for the Maid of Honor, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

Hi, I’m Tammy.
I'm a San Antonio-based wedding photographer for outdoor-loving couples who value real moments.

I am a San Antonio-based wedding photographer and I am absolutely in love with capturing the kinds of weddings where there are more hugs than handshakes, the dance floor rumbles all night long, and chairs are pretty much rendered useless after dinner. Whiskey bottles are passed around, most of the wedding party has been best-best friends since kindergarten, Grams is likely to lose her shoes and your partner is much more emotional than you are. These kinds of weddings are my jam!

Since 2010, I have excelled in helping each of my couples plan for one of the very best days of their lives! I’d love to share my very personalized wedding experience, my super-human organizational abilities, and my U. S. Army combat skills (when needed) with you too.

I want your wedding day to be as perfect as you do! I am all in with my whole heart!