Yes, like any other little girl, I dreamed of having a fairy tale wedding of my own someday. Influenced by Disney movies, dramas and series, I've saved a lot of ideas. I've also bookmarked a number of inspirations and tips from the internet and from past weddings I've attended even way before I got into a relationship.
Finally, my hubby popped the question last Dec 2018, but we started to officially plan around February 2019. All these ideas suddenly occupied my thoughts. The mix of emotions, excitement, anxiety and nervousness to put them all into action started to surface. The difference was, I was no longer a little girl. Reality was stronger than dreams this time. So, I had to take a step back, put a pause on all the fairy tale visions, talk to my then-fiancé and consider his side of preferences, and pull out a spreadsheet! Coz, there ain't no other fairy godmothers but us, and to be able to make all our dreams come true, we had to have a fully-charged wand -- budget IRL.
We finally came up and agreed to an overall budget. We also clarified with both sides of the family that we will be shouldering all expenses ourselves, so most, if not all, of the planning and details will purely be in our control. Coming from Chinese background families, this was a big thing. Usually, Chinese parents and relatives join in the planning and at times, they dictate the big stuff, like the date, the venue, number of guests, and the food. For our case, we just had our date checked for auspiciousness (Feb. 8, 2020), then the rest is up to us! It was liberating, and at the same time we felt blessed, grateful and lucky to have this once-in-a-lifetime moment exactly the way we both wanted. It was important to have this clarified before anything else, because if they happen to be the meddling type, at least we could compromise and include them in the planning in the first place, rather then having difficult discussions, plans changed and money wasted while the planning is ongoing.
So, what's next? Allocation. We had to know which ones were our priorities and the non-negotiables. Priorities are the major suppliers like ceremony and reception venue and food. We talked about having a beach destination wedding even before we got engaged. It was our mutual dream. We wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and have a fun and chill wedding together with our close relatives and friends. We preferred just one location and supplier for the ceremony, reception and food. So, we researched and benchmarked on potential beach resort locations and noted the price ranges. Prices differ greatly in the cities compared to beach resorts or tourist destinations. There are also certain extra fees for destination weddings like food, logistics, accommodation, transportation and out of town fees for suppliers. We had to know if our budget was capable of shouldering all these expenses and still have remaining left to spend for other suppliers. We planted our feet firmly to the ground, keeping reality in check before we get too carried away with our dreams and ending up falling in disappointment and heartbreak. Thankfully, we found out from our research on locations & prices that we can handle it! That's one big check on the list, and one big happy sigh of relief from our chests.
Non-negotiables are our highly favored suppliers. Even before getting engaged, we do have our dream suppliers that we just can't imagine our wedding without them! Examples were my gown designer, wedding rings and our P/V team. (More details about them in the next chapters!) These 3 teams were more expensive than the average suppliers and they did eat up a chunk of our budget, but we knew & prepared early on about their pricing and we were aware how they can affect our expenses with considering for other needed suppliers. Without second thoughts, we jotted their prices in our allocation plan. After all, what's a dream wedding without our dream suppliers? For other categories like styling, HMUA, etc., we were game in adjusting and settling for any supplier that can satisfy us within the remaining budget. We splurged on some, scrimped on others. That's how we constructed our budget allocation plan. There really is no "right" or "standard" plan especially for people like us who want to consider and check every detail. It all boils down to each of our own unique preferences, priorities and budget that make up our dream wedding, be it just a simple elopement between two lovers, or as grand as having 500 guests in a lavish hotel.
Captured by Mayad Studios
Now what? Since we are all beginners in weddings, with most of us getting married for the first and last time, of course I had zero experience in this, not to mention we were attempting for a destination wedding which is thrice the planning difficulty. No matter how skilled we were in research, I believed we still needed an expert helping hand to guide us along the way, making sure we did not miss anything, which lead to our next adventure: the wedding coordinator hunt!
Chapter 1: Creating Our Budget Allocation Plan
Days to go: 11 months
Wedding Planning Progress: 5%
Wedding Planning Team:
1. Bride & Groom
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