Cheatsheet for all future brides planning a wedding!

Getting married soon? Make sure you go through this list that I didn't have!

This is a time when you will be spending a lot of money at once and you want to make the most of it. Look for a credit card that offers miles or cashback so you can use them for your honeymoon or on new appliances for your house. TIP: Most American Express cards waive the first year fee for amex membership points or Aeroplan cards, which offer twice the miles on hotels and transportation on top of bonus signup miles. Click here to get started. Use these miles to get a free roundtrip (minus the taxes) for your honeymoon!

This is a handy way to estimate how many guests will attend so you may pick a suitable venue and table setup accordingly. It is also crucial to help get an out of town guests count so that you can prepare living arrangements such as reserving a block of rooms at a hotel. These blocks need to be reserved months in advance so don’t wait too long. You can assume that those who don’t respond are probably not coming to your wedding (Now you have more room to invite more people).

Even though you have that perfect venue in mind, you should still shop around and negotiate contracts to get the best bang for your buck! In almost all cases, if it’s at a hotel you can get them to include a suite for the married couple. Furthermore, if you have to book a block of rooms, you can try negotiating to have breakfast included in the rate or for a flat rate. Bonus tip: don’t forget to ask about cake cutting costs! (That totally threw me off!)

This will give you the flexibility to play with the head count depending on the venue and fill last minute cancellations.

If people can’t make it from your initial list A then you have time to go to your optional list B to invite those that you were not able to include on your first list. This allows you to invite last minute guests at not-so-last-minute so they feel privileged. This also gives you the chance to budget any money from cancellations that can be used towards adding more entertainment (like a photo booth) or more food.

If you are getting a cake, then assume that only 60% of your guests will have a slice. I ordered a cake for 90% of my guests and I ended up with 2 large sheets of cake to take home. (I’m still eating my wedding cake from my freezer a year later!)

In case your dress is not accurate to your size, you should allow 3 months to discuss alterations with your designer or look for an affordable alteration shop. Most alteration shops are busy during wedding season so you want to give them enough time to work on your dress. This also allows you to shop for matching jewelry or veil with your dress in hand.

I will take this opportunity to mention my website: GujaratiDresses.com for Indian Bridal dresses. We make quality hand embroidered designer replicas in 30 to 90 days to deliver depending on stock. We also bundle in free shipping and free stitching (because we know you’re on a budget)

I could have easily saved hundreds of dollars if I didn’t order chair covers that nobody really remembers. Once your guest sits on it, the chair cover isn’t even visible anymore. The same goes for fresh flowers. Try to avoid spending money on flower decor, as they can be very expensive. Instead, you can get for example, fake flower pomanders, or fake flower petals as table decor. If you really want real flowers consider getting from a grocery store or Costco.

I made a mistake of hiring a videographer who was new in the industry. He seemed very enthusiastic and promising since he had never done an Indian wedding beforehand and wanted to add it to his portfolio of work. I only found out later that the wedding events were confusing to him since he didn’t understand the culture. This resulted in a very awkward video edit. His delivery timelines were also way off because of his lack of experience. It was a painful process that lasted a year and I wouldn’t want anyone to go through it. 

Since memory is the only thing you will have after the wedding, make sure you invest in getting quality photos and video. Verify their portfolios and absolutely love their work before you hire them. 

I hope my past experience will help all future brides ! All the best ladies!