Wedding Planning for Beginners
How on earth do you plan a wedding? This is not something that you do every day. I went to the bookstore to find some help. Funny enough, there are tons of books written on this subject. It even has its own section in the bookstore. So, I dutifully looked through all of the wedding planning books and binders that were there. They came in all shapes, sizes and prices. I chose one that was a three ring binder style, figuring that I could add to it if I wanted to. It also had pockets on each divider tab so that I could tuck papers into and a business card holder in the front. It had budgeting spreadsheets and questions to ask each person you would be interviewing for your wedding. Sounded like all I would need. On my way out of the wedding section, I ran into a table display dedicated to wedding books. This was the first hint that weddings were BIG business. Fortunately for me, on this table, I found the book that has become my wedding planning bible. It was called Bridal Bargains.
This cover stated “Secrets to throwing a fantastic wedding on a realistic budget. The Book the Wedding Industry Does NOT Want You to Read!” Woo-hoo! That sounded right up my alley! Plus, the authors offered a money back guarantee. If you didn’t save at least $500 by using the techniques in their book, then they would refund the cost of the book to you. It sounded like a no lose proposition. I have saved far more than that using this book, let me tell you.
THINGS I LEARNED: There is no need to buy a pre-made wedding binder. You can make one yourself with stuff from an office supply store. You definitely need pockets to hold pictures that you rip out of magazines and a place to store business cards. Everything else, is optional. I have many friends who bought a special wedding book from a store who only filled out a few pages of it.