To Dos Before I Do Wedding Podcast

Today on the podcast, I’m giving you another segment of Five on Friday!  Today, I’m sharing my list of 5 bridesmaids pre-wedding duties.  So if you are engaged and you’re listening to this episode, feel free to pass this show along to your bridesmaids so they are prepped and know what their pre-wedding duties are!   Bridesmaids play a big role in a wedding. Selecting your closest friends or family members to be a part of your special day is a pretty big deal.  In my opinion, it is such an honor to be asked to be a part of someone’s bridal party because that means the bride truly values you and the friendship you share. It means they want you to play a part in one of the most special and memorable days of their life. Some bridesmaids assume their responsibilities only start the day before the wedding.  As a bridesmaid, you should take your role to heart once you’re asked to be a part of a bridal party and you should take your bridesmaids responsibilities

I mentioned in some previous episodes that I’m currently running a giveaway for my listeners!  If you submit a wedding question to me via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or my website, you are automatically entered in a drawing for a giveaway!  And from those submitted questions, if your question is selected to be featured in the Wedding Wednesday Q&A segment, you’ll not only get your question answered, but you’ll score a cool gift too!     So, thank you to those listeners who took the time to submit a question this past week.  I’m so excited to announce our first winner of the TO DOs BEFORE I DO giveaway is Tara H.  She asked me her question by sending me a Facebook message.   Tara’s question is:  My boyfriend of 10 yrs and I are on the verge of buying a house and we told ourselves that after a house comes marriage. A lot of our friends are getting married and it is getting us excited for when we get engaged. My question is, what can we d

Today on the podcast, I’m sharing my interview with Dana Goodson.  Dana is a successful and experienced wedding photographer in the North Florida area.  Dana has photographed over 100 weddings and Jeff and I actually had the pleasure of working with her during our wedding.  We hired Dana because we loved her style of photography, plus she has such a professional yet easy going personality and she is super talented.  Dana was such a delight to work with during our engagement shoot and our wedding day and I’m so honored to have her as a featured guest on the TO DOs BEFORE I DO Wedding Podcast.  Dana will be talking to you about wedding photographers.     Dana Goodson is such a talented photographer.  She frequently photographs weddings in the north Florida area like St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra, Jacksonville and Orlando but she is also available for destination weddings. Dana’s work has been featured on sites: Style Me Pretty, Every Last Detail, Engaged an

I’m so happy to share today’s Five on Friday list with you!  This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart and one of the main reasons why I wanted to start this podcast in the first place.  On today’s segment of Five on Friday, I’m going to share 5 ways you and your fiance can ensure that you truly enjoy your engagement.   A lot of times, couples can get so caught up in all of the details and timelines during the wedding planning process, that they get lost in the excitement and commotion of the planning and sometimes lose sight of the big picture. If you think about it, being engaged is most likely the shortest relationship stage you’ll ever experience; yet it is one of the most special. I wholeheartedly believe your engagement should be savored and enjoyed.  I hope that if you’re engaged and listening to this episode today, you find my Five on Friday list helpful.   Enjoy the moment of saying “Yes” Set your expectations, prioritie

Question: I’m getting married and working on my guest list. Should I give my single friends plus ones?   Giveaway Opportunity: To participate in the giveaway, if you submit a wedding question to me via my website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and your question is selected for my Wedding Wednesday Q&A, you’ll receive a small gift from me!  Sounds like a win win situation - not only do you get your question answered, but you’ll get a giveaway item too!  Who doesn’t love free stuff?!  

On today’s episode, I’m going to talk about hiring your wedding vendors.  I briefly touched on this topic in episode 17 where I covered the “I’m Engaged, Now What” series.  Because of how important your wedding vendors are, I’m going to go more in depth in this episode. Do your research by looking at their experience, their training and recent work. You can do this by checking out some of their online reviews on sites like WeddingWire.com and TheKnot.com.  Also, look at their business websites and blogs or portfolios.  Also, talk to past couples who have used the vendors to get their honest feedback. Here are some top reasons why wedding vendors are just so great! They are experienced and have seen it all and are used to the pressures of a wedding. They work for you so you can tell them exactly what to do and they’ll make it happen. Vendors are equipped with the necessary gear and are experts at using it. And the best feature about wedding vendors

Today’s Five on Friday is all about the grooms!  Sometimes when it comes to weddings, people always tend to gravitate and talk about the bride, which is completely natural.  Sometimes the men feel a little left out, but today, we’ll be showing the groom some love too.  In this episode, I’m sharing the top 5 things the grooms should know about wedding planning!   1. Get organized and stay on top of the big decisions and details 2. Watch your words! Sometimes, everything you say will be wrong 3. Get by with a little help from your friends 4. Practice makes perfect 5. Make sure neither of you forget why you're getting married

Question: What should I pack in my wedding overnight bag?

In this episode, I cover the third segment of the “I’m Engaged, Now What?” series.  This series has 15 steps and in this episode, I’ll cover steps 11-15.  In my previous episodes (episodes 002 and 005 of this podcast), I discussed the previous steps. 11. Select and send out your save the dates 12. Go wedding dress shopping 13. Insure your wedding ring 14. Research, meet and hire your wedding vendors 15. Get started on your wedding registry  

The cost of feeding your guests can and will quickly add up. Food and alcohol at your wedding reception can become the the greatest portion of your wedding budget.  And just like they are an important line item to look at in your budgeting spreadsheet, the food & beverage selections are a pretty big deal. Given the amount of money you will spend on this category alone, you should be concerned about the type, quantity and quality of what you and your guests will eat and drink.   So here are my 5 ways that you and your fiance can save money on your food and beverage at your wedding reception.     1. Stick with signature cocktails, instead of having a wide variety of top shelf liquor Since most reception sites charge for every bottle that is opened, even if it was for just one drink, you can consider offering a limited bar for your guests.  By scaling back on your options, this can help you cut down some costs and increase your savings!  I would recommend that you work with you

Question: How do I deal with guests who ask to bring their children even after we’ve already made it clear that it will be an adult only wedding and reception?

I’m sharing an interview I had with Kim Kirkley, a joyful Celebrant who is based in New York City.  As a joyful Celebrant, Kim shares her insight with you about wedding ceremonies and wedding officiants.   Declared “The Officiant” by New York Magazine, Kim has been featured by a multitude of media outlets including MSNBC, the New York Times and Four Weddings.  Kim is also a Nationally-Acclaimed wedding officiant/Life-Cycle Celebrant, TEDx Speaker, and author of 4 highly regarded books. On this episode, Kim answers questions about tailoring your ceremony to reflect you and your fiance’s relationship and what to look for when hiring your officiant. She also shares insight on what type of questions you should be asking your officiant and what couples can do to ensure to they don’t stress out when planning their wedding.     http://www.ourelegantceremony.com/   http://www.todosbeforeido.com/

We all know the world is overrun with technology, so why not use technology to your advantage when organizing and planning your wedding? So today’s Five on Friday, I’m going to share with you 5 free wedding apps you and your fiance can use to stay organized while planning for your big day.   Postablehttps://www.postable.com Postable makes pulling together a large group of addresses pretty painless. Postable will give you a link that you can email out to family and friends. People click it and add their contact information directly into your address book for you.   Avocado https://avocado.io/ It is a fun, private, and secure app for individual couples to stay connected.  The Avocado app offers a private chat setting for just you and your beau, which lets users send pictures, texts and videos in one secure place. It also allows users to share lists and calendars in one place.     Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/todosbeforeido/ Well, because who hasn’t heard of Pin

Question: I’ve already hired a great wedding photographer.  I’m struggling when figuring out if I want to hire a videographer too.  Wedding videographers are expensive and we didn’t originally budget for this expense. Is it worth it to hire a videographer to have professional video of my wedding?    www.TODOsBEFOREIDO.com   http://www.facebook.com/todosbeforeido   http://instagram.com/todosbeforeido/   http://www.twitter.com/todosbeforeido   http://www.pinterest.com/todosbeforeido/

You’ll receive direct insight from a wedding professional to help you decide if you need to hire a wedding planner or day of coordinator. I’m so honored to have a successful and experienced wedding planner on this episode of the the podcast.  Lauren Windham Cowgill is the owner of Windham Event Design (WED for short - which is the perfect name for a wedding planning company)! She’ll share with you her advice and insight on the planning process.  And also provide you with some insider scoop on being a wedding planner.  

On today’s Five on Friday, I’ll share 5 sites where you can purchase your dream gown or sell it!  I’ll be talking to you about the best places to buy a pre-owned wedding gown.     Tradesy https://www.tradesy.com/weddings/   Recycle your wedding http://ruffledblog.com/community/recycle-your-wedding.html   Pre Owned Wedding Dresses https://www.preownedweddingdresses.com/   Once Wed http://www.oncewed.com/used-wedding-dresses/   Nearly Newlywed http://www.nearlynewlywed.com/collections/dresses

Question: Am I supposed to bring a gift to an engagement party?  

This is a special episode of the TO DOs BEFORE I DO Wedding Podcast.  On this day (Feb 15 2015), my husband, Jeff and I are celebrating our one year wedding anniversary! Because we’re celebrating our anniversary, in this episode, you won’t just be hearing from me, but you’ll also be hearing from my husband, Jeff.  He shares the groom’s perspective on his to dos before he said I do. And we also share some tidbits on our to dos after we said I Do.  

On today’s “Five on Friday,” I wanted to stick with talking to you more about your bridal party.  Being a bridesmaid can be a big time and financial commitment. To show your girls how much they mean to you and how much you appreciate them, here are 5 ideas to help you pop the question to your bridesmaids:   Gathering at your house Make them a bridesmaid kit A picture frame Edible gifts Jewelry

Question: I’m thinking about having 8 bridesmaids on my side, but my fiance only wants 4 groomsmen.  Will it throw off the ceremony processional and bridal party pictures if it is uneven? Or should my fiance and I have the same number of bridesmaids and groomsmen?