I am not planning on getting married for at least 2 years yet. But I think I should probably start planning so I make sure I am able to have enough time to get everything I want/need. Would it be a good idea to hire a wedding planner? What do they do for the most part? Do they listen to what you want or just do their own thing?

My fiance & I got engaged on Sept. 5th 2007 & started planning our wedding a few weeks later. So we were a year and 8 months out. We did everything ourselves.. and trust me you will have time to do it. We started by interviewing and meeting with vendors.. and this way you are not rushed and can take your time. Once you have your vendors down.. and the sites you are pretty much set for awhile. And usually the place where you are having the wedding/reception will have a wedding coordinator and that person will help with things. They will get everything going on that day so you don’t have to worry about much. I know at our reception site the wedding coordinator helps with decorations and everything. These people make needing a wedding planner obsolete.

Not to mention the fact you can go to www.theknot.com and click on local resources.. pick your region.. and it lists just about everything you will need! That’s where we found many of our vendors.

Also, your wedding/reception site should have a list of preferred vendors as well.

But I really don’t think you need a wedding planner. It’s cheaper to do it on your own and you can do it the way you want. 🙂 good luck! And good for you for being an early planner.. it makes things A LOT easier & usually they will give you the current year’s pricing since you are booking early.

I want "your" opinions! If you were to go to a wedding planner for help coordinating your wedding, what are the 3 most important things you would expect her to do? Also, what would be the 3 worst things that she could do while coordinating your wedding, and last but not least, what would be unprofessional like of her to do while planning your wedding? (I have a dream to be a wedding planner-and open my own business, and want to be the best that there is! Trying to get input from real people, not just textbooks!)

the 3 most important things
-ask me before making final decisions
-make things happen ( or force them 🙂 )
-stay inside my budget

the 3 worst things
-not have things handled prior to the day of the wedding
-not making sure things move smoothly
-giving me excusses instead of solutions

Learn how to make a wedding planner checklist so you can keep your big day on track.

Duration : 0:1:38

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I am no baker so chocolate cake ideas would be great and how do I use the fondant just to cover and maybe some cut outs to add to the sides of the cake, any advice would help! I really want it to come out beautiful so any tips would be great. I forgot to say my wedding planner hasnt used it befor either!

Fondant can be extremely hard to work with. Unless you have some practice its hard to cover a cake and smooth out the ruffles in time before the fondant sets so to speak and becomes hard.

If you have your heart set on working with it call around to a local cake decorator and see if they would be willing to give you a demo. Or if you have access to a culinary school ask the pastry instructor if they or someone else can give you pointers.

I have had some experience with fondant, and know that it requires some finesse to work with the stuff. It requires a lot of patience and quick, gentle handling in order to smooth it out onto a cake.

If you work with it and find that its too frustrating, what you could do is ask a local culinary school (if you have access to one) if they have any students who would be interested in helping you with this. Sometimes there might be aspiring pastry/cake decorators who have had more experience with the stuff and might be able to help you out.
Good luck!

The first few steps to planning a wedding are to establish a budget, find a location and set the date. Start interviewing vendors for photography, catering and music with advice from a professional event coordinator in this free video on wedding planning.

Expert: Courtney Arnold
Contact: www.stellareventsnc.com
Bio: Courtney Arnold is the owner of Stellar Events and is a professional planner with eight years in the industry.
Filmmaker: Rendered Communications

Duration : 0:4:28

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