A great resource for Planning a Wedding without a Planner

I cannot believe that 2025 has gone by SO fast!! It’s only like 2 months away from Christmas and New Years! And we are entering engagement season! For a lot of you, you’ve been anticipating getting engaged and planning your wedding! And I wanted to be the first to congratulate you!!! AND to help you plan ahead, so that creating your dream wedding is seamless, easy and stress-free!! That’s why I’ve created a Wedding Planning Guide with brides like you in mind! It’s a great time to grab this resource and just skim everything so you have an idea of what it takes to plan a wedding AND you have the guide right ready when you DO get engaged so you can start planning without a hitch!

Where to start with Wedding Planning

A lot of you wonder how to plan a wedding without a planner and I’m here to tell you that it’s totally do-able! As a Snohomish Wedding Planner myself, I have worked with many brides in all different stages of Wedding Planning. I’ve also worked with a lot of DIY brides as a Wedding Photographer AND I planned my own wedding, so I know exactly what resources you need to plan your wedding! My 60+ page Wedding Planning Guide breaks down every step of Wedding Planning for you so you don’t have to think about where to start or what to do next. A huge part of the stress that comes with planning a wedding is not knowing what to do or when to do it! So, my guide breaks down EXACTLY when to complete each wedding step and when to hire each wedding vendor! That way, you’re not totally overwhelmed all at once with the whole process of planning your wedding!

First up, your Wedding Budget

The very FIRST thing I always suggest to all my couples and the first section in my guide, is to start with your Wedding Budget! I know, I know, you just got engaged and you want to start with something fun and pretty! But chances are, you already have a whole Pinterest board FULL of Wedding Ideas for every detail, am I right? 😉 Starting with your budget allows you to narrow down your vision and ideas and will really help you to plan your wedding in a stress-free way! If you know how much you have to spend on each vendor, it is SO much easier to find wedding vendors that will be absolutely perfect for you! In my Wedding Planning Guide, I explain exactly how much of your overall budget you’ll want to spend on each vendor and I give you some free resources to help you create and organzine your wedding budget! You can also head to my ‘How to set up your Wedding Budget‘ blog for even more tips!

A look at my Wedding Planning Guide – Booking Vendors

This is undoubtably that MOST stressful part of planning your wedding! You really want to make sure that these vendors have your best interests at heart. That having them be a part of your wedding day will result in your happiness AND will create a day that more than anything feels like YOU! That’s why, in this guide, I breakdown booking your vendors into different timeframes while planning your wedding. Booking them all at once is extremely stressful and ultimately will not give you the time you need to be sure they are the right vendor for you. My suggestion is to book your Venue and Photographer/Videographer as close to a year out from your wedding as possible. These vendors are more likely to book out further in advance than other types of wedding vendors so booking them first should be at the top of your list! In this guide, I give you detailed steps for booking your Venue as well as a list of questions to ask your venue and photographer/videographer before booking them.

The next vendors you’ll want to book are your Officiant and Caterer/Bartender. The right officiant can really make your wedding ceremony special so meet with a few and find the one that feels like the best fit! Food and drink will likely be one of the biggest expenses for your wedding which is why you’ll want to book them about 6 months before your wedding. This gives you lots of time to taste test and tweak the food to exactly what you want. My Wedding Planning Guide gives you a step by step process to booking your Caterer.

Booking your Florist, DJ and Day of Coordinator are next! The reason I suggest waiting until about 4 months before your wedding to book these vendors is because you’ll need to have some of your other vendors and planning in place before you know what you’ll want from these vendors. Flowers go very closely with decorations so you’ll want to have a plan for that before you book your florist. And that’s why Decor is one of the first items to plan in this Wedding Planning Guide! I have step by step directions for exactly what to do to plan decor for your wedding! Once you know that, flowers will be easy! Hiring a Day of Coordinator will also require most, if not all of your wedding to be planned already. Wedding Coordinators will help with finalizing your Wedding Day Timeline and organizing the day of your wedding, but they don’t assist with much or any of the planning before the wedding. If you’re not sure if hiring a day of coordinator is right for you, read through ‘My top 3 reasons to hire a Wedding Coordinator‘.

The last vendors on your list to hire will be your cake artist, makeup artist or any specialty vendors like photo booths, bounce houses, etc. These types of vendors can often take more than one wedding per day so they don’t book up as quickly as other vendors.

Wedding Dress Shopping

My Wedding Planning Guide will tell you exactly when to start looking for your wedding dress and will give you tips for your 1st Bridal Appointment. Chances are, you’ve never tried on wedding dresses so this can feel scary, exciting, overwhelming and every other emotion! Having previously worked as a bridal consultant, I have insider knowledge on what will prepare you best for buying your wedding dress!

Scheduling your Engagement Session

As a Wedding Photographer for over 10 years, engagement sessions are something I’m very familiar with! This is likely to be one of the very first things you and your love do to plan your wedding! It’s the time that you get to celebrate being engaged and your first glimpse into working with wedding vendors! Most Wedding Photographers also offer an Engagement Session in their packages. And this is why you’ll be researching and hiring a photographer a year before your wedding. You’ll want to have your engagement session about 8 months before your wedding. This allows you time to send out Save the Dates if you’d like and to let your family and friends know that your wedding is coming! It will also allow you to see if the photographer you hired really is a good fit for you. It’s real life, first hand experience and is one of the few vendors you’ll get to experience working with before your wedding. Don’t skip an engagement session!!! This guide will give you great engagement session outfit tips as well!

Wedding Day Timeline

As a Snohomish Wedding Planner, this is something I am SO passionate about and have lots of experience with! And as someone who has never planned a wedding, you probably have no idea what a Wedding Day Timeline even is, and that’s totally okay!!! Basically, it’s just a schedule of your wedding day from start to finish! My ‘Day of Wedding Timeline Template and Tips‘ blog post is a great read if you want to learn more! My Wedding Planning Guide will also give you exactly what you need to plan your Wedding Day Timeline so your Wedding Day runs smoothly!

Why my Wedding Planning Guide is for you

Ultimately, if you decide not to hire a Wedding Planner or Coordinator, this guide will be your BEST FRIEND!!! It’s made for brides like you who are really trying to have a great wedding planning experience! Some brides really want to be involved in the details of planning their own wedding so they opt not to hire a Wedding Planner, or they’re just like me and have control issues. 🤪 Or they are really wanting to start their marriage out with no debt and are choosing to focus on areas they can save. This Wedding Planning Guide will really help you to plan your wedding in an organized, stress-free way so you can enjoy your wedding day! Along with the tips and resources above, this guide also includes tips for Wedding Party Attire, Creating a Wedding Website, Compiling your Guest list, Sending out Invitations, Dress and Tux Alterations, a Wedding Tasks Checklist, a Sample Photo Shot List and lots of workbook pages so you can keep everything organized in one place!

AND because it’s engagement season, I am offering my Wedding Planning Guide for 30% off right now! That makes this guide a STEAL!!! Especially if you are trying to save money by planning yourself! Use code ENGAGE to grab this great deal! Get the guide here!

And of course, if you’d rather hire a professional, I am more than happy to help! I let my brides be as involved as they’d like through the planning process and I really collaborate with you to create your dream wedding! If this sounds like a good fit for you, reach out here!