When the wedding planner gets married | Part 3: Decor + Timeline
Part 3 of our “when the wedding planner gets married” series. Click here for Part 1: “The Preparations” and Part 2: “The Decisions”
DECOR + TIMELINE:
A reminder, I am the owner of a month-of wedding and event coordination company. Decor has never been our main thing. We make damn fine timelines. So we made a damn fine timeline and kept the decor simple. (referring back to one of our three chosen words from Part 1- #Intentional). We are plant people and I can’t name a flower, so we went with tropical plants! My husband makes neon signs so we knew we would have neon elements. And I hate silver. So it was gold everything for us. Beyond that, we kept it neutral and leaned into the beauty of the venue. We let our vendors guide us in their expertise and I love the way it turned out. I’ll let the photos speak.
THE DECOR
THE TIMELINE
Speaking of timeline… you want to see it? HERE it is! It was beautiful. It was flawless. It worked (for us and our crew).
Some details from our timeline -
We got ready offsite. It was just easier for our group to make a mess elsewhere. I have a sweet friend who loves to set-up tea parties so we did it at my mom’s house and she came and set up the whole spread the day before and it was magical.
I put my dress on with my mom and my maids of honor, not the whole crew. It allowed for extra getting ready time for the gals and a more casual getting ready time- No PJ shots for me!
We invited all guests onto the dance floor for a small dance set right after our first dance since we ended our first dance surprising everyone with Al the sax man! Al came out and jammed with us to our first song (Simply the Best) and then we invited everyone to join, we danced and then did the longest marriage dance which is always a favorite of mine (we brought them all on, and then smoothly melted all the guests off). It was *chef’s kiss*. You can see the joy of this transition on my face in all the photos. What a nerd!
While we did extended family photos during cocktail hour, we also budgeted some time for other group photos during dinner- those folks that were most likely at the same table and would be easier to grab that way.
A surprising fact, we planned on going to our cocktail hour, but just didn’t make it! We were just enjoying being married in the bridal suite for a bit.
While day-before events and day-after events aren’t everyone’s boat, it was super important to me that I had ample time saying hello to everyone, but wasn’t compressed to do so in a 5-hour reception window. With these two events on either side of our wedding (both super casual and our speed), Tom and I felt that we got to spend ample time with all of our guests.
Come back tomorrow for Part 4: The Ceremony
photos courtesy of Madi Flournoy Photography
Lauren Schaefer Goodner is the founder of The Get Together Events Co. your month-of wedding and events coordination company, offering affordable services and peace of mind to New York, Nashville, Chicago and beyond.
More about Month-of Coordination | More about Lauren | Hire The Get Together Events Co.