When I first started dreaming about my wedding post-proposal, I was all over the place…I had a million ideas and no idea how to compile them or make them into a cohesive event. I was so overwhelmed with ideas…and this was before I had a pinterest account!…I can’t imagine narrowing down hundreds of pins into one wedding theme…or at least I can’t imagine doing that without a plan of action! And thats where this post comes in…maybe you’re a bride like I was who is swimming in tons and tons of ideas…or maybe you’re a bride who can’t figure out what you like! Either way I think you should create a Wedding Vision Summary, which I like to think of as a sort of mission statement…Let me explain…

A couple months into the planning process I bought a Martha Stewart wedding planning guide…there are a million wedding planning books out there and I’m sure most of them are great! I just chose the one I did because I love Martha and because it had a pretty coral/peach-y cover which happens to be my favorite color. In the front of the book it asks a few questions…I can’t remember exactly what they are and I can’t find my copy, since I still havnt unpacked all of our books at the new house…but I made up a list of a few questions that I thought would be helpful for brides to answer in order to help them compile their efforts and focus on the things that matter most to them in regards to their wedding. So if you’re a bride, fill in the answers and refer back to it as you go through the planning process! And hopefully it will help you stay on track, realize what you want to spend the most money on, and feel a little less overwhelmed!

Wedding Vision Summary

1. What’s your favorite color? If your favorite color changes often, look in your closet..what colors do you wear the most? If you pick colors that you’ve liked for a long time, you’re less likely to regret the wedding colors you choose!
2. What’s the one thing we want to remember about our wedding day?
3. What’s the one thing we want our guests to remember? (Is it the food? the music? the venue?)
4. What are three words that could describe how you want your wedding to look and feel… (classic? formal? intimate? relaxed? modern? rustic? vintage? )
5. What are the top three most important parts of your wedding to you? (a live band? a plated dinner? photography? the venue?)..chances are if you’re on a budget, then you’re going to have to make cuts somewhere…this will help you focus on the things that mean the most to you, while letting go of the things that are less important to you.
6. Pick five pictures that represent what you want your wedding to look like…these could be pictures of clothing, home decor, flowers, food…anything! But you can only pick FIVE. This way you’ll have a few pictures to inspire you to be creative within the scope of your theme…instead of feeling overwhelmed by the hundreds of pins on your Pinterest wedding board.

After you answer the questions try to compile them into a sentence or two so that you can more easily picture your vision and possibly come up with a theme!…It could be something like: “A pink and gold vintage garden themed wedding. I picture people dancing and I want them to remember that they had a good time, so I’m splurging on a live band and serving fun cocktails!” OR “A deep red and cream classy, elegant wedding at a winery overlooking the mountains. I want my guests to remember the food, so I’m splurging on a full dinner.”

Does that make sense? Once I had a cohesive theme in mind I was able to focus on putting effort into the things that really mattered to me! Hopefully this is helpful, and if you’re a bride and feeling stressed, don’t worry…it’s going to be the best day of your life no matter what happens because you get to marry your best friend!