Photo: JWstudio
Owner of Weddings in Vieques, a destination-wedding planning company off the coast of Puerto Rico, Sandy Malone has helped countless couples plan their big day since 2007. Here, she reveals the wedding tasks couples always put off to the very last minute.
In more than seven years and almost 500 weddings planned, I've learned that all of my brides and grooms are different. However, the vast majority have one thing in common — they procrastinate about the same wedding-planning assignments. Not doing wedding homework makes the last couple months before the big day unnecessarily stressful and chaotic. Here, the five things that are nearly impossible for most brides and grooms to accomplish on time:
1. Choosing and ordering the wedding invitations
Etiquette permits you to mail the invitations as far as four months out for a home wedding, and a year beforehand for a destination wedding. Even though mailing them out at the earliest possible date gives you more budget planning time, some brides and grooms procrastinate until the RSVP date is bumping up against their deadline for turning in final headcounts and dinner orders.
2. Making the DJ playlist for ceremony and reception music
This is usually due a month or more ahead of the wedding to give the DJ time to make sure they have all the right versions of the songs you're requesting.
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3. Writing the wedding ceremony and vows
Unless you're getting married in a church where the order of ceremony is dictated by the prayer book, you have some decisions to make about what prayers, vows and blessings you want to be a part of your wedding.
4. Deciding who will give the toasts at the wedding reception
Usually, it's the best man, maid of honor, parents of the grooms, parents of the bride, and the bride and groom who make a toast — but some people feel like they have to include half the guest list and can't decide which half!
5. Making the place card chart and giving the dinner orders to the caterer
This is difficult to complete if you let the RSVPs go too late because all of a sudden you're trying to track down all the MIA's and at the same time you're attending bridal showers and bachelor parties.