We are very excited to bring you a Guest Blog from one of our previous Brides, Kelly Doss from Kelly Doss Events. Read below how she went from planning her own wedding to planning for a living.
I’ve always heard people say how stressful it is to plan a wedding so, as it came time for me to plan my own wedding, my goal was to make sure that stress was not part of the equation. I’ve always dreamt of becoming a wedding planner since I was a little girl and after planning my own wedding, I finally felt confident enough in myself to go for it. Because of my personal experience, I wanted to help other brides to be successful, stress-free and give them a unique experience that differs from your typical planner. I have expanded my resources to allow my brides to create unique and personalized items for their wedding and I also opened an Etsy store to share some of those ideas with others.
Here are a few things that I learned from planning my own wedding that I think every bride should know. First and foremost, try your best not to stress. This is a happy and exciting time that you hopefully will only go through once and you should enjoy every second of it. It is essential to give yourself time to pay for your wedding. If you’re only giving yourself 6 months until your wedding date versus a year or more, you are creating more of a financial burden on yourself. Planning far in advance gives you ample time to make payments towards those bigger expenses such as your venue. You can make monthly payments that work with your budget and have everything paid off by the day of your wedding which I highly encourage because the last thing you should do is start your life together in debt.
Second, I am a firm believer in doing your research. Don’t just go for the person who sells their business the best because that’s exactly what they are trained to do. 
Go for the person who you connect with and feel that you can trust. Read their reviews, check out their social media pages and make sure that their style matches what you are looking for. If you find a negative review, ask them about it. They should be open and honest with you. However, it is important to remember that everyone in this industry starts from the bottom and are bound to make mistakes in the beginning but make sure that they learned from it and came up with a solution to prevent it from happening again. Finally, communication is key! If you are having difficulty with simply setting up an appointment with a vendor or they take forever to respond to you, this is not a good sign. You need to make sure that you feel comfortable with your vendor and that you can rely on them. Meeting face to face is an absolute must whenever possible. This will give you the best sense of what to expect and if they are truly invested in your day like you are.
My final pieces of advice that I am firm on are setting your budget, sticking to it and limiting your guest list. The number one problem that will destroy your budget is your guest count. Make sure to really sit down and evaluate your guest list together and be very clear on your budget limitations. Follow these steps and you are sure to have success and less stress! Happy Planning!
XOXO,
Kelly Doss
Images by http://www.scribbledmomentsphotography.com
