Digital Sounds
Let the Wedding Planning Begin!
A Guide to the first steps in wedding planning, from Digital Sounds Entertainment Professionals; providing DJ services for the best wedding receptions in Burlington and Central North Carolina area.

Next to the birth of a child, your wedding day should be the most joyous moment of your adult life. Of course, there are some tasks and decisions along the path to the altar.

Where should you begin?

First, adopt a positive attitude. There will be some work, some difficult decisions, and some moments of frustration. Overall, however, the planning process will be as enjoyable as you decide to make it. Call upon friends and family for support and assistance, and work with them in your wedding planning adventure.

At the start, you'll need to make the "big three" wedding decisions:

The date you choose may be influenced by some real-world considerations. For example, the facilities and professionals you want for your wedding may book-up a year or more in advance. It's worth a few phone calls to see if your dream wedding is possible on your first date selection.

If not, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to shift your plans to the year 2001. Often, you'll find that professionals aren't as busy on Sundays as on Saturdays. If your religion allows for a Sunday wedding, both service availability and pricing tend to improve.

In years past, June was the busiest month for wedding professionals. Perhaps to avoid the spring rush, many couples are now opting for autumn weddings. This trend has caused September and October to become as busy-or even busier-for top-tier wedding professionals. Again, it's important to check with reliable professionals to see if your first-choice date is realistic, or if too many other couples share your good idea.

Defining an available date becomes more important if your wedding will be very formal; less so for more casual weddings. But even if you opt for a backyard barbecue reception instead of a plush banquet hall, you'll still depend upon good professionals to support your celebration. Even for less elaborate affairs, service availability may influence the timing.

Consider, also, the many calendar dates that could affect your guests' ability to attend. Close proximity to a Holiday can have both positive and negative influences; three-day weekends allow more travel time for out-of town guests, but can reduce attendance if many of your guests made other plans. Local events, such as fairs, festivals, sporting events, conventions, and political functions can rob hotel space and complicate travel. Your local tourism council may be able to offer insight on which dates to avoid.

Here again, however, a more pragmatic issue enters the picture; cost. Simple weddings can be planned for a few thousand dollars, with formal weddings costing as much as ten times as much. It's a good idea to meet with both families to define expectations and set a budget for the wedding.

There are hundreds of exact-dollar answers to that question available from popular wedding resources. Those answers, however, range from $5,000 to $25,000... A rather significant difference!

The decisions you make will determine the actual cost of your wedding. There are many areas in which you can trim your budget, and you'll hear a lot of cost-saving ideas.

When economizing, be sure you're comparing apples to apples. It's never a good idea to save pennies to hire mediocre professionals. This day is important, and you only get to do it once.

Below, we've listed some of the common cost items associated with weddings, along with some ballpark pricetags. Actual costs can vary significantly, but the estimates may be useful as a starting point.

This is where you have the opportunity to express your personality. You'll choose colors, styles, sounds and themes, and weave them together into a unique wedding celebration.

Of course, some of your decisions, including food, beverages and entertainment, require that you balance your preferences with your guests' enjoyment. The celebration is a shared experience, and you're placing orders for everyone that you invite to your table.

Because you'll face many decisions and options, it's a good idea to organize information into a three-ring binder from the outset. Put the checklist up front to track progress, and add tabs for each of the cost items above. Use the binder to store the information you receive from vendors, the contracts you sign, and the due dates for any responses you need to make. An hour of up-front organization will save many more hours later.

Each of your wedding professionals can offer valuable suggestions and ideas. Along with your family and friends' input, you'll find vendor advice a gold mine for your planning decisions. Although there are excellent books and magazines on wedding planning, actually discussing your vision with an experienced professional can produce "real world" solutions and ideas tailored specifically for you.

You always have veto power, but you can safely trust a lot of the planning details to competent professionals. This not only saves time for you, it usually produces the best end result. Good wedding vendors have played key roles in many successful weddings.

Along the path to your wedding day, it's common to envision exactly how everything will look, flow and feel. You want it to be perfect, and a lot of people will work with you to achieve your vision.

Accept the occasional bumps in the road as part of the adventure, let unimportant issues fall to the side, and enjoy the scenery.

So, you're getting married?

Best wishes!

DJ - Keith Henderson
Burlington, North Carolina
Phone (336) 229-1182
e-mail address: KeithTheDJ@bellsouth.net