DIY weddings are the ones where professional planning and coordination would be the most helpful, and they are usually the ones where you are the least able to afford them. Trust me, I know. See, I thought I was a cool, laid-back DIY bride who wasn’t overly concerned about things going to plan. Or even having a plan. But it turns that for every DIY wedding miracle—like when you forget flowers but your best friend’s fiancé turns out to have worked as a florist and makes magic with grocery store flowers—there are at least three minor traumas that can make it difficult to enjoy or fondly remember your wedding. If you’re wondering, mine involved providing all the place settings (not a good idea), the fewest number of acceptable inches between tables, and what to do when 20 percent of your guests get stuck in traffic and are an hour late (still don’t know the answer to that one).
Y’all, affordable, professional help—particularly the kind that understands DIY weddings don’t always match up to the traditional checklists and timelines—is worth it. It’s also a service that’s been more or less nonexistent until now, which is why I am over the moon to introduce APW reader, professional wedding coordinator, and DIY wedding specialist Caitlin Frauton of DIY Wedding Mentor and her new wedding planning program, Feel the Wedding Day Love. Feel the Wedding Love is an affordable step-by-step online wedding planning program that shows you exactly how to pull all the details together (well in advance) and create a wedding day plan that will result in you getting to actually relax (yassss) and enjoy the day.
Caitlin’s DIY wedding story was not unlike my own, except that she came away from her wedding with a passion for supporting DIY couples in her home of Vermont, and a system that she teaches to couples across the country:
I know what it’s like to plan a wedding using a combo of APW and Google Search. Our wedding was beautiful. It was meaningful. It was homegrown and heartfelt. But, I’ll tell you, it wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t as relaxed (as I know now) as it could have been, which is why I have spent the last three years helping couples pull their online planning into airtight wedding day plans. And because my passion is for relaxed and meaningful weddings, you never have to explain to me why you’ve decided to use a food truck caterer and are DIY-ing your flowers and rocking an iPod. I totally get it and can help you simplify those things so they are as easy and enjoyable as possible for you and your guests.
When it comes to weddings, I believe in three things that I think most APWers probably do, too:
1. Getting married and throwing an awesomely fun wedding to celebrate is a basic right no matter your budget, sex, race, religion, or creed (so there’s no need to have a big fancy budget to have an amazing wedding).
2. Weddings are one of the very few times (and maybe the only time) you will have all the people you and your partner love in one place (so it’s important that you enjoy it as much as humanly possible).
3. Though the details can be fun and are necessary to consider at times, they should never get in the way of what’s most important about your wedding day—LOVE.My goal with Feel the Wedding Day Love isn’t to teach people how to become wedding coordinators (unless they really want to), but to show them how to think like a wedding coordinator so they can apply that perspective to their own wedding, and when they end the program, have an awesome wedding day plan that makes them totally psyched for their wedding day.
WHY AN ONLINE WEDDING PROGRAM:
You already know there’s a lot of free information about planning a wedding on the Internet. But relying on that info alone requires knowing what questions to ask in the first place. (See: distance between tables and what to do about late guests.) Caitlin likes to say wedding planning is like building a big beautiful brick house: The big decisions are the bricks, and the logistical details are filling in the mortar that holds the whole vision together. The second part is nuanced, different for every wedding, and takes experience in knowing what to look for, what questions to ask, and how to organize it all in a way that makes everyone’s lives easier. And that’s exactly where Feeling the Wedding Day Love comes in. Here’s how it’s different from other online wedding planning resources (and totally complementary to APW):
- There’s a real live person to provide personalized help and answer questions about your specific wedding, and there’s plenty of community for support. (No more blank stares from those friends that want to help but don’t really understand what it’s like to plan a DIY wedding.) Depending on the option you select, the program includes live wedding planning calls, email access to Caitlin for wedding planning questions, a private FB community, and if you want, a wedding planning buddy to team up with for an extra set of eyes on your plan. Plus, there’s even an option to include one-on-one coaching calls.
- You’ll get Caitlin’s exact wedding planning checklists, templates, and spreadsheets that she uses for every wedding. No need to reinvent the wedding planning wheel or jigsaw things into place. Just use the materials she’s already created, add your info, and send them off to your vendors and helpers.
- Feel the Wedding Day Love is a step-by-step system that focuses on pulling all the details together and organizing them in a way that ensures you have an airtight wedding day plan without anything falling through the cracks. Caitlin walks you through every step of the process of completing an actual Wedding Day Plan packet that you can give to your chosen point person and vendors. (She’ll tell you exactly what to do with it, too, so no worries about that either.)
WHAT’s INCLUDED:
Access to the step-by-step program to create your Wedding Day Plan starting February 13th:
Access to the Wedding Planning Resource Library, which has resources covering every stage of planning, including setting goals for your wedding, finding a venue, how to buy alcohol cheat sheets, a budget spreadsheet with the most common items people buy when planning a DIY wedding, seating charts, what to include on your wedding website, how to plan a rehearsal dinner, and getting people to RSVP:
PLUS:
• Access to seven past wedding planning webinars, with topics ranging from making and buying affordable decor to tips and tricks for having your wedding at a DIY venue.
• Wedding ceremony and rehearsal templates.
WHAT IT COSTS:
There are three different packages of Feel the Wedding Day Love available, with varying levels of hands-on support from Caitlin:
If you’re having a DIY wedding, chances are you have the kind of budget that doesn’t leave room for a professional planner or coordinator—or even this program. I feel you. But let me share a tiny slice of perspective from the other side: While I could never in a million years have found the $1,875 to $2,175 that coordinators like Caitlin charge IRL, if I had to do it over again, I would happily scrape together a few hundred for some expert guidance and professional hand-holding. It’s kind of like an insurance policy—after spending so much money and time pulling together this big event, it makes sense to invest a little bit more in confirming you’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s so you can sit back and actually enjoy your own wedding.
And Feel the Wedding Day Love has a 100% Happiness Guarantee, so if you use the system and do not feel like your wedding is happier because of it, you’ll be provided a complete refund. But I have a feeling you’ll be as pleased as APW reader Ciarra, who used it to help plan her own orchard/wine bar wedding…
So if you’re drowning in a hodgepodge of advice you’ve put together from books and the Internet or are second-guessing winging it without a plan, Feel the Wedding Day Love may be the answer to your prayers. Enrollment closes on February 12th at 11:59 PST, and the course officially starts on February 13th, but you’ll have lifetime access, so you can sign up no matter where you are in the wedding planning process. (The course is the perfect thing to work through if you’re in a wedding planning lull, feeling like you should be doing something but wondering what to do next.) Head on over to the Feel the Wedding Day Love website for more details or sign up for a free starter kit, The Wedding Day Kit. Because, seriously, DIY doesn’t have to mean do-it-all-alone-in-a-vacuum-and-never-ask-for-help—trust me, your wedding day self will thank you.
APW Readers get $20 off with code APW20, now through February 12, 2017 at 11:59 PST
