Friday Favorites | Wedding Planning Resources

I'm back from what seems like a really long break. Originally I was going to take a week off as I was super busy with work and could barely find time to think... that break turned into a few weeks when I experienced issues first with blogger and then with my domain... Today I am linking-up with Andrea, Erika, and Narci for another edition of Friday Favorites! I am going to be taking about my favorite wedding planning sites and tools. Two of my favorite people are engaged and I'm lucky to get to help them with planning!

Molly & Chris | Molly is my sister and one of my best friends. I am super excited for her and my future brother-in-law. Molly is in the beginning stages of planning since she just got engaged last month - but I am so excited to help her plan their big day!

Alisa & Chris | Alisa was my randomly assigned roommate my first year at Virginia Tech and years later she is one of my best friends! I am excited to stand up in her wedding on October 30, 2015 and have been helping her with wedding plans along the way. Stay tuned for posts this all about bridal showers, rehearsal dinners and weddings!

Now on to some of my favorite wedding planning sites and tools! I broke things down by the different parts of the wedding - Ceremony & Reception Décor | Invitations | Photography & Videography!

Inspiration Photos from Pinterest

ceremony | thank you | guest book | chair tie

Photos from my Wedding



Ceremony & Reception Décor | My number one go-to for wedding ceremony décor was Pinterest. There were dozens of things that I was interested in for the wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception décor and I feel like I did a pretty good job of making my vision a reality. With a little time and effort anything that you find on Pinterest can become a reality!

Invitations | There are many different routes that you can go in choosing your invitations. I would break invitations into three different categories - Custom | DIY | Assisted

Custom Invitations

For my wedding I went the route of custom invitations and worked with the awesome ladies at Rock Paper Scissors and had a great experience. In working with Dani and Heather I discovered that there are endless options with custom invites. Through the help of Page Stationery I was able to order awesome wedding invitations and custom welcome party invites that were originally stationery.

DIY Invitations

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There are plenty of options for DIY wedding invitations. A few of my favorite templates come from Etsy - where you can purchase the template, customize the wording, and print it on your own paper from any local office supply store. There are also quite a few beautiful DIY invitation options from places like Target, Michael's, and Office Depot.

Assisted Invitations

I chose to call this type of invitations assisted because they provide you the guidelines and sample wording and allow you to customize the invitations. In working with the print designers at companies like Minted, Wedding Paper Divas and Magnet Street you can turn their template into your perfect invitation.

Photography & Videography | One of the first steps I took in looking for a photographer and videographer was to ask my wedding venue for a list of preferred vendors. This was definitely a starting point for finding prospective photographers and videographers.

Photographers

I first spent time online looking at the work of the photographers on websites and blogs so that I was able to get a better idea of what I was looking for. I also referred to The Knot and Wedding Wire to find additional reviews. I was lucky to find a photographer that I loved - Bo at 33 Park Photography. In a strange turn of events I ended up having my wedding photographed by John Bracket of Brackett Photography and I was so happy with my photos!

Videographers

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In planning our wedding I had mixed feelings on hiring a videographer. While I knew I would want to be able to relive our wedding, I feel that many videos that I have seen from weddings are not worth the high price tag. I found Wedit while browsing Pinterest and thought it sounded interesting and the price was right. Luckily I have responsible family and friends that were able to film the ceremony, first dance, toast, etc. The rest of the videos are so much fun to watch because most people didn't even realize someone was recording them. I had a great experience with the editing of my video, and I love to look back on all of the footage from the 5 cameras that were passed around all weekend!

Maybe in my next life (or the next time we move) I will start planning weddings as a profession. Until then, I will help my family and friends to plan their weddings as it is something at I truly enjoy!