Any tips for wedding planning from far away?

My fiance and I live in Alaska and we are getting married next fall in North Dakota. We don't have a lot of money to make frequent trips back to plan things so we will be doing most of the planning through phone, mail, email, etc. We want to have a nice wedding without having to spend a ton. Any suggestions on not getting ripped off since we may have to book certain things like reception hall/ dj / flowers etc without the benefit of sitting down face to face with the respective business owners????





Also, any tips on centerpieces/decorations??? We don't want a bunch of stuff that we will have to find storage for or have to try to bring back on the plane with us.

Any tips for wedding planning from far away?
#1 the internet


#2- call! never book anything without SPEAKING to someone first. a great website doesn't mean great product.


#3 Ask for actual references. then actually call these former clients for their opinion and thoughts.


#4 centerpieces can be done through the florist. you can also do rentals through most florist which means you can rent centerpieces as well. no storage. no fuss. (we rented candle lanterns surrounded by flowers in our wedding colors).


#5 hopefully you have someone in the area in case of emergency. a good friend you can call to go look at something or meet w/ someone on your behalf. also- this will help to be able to ship things to his/her address instead. you don't want to cart boxes of favors w/ you on the plane.


#6 get there early. save up now and get to the location about 2 weeks ahead of time. this can prevent disasters. you can clean up any last minute messes and do all the other things like tie ribbon around favors and perfect your seating chart out there.





Good Luck!!!
Reply:I have to ask, what is in North Dakota? Because if it's your family or his family, then you should try to enlist their help. You can do almost all the research online, finding vendors and talking price and everything. But if you trust the judgement of someone who lives there, it will be invaluable to have them able to go look at more pictures or whatnot.





It helps to study up on certain terms. The easiest example is before you book a photographer, be sure you know what photojournalist style is versus traditional versus candids. That kind of thing will help both you and the vendor be clear on the phone.





Also, if you do get to make trips back, I would schedule a ton in one day. I was only about an hour away from my wedding site but I didn't like making the trip - so we'd have really long days when we were there, but it was totally worth it.





As for centerpieces and decorations, you could always do flowers, which generally the florist keeps the containers and disposes of the flowers themselves. You could also do your own centerpieces and give them as gifts to certain people afterwards. One of my friends once had really nice candle centerpieces that she gave to the bridesmaids as gifts after the wedding.





Good luck!
Reply:Here are a few wedding planning websites that you may want to check out:





http://www.weddingsoft.com/download.asp


http://www.theknot.com/pl_main.html


http://www.weddingplanningwiz.com/0chapt...





Also, I am a Personal Bridal Buyer and an authorized rep for various companies. This means that I am able to offer discounts off of the suggested retail prices for numerous items such as invitations, gowns, accessories, gifts, etc. Feel free to visit my site for more information on my available services.





Good luck!
Reply:Hire a wedding planner. They usually save you more money that their fee is just by getting you what you want and not the run around. You can contact a destination wedding professional. There are only a handful that will travel but it will save you tons in the long run.


Good luck and blessings on your marriage.
Reply:The best thing to do is try to research EVERYTHING on the internet. If the business owners don't have a web site then ask them to mail or e-mail you pictures of the location and a price sheet. If you feel like someone is trying to rip you off then get a friend to call and act like they actually live where you are having your wedding.... If you find flaws, report them to the Better Business Bureau. I live in Alabama and I am getting married in Tennessee. I did everything online and I also hired a wedding coordinator. GOOD LUCK!
Reply:Las Vegas- Little White Wedding Chapel - Save the money for your honeymoon and house. Think about it.
Reply:Hey!!


I live in Washington and I got married last year in Southern California. I went through the exact same thing so here are some tips on how to do it online: EVERYTHING CAN BE DONE ONLINE!


I never once flew back to CA to prepare for the wedding until my a few days before my actual wedding day!


When you are contacting a wedding vendor, let them know that you live in a different state and thus will not be able to meet them. Most vendors will be undertanding and they will be willing to conduct business by e-mails and phone calls. So as not to get ripped off ask them to send you pictures of their services (besides what they have online on their website). For example...the manager at my reception site (a kayaking club) took some digital photos of the room where I was holding the reception. I wanted to see what the room looked like in the "raw" and without special lighting nad decorations. Also...involve some family members or friends who live back home to help you out. Even though I chose my wedding cake bakery online, I wanted to make sure her cakes tasted good so I asked my father-in-law to go try out her cakes. He was only to happy to eat cakes and he helped me narrow down the choices (my cake ended up being delicious!!!). Also....stay away from websites such as the Knot and wedding channel. They are great to give you ideas and help you give visuals of things you don't and don't want...but they are a rip off!!!! You can find much cheaper wedding products such as favors in other less known websites. For example...I purchased my wedding favors at:


www.99centfavors.com.





Many vendors will send you cut outs of fabric materials that they use for table cloth rentals...or rose petals to show you the color of the flowers that they will make your arrangements.





I am not sure what the theme or color scheme of your wedding will be, but I had a very affordable and DISPOSABLE idea for centerpieces which worked out great! My color scheme was ivory and gold. I had gold table cloths on my reception tables, so I used rose petals (ivory) and candles to illuminate and decorate them. I bought bags of rose petals online that were delivered two days before my wedding day (you can keep them in the refrigerator for a few days and htey will look great) and I purchased votive candles online as well. The candles and roses costs me less than $10.00 to set up per table and they looked amazing!!! When the reception was done, we just threw them out!


If you have any questions...feel free to e-mail me! I had such fun planning my ewdding...now I want to plan everybody else's too!
Reply:hire a wedding planner in ND...have the planner email pictures to you of choices for venue, decorations, food,etc.


the pictures you see online at websites may be just like those pictures on tv of food from McDonald's...looks good when they want it to look good

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