4 Common Wedding Planning Myths: Busted
The internet is a dubious character when it comes to lending out unrealistic wedding planning advice.
Time and time again, our community of wedding planners must work to break down and reset expectations that our clients have developed through advice columns not written by wedding planners, watching television shows, or looking at Pinterest.
Take the advice of an experienced wedding planner; we promise we won’t lead you astray!
myth 1: THE AVERAGE WEDDING BUDGET IS 30K
Out of all the wedding planning myths that exist, we find this one to be most unsavory for our couples. I cannot tell you how many times our couples come to an initial consultation with us, tell us what they believe their budget is, and then give us their list of expectations that are to come from this budget.
When we ask them how they chose that number, almost every single time, we hear the response, “We looked up what the average cost of a wedding was, and the internet told us $30k.” This is when the let- down starts...
The truth is, the average cost of a wedding varies very directly with a) the city and state you are getting married in; b) the amount of guests you plan to seat (centerpieces), feed (catering), and serve beverages to (bartending); c) the types of vendors you are looking to book and d) the quality of the vendors you are looking to book.
Do you see how that might be too many variables? Our recommendation? Hire a wedding planner! They will be able to assess your guest count, scope out your project size, account for your expectations, and then give you an educated estimate based off your needs and the industry averages for each of your vendor types in your local city/state.
If you’re in the Dallas, Fort Worth, or Surrounding Texas Areas, reach out to our expert team today!
myth 2: ALL Pinterest WEDDINGS ARE REAL
Pinterest is the modern couple’s QUEEN when it comes to design inspiration, and we understand why. In fact, we use it ourselves to communicate with our clients about what design styles exist and which ones they resonate with.
However, it’s often during this process that we begin the education process on how few of the wedding examples seen on Pinterest are actually real documented weddings vs. photo shoots. Specifically, those beautiful “tablescapes” you see with 8-12 candles, chargers, dinner plates, extravagant wine and water goblets, menu cards, place cards, and specialty linens and napkins- those are extremely expensive.
All those pieces must be rented and can cost anywhere from $40-$60 per table setting. When you do the math, you’ll start to understand how quickly your table-top rental budget can be blown!
myth 3: SAVE MONEY ON YOUR CAKE WITH FOAM LAYERS
I don’t know where and I don’t know why, but someplace, in a deep dark corner of the internet, someone is suggesting to our couples that they can save money on their wedding cake by having a baker decorate foam layers for extravagance and using a sheet cake to serve their guests from.
This is a huge misunderstanding concerning how wedding cake bakers price out their services, and we are here to educate you otherwise.
If you’ve ever looked into wedding cake prices, you’ll start to realize that bakers will give you an upfront estimate of something like $6-$12 per slice. To get an exact quote on a cake, you’ll need to attend a cake consult where you choose things like number of servings, cake flavors, and design of your cake.
The design aspect here is key. Depending on what type of icing mediums, pastry skills, and decorating techniques you request, the time and labor your baker will have to spend on your cake will vary.
And as we all know, time is money, so the more difficult your cake is to create, the more your cake will cost per slice. In other words, if you are asking your baker to provide your slices in sheet form vs. circular/stacked tin form, the cost of those ingredients (flour, sugar, milk, eggs) doesn’t change; you will still be paying the price of the time it takes your baker to create something beautiful. You may as well have them do it to an actual wedding cake shape.
myth 4: Faux Florals ARE CHEAPER
The idea that faux or paper flowers are cheaper than the real things is a popular misconception held by many of our incoming clients.
The truth of it is, if you are planning on purchasing faux flowers for your wedding, first you might consider taking a trip to Michaels, the craft store.
The artificial flower section is inviting at first until you look down at a price tag. It isn’t too long before you realize just how expensive a couple stems, or a “bushel” of a faux flower can really cost you: $9-$20 per piece.
When you compare this to the price a true florist can get you at wholesale, and then consider the fact that you will thereafter have far too many faux flowers to keep in your home of one single color palette, ALONG with the burden of having to purchase vases, arrange said flowers into vases, and transport the vases to and from your wedding venue yourself? You will realize how quickly the value of hiring a real florist increases for you.
Planning a wedding is a huge scope of a project to take on alone. Don’t trust the internet to help you!
Hire someone experienced to guide you through it- someone who can tailor their advice to your specific needs. Just like love is not, one size fits all, neither is wedding planning. Trust that an expert who may cost you up-front, will ultimately be the one who saves you in the long run!
If you’re in the Dallas, Fort Worth, or Surrounding Texas Areas, reach out to our expert team today!
