Planning a wedding remotely involves a lot of the same steps as planning a destination wedding. A destination wedding requires a lot of trust in your coordinators and event staff, and even more research. The excitement and buzz surrounding an engagement is usually a driving factor in getting your wedding planned. The good news is, you can start to plan your wedding online, right at home! Today we want to share our best tips for planning your wedding remotely.

1 | Start to Daydream

One of the best parts of planning your wedding is dreaming up ideas and scouring the internet for unique ways to celebrate. For us, one of the best places to daydream is on Pinterest. Here, you can create public or private boards and start to envision what your dream day will look like. Sometimes, just by scrolling through photos, you will change your mind from wanting an indoor, intimate wedding, to an outdoor wedding with a view. Knowing your options will help you to begin to plan your wedding online.

2 | Decide On Your Budget

Once you have a clearer idea of what your special day will look like, you can start to work backward into a budget. This is an essential step of a wedding planning process. You want to make sure that you are thinking through all of the costs of a wedding and even leaving a little wiggle room for the inevitable hiccup that happens when planning any event. According to a study from 2018, the average wedding costs $44,000.00 and 27% of couples pay for the wedding entirely on their own. First, figure out who will be paying for your wedding. Is it you and your partner, your family, or a mixture of both? Then, ask anyone involved how much they will contribute or write down the amount you have saved up. Then shave about 10%-15% off to take care of those unexpected expenses. About 50% of all couples go over budget. With smart planning, you can avoid going into debt for your big day, and maybe even come out under budget. 

3 | Create Your Guest List

Now that you know your budget, it is time to write down all of the people you would like to invite. We suggest doing this before finding your venue so that you can calculate your cost per person and budget specifically for your venue. Be sure to create the list, wait a few days, and re-visit it. You will be surprised by how many people slipped your mind, or even how many you don’t want to invite after all. From here, you can start to make an educated guess about your cost per person. How much do you have to spend on each meal? Can you provide the alcohol, or will you need a cash bar? How much do you want to spend on the venue itself? This can all start to come together once you know who will be attending your big day.

4 | Search For A Venue

While it is best to see a venue in person, sometimes it is just not possible. Whether you are planning a destination wedding, or cannot currently visit for another reason, it does not mean your venue search has to come to a complete halt. Many venue sites give information to help you plan your wedding online. Our North County San Diego event venues are listed on our site with max capacity, room features, square footage, and the location within the building. Most venues also have a team available for you to call and chat with. This step is incredibly important. You can find out pretty quickly how well you will vibe with your in-house event coordinator just by talking with them on the phone. Were they accommodating? Did they have answers for you or were they willing to get them? Did they follow up with you afterward? Paying attention to how your team treats you as you begin to look around can give you clear insight of the process moving forward. Your team will make all of the difference.

5 | Gather Menus

Now that you have searched for venues and know a little bit more about what you are looking for, you can start to ask your caterer for menus and food pricing. Some venues allow you to bring in outside caterers, some have food and beverage minimums with their own kitchens, and some are a mixture of both with preferred vendors. For us, we love to partner with the delicious Vintana: Wine + Dine for our weddings. They offer mouth-watering meals and unbeatable service. But, we also allow our couples to bring in outside catering if they so choose. Ask those questions up front to get a grasp of how your dream wedding venue operates.

6 | Hire A Planner

It is important to be an informed bride or groom. But, this day is also meant to be a stress-free celebration of love. If you can, at this point, it would be good to hire a planner. You will know the costs associated with your wedding and have an idea of what you need which is a fantastic place to be in the process. From here, details like hiring a florist, contacting DJs and musicians, figuring out where people sit, and everything else can be taken care of. Most venues have an in-house coordinator who is there to manage the venue staff the day of your wedding, and there are even some great online wedding planning tools to assist you, but your wedding planner will be there just for you— providing whatever you need when you need it to make your day as beautiful as possible.

Planning a wedding takes a lot of time and attention to detail. However, doing so is one of the most rewarding experiences of a lifetime. Getting to celebrate your love with the people who care for you the most is something that you won’t ever forget. If you are interested in modern wedding venues in Escondido California, contact us. Our team would love to talk with you about your dream day and send you resources to help you through the process.