Congrats on your engagement! This is a crazy time - sometimes crazy exciting and sometimes crazy stressful! Each lecture in this section elaborates on my top considerations before you dive headlong into the planning process. The following is to help get your mind going in the right direction:

Once you have discussed your budget, priorities, date, and design, these are the next items to tackle:

1. Guest Count

This number determines all your other numbers. 1 extra table can easily cost you about $1k extra when it's all added up. The harsh truth is, the best way to save $$ on your wedding is to limit your guest count.

2. Get Your Finances In Order

I'll say it again for those in the back: DO NOT go into debt to start your new life together!! Plan ahead and spend within your means! Wedding expenses add up quickly, and you'll be way more stressed if you're worried about how to pay for it all later. Either prolong your nuptials to save up for what you want, or scale down your size to fit your current budget.

3. Hire A Wedding Coordinator

Why?? The short answer is because you want to able to enjoy your wedding (you are about to spend a considerable amount of time and money on it), and you want your friends and family to be able to do the same. Weddings are awesome and so much fun, but they are also a lot of moving parts and behind-the-scenes hard work. Having someone handling all those moving parts is worth its weight in gold. It also makes your life, and the lives of your vendors, so much easier.

NOTE: A wedding coordinator is NOT a wedding planner. You're doing the planning (aka this course), and a wedding coordinator comes along about a month before to help you tie up any loose ends and execute your clearly detailed plan.