It’s that time again – Amanda is back with her next instalment of what herself and Jared have been up to with planning their wedding! It’s so exciting! Today it’s all about getting organised, venue hunting and the all important engagement shoot!

Hello again everyone. Sorry this post is coming a little late. I started a new role at work and April has been a bit of a blur! The only thing I can think is “AHHH! I am getting married in like 5 months and have so much to do!” – It really is true when they say time flies. During this next post I wanted to take some time to talk about a few things I created after picking out our wedding party.

[1] Building my wedding planner

It seems like before you are engaged – you thought you have it all down if it were to happen. You feel that you could get married tomorrow because you are ready with a plan. Same went for me. My Pinterest board was ready to go, filled with extravagant ideas and steps on “what to do once you’re engaged”. What you don’t realize is how much organizing and attention to detail it really takes to execute on an idea. I know that if I want my wedding to go smoothly and exactly how I want, staying organized will be crucial. It is one thing to have an inspiration board (thank you Pinterest) and another to have a detailed, month to month plan of what needs to be done. I highly recommend either purchasing a wedding planner or making your own. I looked around the bookstore and online but could not find anything that I really liked so I decided to make my own.

The template I used can be found here

What I liked about creating my own wedding planner, was that it allowed me to pick and choose what was relevant for our wedding. It also provided great timelines, budget worksheets and little things you don’t even consider thinking of. The printables she provided are so great!

[2] Creating our wedding app and website

We are techy couple and wanted to be able to have mostly everything done online. After what seems like days of research I found an app/website combo that I LOVE called AppyCouple. For $35 you are able to:

Invite unlimited guests, RSVPs, events
Photo sharing on app & website (super cool people can take upload their pics from the wedding directly into the app- cannot wait for this!)
All features, any design, limitless changes
Guest List and RSVP Manager
Push notifications and coordinating emails (lets you know when someone has RSVP’d for an event)
Cross-platform chat
In-app virtual toasts, countdown and games
Free hosting and image downloads
Customizable privacy options
Great customer support
Continuous free feature upgrades
Your custom app for iPhone, iPad or Android*
Coordinating wedding website
Syncing of multiple registries

I encourage everyone to visit Appy Couple if you want something fun and useful for your wedding day! We included a note in our save the date explaining to everyone how to download our app.

[3] Venue Searching

Talk about the MOST STRESSFUL THING EVER! It’s like nothing can get done until you find a venue. Everything is up in the air because you have no idea when or where you are getting married.

Since Jared and I got engaged in December, we were thinking around February of 2015 would be a good time of year. We live in FL so we were trying to avoid the heat as much as possible. Living in a “destination location” most venues are a hotel on the beach or Golf Country Club. YUCK! Not for me at all. I love the beach, grew up around it but the last thing I want to do is be walking in the sand or on a Golf course! I really wanted to find somewhere romantic. Something different and tucked away, within budget. I know… really does sound like a fantasy but sometimes you just KNOW it is going to work out! I also wanted to find somewhere that allowed outside vendors to come in. That was also a challenge in itself because most make you do everything through them. Below you will find of what I was looking to achieve.

You don’t find these kinds of locations where I live! This is exactly why I decided to look near my hometown, about 45 mins away from where I live now, for any ideas.

I heard some family members talking about a motorhome coach resort (sounds weird I know) and thought I would just stop by to check it out. I AM SO GLAD I DID! We have found our hidden gem! However, sometimes you have to give and take. Remember how I mentioned that ideal timeline of getting married around February 2015…. NOPE. The venue I had just fell in love with only did weddings from April-September. As a just engaged bride you have a million things running through your head at once. Do we wait? Do we rush? What DO we do? After some negotiating with the super sweet event planner, she agreed to let me have a date towards the end of October. THANK YOU SALES CAREER AND NICE SMILE 😉

Now, I don’t want to share too much, but I will show you a few sneak peeks of where our ceremony will be taking place and the reception entrance. All our wedding events will be taking place at the same location.

The BESTTTTT!!!!!!

[4] Engagement shoots

The last thing I wanted to share with everyone was some of my favorite engagement photos. Ps if anyone’s fiancé HATES photos as much as mine…and I mean Jared does not do pics.. Give him a drink…or 6! Look at my supermodel!