How to plan the wedding at Saratoga Springs without a wedding planner
"As a bride who planned her own wedding from 0 to 10, I have so many tips and advice for the future newlyweds. I always knew that I wanted to plan my own wedding not only because I love planning in general but also I knew it would mean a lot to myself and my husband. However, it’s definitely not for everyone since it can get very stressful with all the details of planning."
#1 tip: book your venue ASAP
As soon as I got engaged to my husband, I started looking for venues right away. I mainly used www.weddingwire.com to look for venues. I knew I wanted an outdoor wedding so I really utilized the filters on the website to narrow down my choices. I knew that the year of 2021 and 2022 would be a busy wedding season after covid so I was constantly looking at venues on the website everyday. I think I contacted like 10-15 venues a day. And then a beautiful family-owned venue called “Saratoga Springs” came across my page.
When I contacted them in June 2021, almost all their Saturday dates were filled up for the following year (2022). I was lucky enough to grab the last Saturday date in August. I knew I wanted the wedding day to be either on Friday or Saturday because half of our guests would be coming from out of state. So, we ended up booking our venue 14 months before our wedding date.
#2 tip: look for photographers and videographers right after you book your venue!
Right after I booked the venue, I started looking for photographers and videographers. I went on the venue’s Instagram page and mainly looked at “tagged pictures” thinking that photographers who already worked at the venue would know good picture spots better than those who have not been to the venue.
This way, I found a lot of photographers and then I went to their Instagram pages to see their work. I still remember this one picture caught my attention and that’s how I found Ruslan and Oksana :)
#3 tip: check if the venue price comes with a day of coordinator
Starting from booking the venue to arranging accommodations for all the out of state guests, the whole planning process took me about full 14 months. On the wedding day, I had a day of coordinator from the venue, and she was super helpful. Even though you decide to plan your own wedding, I would highly recommend getting at least a day of coordinator because you can’t juggle everything by yourself on your big day. Some venues come with a day of coordinator (like mine) or an all-inclusive wedding planner so make sure you check that out.
Hope this information was useful and you enjoy your wedding at Saratoga Springs
