We know you are SO excited to begin your wedding planning experience and we cannot wait to get this party started!

Like with all things wedding planning, it’s incredibly important to us that you get the biggest bang for your buck, so we’ve put together a guide for what to expect from your first planning meeting (whether you’re working with us for wedding management, partial, or full planning!) and how to prepare so you can keep the energy high and the stress low.

First Meeting Prep For Wedding Management Clients

As a BRE Wedding Management client, by the time of your first meeting, you will be well into your planning journey with your vendors booked, overall design decided, a general guest count, etc. – aka your ducks already in a row and ready to pass off to our team to execute!!  

Our first meeting will be a fully-packed one since there is so much to do with only ~12 weeks to take it all off your plate, but we have some tips to keep it from being too overwhelming!

Before the meeting, we’ll send a questionnaire so you can tell us everything about your wedding – like your ceremony time, if you’re doing a first look, any emergency contacts, who is responsible for taking personal items home at the end of the night, and more. 

We know some of these things you’ve thought of and some you haven’t yet, but that’s what we’re here for! 

So you can start planning ahead, here’s a general list of everything you should have prepared before the first meeting: 

• All vendor contracts and invoices (every detail!) 
• An estimated head count 
• Any potential requests for your timeline 
• Your completed questionnaire

It is incredibly important that all the information you have on your vendors is given to our team because this is how we advocate for you and run your wedding day—this is also one of the main topics in your first planning meeting, so make sure to send everything ahead of time so we have time to review!

The last thing we want to do on the wedding day is bother the bride or groom to get the photographer’s number or ask how many centerpieces there should be when florals are delivered. We plan early, making sure we have everything we need, so our team doesn’t have to worry you with it on the big day. 

If we can, the first client meeting will be at your venue, so after we go over invoices, timeline details, and more, we can walk through the space and discuss the floorplan.

It is normal to not have every single detail figured out at the first meeting (that’s what we’re here for afterall), but the more information we know, the easier it will be to fill in the “oops! I didn’t think about that” aspects of your day and start to take over, so you can enjoy the last bit of your engagement season. 

Soon after the first meeting, we’ll send over a list of “homework” to help you organize the moving pieces and to-do’s to make it a seamless wedding day. 

With our management clients, we rely on you giving us all the information we need to be able to execute the day you planned. 

When in doubt send us everything related to your vendors, so our meetings can be productive, not overwhelming. 

First Meeting Prep For Partial Wedding Planning Clients

For partial planning clients, we start a little further out from the wedding day than wedding management clients because we’re involved beyond just the logistics; we help with the design as well. This means our first meeting is more creatively focused, while still downloading the details of the rest of the planning you’ve started. 

Here’s the short list of what’s needed from you before your first Partial Planning meeting: 

• A Pinterest vision board for design
• A general head count (so we know the size of your wedding)
• All hired vendors contracts and invoices
• A general budget for the vendors we’ll be managing
• Your completed questionnaire

Our goal will be to officially determine which three vendors will be the most beneficial to manage for you (typically they’re design-related, like florals, rentals, specialty lighting, etc.) and then begin the process of understanding your vision.

With any wedding design planning, it’s crucial that you bring some kind of visual inspiration or Pinterest board, so we can understand what you like and don’t like. 

It makes it WAY easier to talk about if we can see exactly what you’re envisioning. 

Because partial planning does require you to find, hire, and manage your other vendors, we will still need to be caught up on all the work you’ve already done, review the contracts and invoices for the vendors you’ve already hired, and get started on the logistical details too (but we’ll determine more of that in later meetings).

First Meeting Prep for Full Wedding Planning Clients

For our Full Planning clients, we are with you from the very beginning of the process!! While it can feel like a lot knowing all of the decisions to be made, we are able to strategize and space out the different details of planning to match your schedule (a HUGE benefit of full planning!).

The first meeting for full planning clients is essentially a creative brainstorm. We’ll talk through ideas, your must haves, your wishlist items, colors, recent trends you’re loving, what you want your guests to experience, and more.

Because full planning is very hands on, you will have much less to prepare for your first meeting. Simply focus on your estimated budget and priorities! 

The Pinterest inspiration board is self-explanatory, but when it comes to the estimated budget it’s really important to remember that we are on your team and you can trust us! You can be honest about what you’re looking to spend on each aspect of your wedding and we’ll help guide you through how to best allocate your budget based on what’s most important to you.

There’s not much you have to bring to the first Full Planning meeting. All you need is: 

• An estimated budget
• A Pinterest vision board 
• Your completed questionnaire

The first meeting we have together is the first step towards less stress. We are here to take the weight of your shoulders and realize your vision for your wedding day, and most importantly, we are on your team, and we want to know it all because the more we know, the better we can serve you! 

Of course as your planners we are here to guide you through the entire process.

Please don’t be afraid to ask your planner questions about what you should be working on vs. what we’ll be taking off your hands. That’s what we’re here for! 

Now, let’s get this party started! See you in your first meeting!!