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Lucie Fink takes us through 5 major categories of wedding planning including catering, flowers, venue searching & more!
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00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this week is five days of wedding planning.
00:03This is sadly going to be one of the last episodes ever that I shoot in this bedroom
00:07because Michael and I are moving soon.
00:09So look around and say goodbye.
00:11Take it all in.
00:12Now I know why you're all here and that's because you want all of the details
00:15and all of the behind the scenes info about wedding planning.
00:18So let's just get into the video.
00:20Honestly, there is so much that goes into the entire wedding planning process.
00:24Just way more than can fit into one YouTube video.
00:26If I actually made this video accurate and I tracked the video through the entire process,
00:30this video would be a year-long video.
00:33So for this video, I'm going to pick five major aspects of wedding planning to explore,
00:37but just know we're scratching the surface here.
00:39One disclaimer that I want to make up front is that this video is probably going to be
00:43most interesting and also most helpful to people out there that want to have a traditional wedding.
00:48A big party with your family and friends, a caterer, a band or a DJ, a bloke.
00:52However, every wedding is different and every bride and groom wants something different
00:56from their wedding day.
00:57Many people don't even want a wedding at all.
00:59So if you're interested in a very small personal wedding,
01:02a lot of the details that I'm about to throw at you will probably not be applicable to your situation.
01:07Michael and I both wanted to have a big wedding celebration and we also both have very big families,
01:12so that's why this video is going to be pretty traditional.
01:15Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let's go.
01:17The first thing that you'll likely need to consider and probably the least fun aspect of all of this
01:22is your budget.
01:23Your budget is going to dictate everything you do moving forward.
01:26There are a ton of online tools that can help you when it comes to planning your wedding budget,
01:29but because that is so not fun, that's what I'm going to skip over right now to get to the
01:34fun stuff.
01:35Things I will cover in this video, selecting your venue, your color scheme and flowers,
01:39wedding invitations and all the day of stationery, picking your dress, and of course, catering and the cake.
01:46As I've mentioned in a couple of previous videos, Michael and I are using wedding planners,
01:50so before we go any further, let me introduce you to them.
01:52I'm Sarah Duke, and I'm Taylor Van Dusen, and we are Lucy and Michael's wedding planners.
01:58We've been working together since 2013, but we've been friends since birth, pretty much.
02:04Lucy really did come in with a really strong idea of where she wanted to take the wedding
02:10and those different details, but did really leave it open.
02:12She really has had so much fun with this process.
02:15She knew what she was looking for in terms of design and aesthetic,
02:19but she's been so open-minded and really creative throughout the process.
02:23And now let's dive in to step one, finding your venue.
02:27First step in looking for a location for a bride would be to determine their budget,
02:33as well as how many guests that they will be having.
02:36The process can begin a full year for some clients, and these places book up fast.
02:41Some brides and grooms start the wedding planning process by actually diving in to the nitty-gritty details.
02:47Napkin rings, bouquets, what colored dance floor they want to have.
02:50But I think the small details are best kept for later,
02:53and I would say that immediately after you set your budget,
02:56the next big thing you should do is find your venue.
02:58You might be surprised how far in advance you need to book some of these venues.
03:02Of course, it depends on the time of year, the location, and also how many other couples are vying for
03:07that same space.
03:08But just to give you an idea, Michael and I signed the contract for our wedding venue in May 2018,
03:13which is one year and four months before our actual wedding date.
03:17And to be totally honest, a lot of other weekend dates around our date were already booked at our venue
03:22at that time.
03:22You really do have to pick that venue first, because if you think about it,
03:25the venue is going to be the place that dictates what day you can get married,
03:29and you can't start booking things like florists and vans and caterers
03:32until you can tell them exactly when and where you're getting married.
03:35And when it comes time to look at venues, there are a ton of factors to consider.
03:39Of course, there's the visual appeal.
03:41You want to make sure that both the outside and the inside of the venue fit with the vibe you're
03:44trying to create.
03:45You kind of need to know a rough number of how many people you plan on inviting,
03:49because a lot of these venues do have a cap on the amount of people they can hold.
03:53And this is the moment when you're really going to start making some major decisions about your event.
03:57Is it a beach wedding? Is it on a lake? Is it in a forest? Is it in a hotel?
04:02Are you having the ceremony inside or outside, at a church or any other religious space?
04:07At first, Michael and I thought that we wanted to get married in New York City,
04:10potentially on a rooftop with city views.
04:12So we did start out by looking at a few venues locally.
04:15So despite this footage that you're seeing right now,
04:17which shows me walking through a venue totally by myself,
04:20I did in fact do this process with Michael.
04:22I just had to go back to film it during the work week when he wasn't available,
04:26because we didn't actually want to film the real experience when we were trying to pick a venue.
04:30Tribeca Rooftop is a gorgeous venue in New York City that has stunning views of the Hudson River
04:35and of the Freedom Tower.
04:37And the indoor section has a glass ceiling and a giant open space that you can do so many things
04:41with.
04:42The Glass House is another beautiful venue with huge windows and amazing city views.
04:47Typically, when you visit these places as a potential wedding venue,
04:50someone is giving you a tour and showing you the whole space.
04:53And I found that one of the most helpful parts of this is when you sit down with that person
04:56and they show you photos of the space from previous events that have been there.
05:00Michael and I ultimately settled on a venue outside of the city
05:02because we wanted our wedding to feel like more of a full weekend getaway.
05:06But the venue we chose is an art museum, which makes things a little bit trickier.
05:10It's not a standard event space that has tables and chairs or even a kitchen.
05:13So we have to bring in everything from every fork and knife to the dance floor itself
05:18to even assembling a cook tent with backup generators for the caterers.
05:22So there is a lot to think about here when it comes to venues.
05:26Typically, 15% of your overall budget goes to the venue.
05:32After securing your venue and your wedding date,
05:34I'd say the next big thing to focus on is to start building a mood board.
05:38Look at colors you love, floral arrangements, and overall design inspiration.
05:42Our venue is a very raw space, so if we didn't have any design elements in the room,
05:47it would pretty much just be black walls with a solid slate floor.
05:50So this was the moment in the wedding journey when I went crazy with Pinterest,
05:54magazines, design books, and so much more.
05:57Typically, one of the most prominent elements of planning a wedding
06:00is selecting your floral arrangements.
06:02One of the things to be considering when looking at flowers for your wedding
06:06is the time of year you're deciding to get married
06:09because a lot of the flowers that you're looking at might be only available in the spring
06:13or some that are only available in the fall.
06:15Certain types of flowers actually signify different moods or hold deeper meanings.
06:20For instance, as you might already know,
06:22a red rose symbolizes deep love, passion, and unwavering affection.
06:26But a yellow rose much of the time is saying get well soon.
06:30Now listen, a lot of people choose their wedding color scheme purely based on aesthetics.
06:34As I did, I did not do too much floral research here.
06:37But this can be a moment where you can get a little bit poetic or deep if you're into that.
06:42The various aspects that are going to ultimately play into how your overall wedding looks
06:46include the furniture that you're going to rent, like the tables and chairs,
06:49every plate, dish, napkin, and fork, centerpieces, candles, bread baskets,
06:54and then of course lighting.
06:56Is it a daytime wedding?
06:57Is it dimly lit at night?
06:59The way things worked with our florist was that we had a couple of meetings early on
07:02where we showed design inspiration and talked through things we liked and didn't like.
07:06Their team has been taking everything we've said and sent them into account
07:09and they've been sending us emails back where they're actually sending through pictures
07:13of what our space is going to look like.
07:15And then one day, about one month before the wedding,
07:17we're going to do one more in-person meeting where we'll have a final mock-up.
07:20So we'll actually go there in person and see a table set up
07:23exactly the way it's going to look at our wedding.
07:25And that's when we can get really hands-on and start moving things around a little
07:29and just making final tweaks to the look.
07:31One thing that was really stressful to me when discussing the flowers
07:34was realizing how wasteful the floral process is.
07:37You pay for so many flowers, it's such a big expense,
07:40they're so beautiful, but they're used for five hours and then they're thrown away.
07:44So on our wedding day, we'll be partnering with a company called Repeat Roses
07:47and they basically come to your venue, they collect all of your flowers
07:50and then they take them to cancer treatment centers and hospitals nearby.
07:54They leave them there for about another week or so
07:56and then when they're really at the end of their life cycle,
07:58they pick the flowers back up and they compost them.
08:01I think it's an amazing way to add a charitable element to your wedding
08:04while also reducing your environmental impact.
08:06Typically 25 to 30% of your overall budget will go towards floral and decor, rentals and lighting.
08:14As a calligraphy and stationary junkie, I have to say that planning out the invitations
08:18and also the entire suite of day of paper products
08:22was one of the most fun parts of the entire process for me.
08:25This is the one area in the budget where people always say they don't want to spend a lot
08:30and then always end up overspending once they see all these options.
08:35I did for a brief second consider hand lettering all of our invitations,
08:38but I quickly realized how much work that was going to be.
08:41So thankfully, I came across a custom letterpress and wedding invitation boutique in Manhattan
08:46called Ipanema Press.
08:47Hi, I'm Adrienne.
08:48I'm the owner of Ipanema Press.
08:50There are so many options that we talk about with clients
08:52when they come in to look at stationary.
08:54The paper, the print method, the ink colors, the envelope liners,
08:59the type of envelopes you use.
09:01So from the first stages of save the dates
09:03all the way through to the day of stationary, place cards and menus,
09:08we take it step by step so it's not so overwhelming.
09:10We're working with Ipanema for all of our wedding paper products.
09:14So the invitations, RSVP cards, menus, place cards, even thank you notes and a lot more.
09:20Traditionally, someone would probably use that same company that's doing all of that
09:24to make their save the dates.
09:25But if you've watched any of my previous wedding videos,
09:28you might know that Michael and I chose to send out a save the date video
09:31instead of save the date cards.
09:32If you want to watch that, it's on my Instagram TV at Lucy B. Think.
09:35When Lucy came in, she wasn't quite sure what direction she wanted to go in,
09:39but she did have a venue that was modern.
09:41So from there, we decided let's go with something that is super simple
09:47and really clean and really unusual.
09:48So we walked through the whole process.
09:50We looked at papers.
09:52Lucy really loved this beautiful textured cotton paper.
09:54She liked touches of modern calligraphy,
09:57but also like a really clean, streamlined block font.
10:00One thing I realized after we sent out our invitations
10:02was just how important they are as a physical reminder
10:06to really get your guests excited for your big day.
10:08I can't even tell you how many of our guests called me
10:11or emailed me or called my parents
10:13to let everyone know how excited they were
10:15once they actually got the invitation.
10:17And the process of actually packing up the invitations
10:19to send them off was so much fun.
10:21My family got together,
10:22and we basically just made a huge assembly line
10:25and had an envelope stuffing party.
10:27We all put on surgical gloves
10:28to protect the invitations from the oils on our hands.
10:31And we went through our guest list person by person
10:33and packed up each person's invite individually,
10:36adding all of the necessary elements.
10:38And then we mailed them all out in bulk.
10:40And don't even get me started about all of the excitement
10:43of starting to see people's RSVP cards roll in.
10:46I would say about 5% of your overall budget
10:50goes towards the save the date invitations
10:52and also the day of stationery.
10:57If you haven't watched any of my previous videos
10:59on this topic, here's a quick recap.
11:01When it came time to pick my dress,
11:03there was pretty much only one bridal boutique
11:05that came to mind,
11:06and that is Kleinfeld Bridal,
11:07home of Say Yes to the Dress.
11:09And it only took me two appointments
11:10to find my dream dress.
11:12In my first session at Kleinfeld,
11:14I genuinely liked almost every dress I tried on.
11:17They were all gorgeous,
11:17and I could have seen myself picking
11:19pretty much any of those.
11:20So I left kind of confused.
11:22At my second appointment,
11:23I was in the process of trying on
11:25some of the same dresses from my first appointment
11:27when my Kleinfeld stylist, Debbie, said,
11:29hang on, give me one second.
11:31I'm going to go grab one new dress
11:32that just came in from Milan.
11:34She came back with this gorgeous dress
11:36in this clear packaging.
11:37I knew it was the one
11:38the moment she unzipped it and I saw it.
11:41And it was nothing short of a magical moment.
11:43I screamed,
11:44and then I looked myself in the mirror
11:45and I had this sort of out-of-body experience
11:47where I was making eye contact with myself
11:50while I was thinking,
11:51wow, this is so strange.
11:53I'm watching myself put on my wedding gown
11:55for the first time.
11:56Some brides like to change outfits
11:57between the ceremony and the reception
11:59so they might have two,
12:00maybe even three dresses.
12:02Once I found this dress,
12:03I just knew that I loved it so much
12:05and I had to spend the entire night in it.
12:07So I only have one dress
12:08and I won't be taking it off.
12:10Seriously, I might even sleep in it.
12:11And about three minutes
12:12after I first stepped into this gown,
12:14I officially said yes to the dress.
12:16So you're currently seeing footage of me
12:18trying on dresses at Kleinfeld
12:20and I have a whole video on this,
12:21but I'm not showing you the dress
12:23that I ended up selecting.
12:24Stay tuned on my Instagram account
12:26and my YouTube channel
12:27after September 21st
12:28for the final reveal.
12:29We don't usually include the wedding dress
12:31in our budget at all
12:32because our clients are looking
12:34for such different things
12:35when it comes to their dress.
12:38When choosing a caterer,
12:40we like to think about again
12:42what location we've chosen
12:44and what time of year that is
12:45because we want to keep it seasonal.
12:47Let's be honest,
12:48being a professional food taster
12:50seems like it would be
12:51one of the best jobs
12:52in the entire world.
12:53And as a bride and groom-to-be,
12:54you basically get to do this.
12:56The food served at your event
12:57can be a big part of your wedding day
12:59if you choose for it to be.
13:00And every catering company
13:02specializes in something different.
13:03Some are amazing at using
13:05locally sourced ingredients.
13:07Others have a stunning presentation
13:09that looks like something
13:09right at a chef's table.
13:11But I have to say,
13:12one of the most fun parts
13:13about being a bride-to-be
13:14is getting to do the food tastings.
13:16Some catering companies
13:17do tastings entirely for free.
13:19Others only charge you
13:20if you choose not to go with them
13:22for your event.
13:23So definitely do some research
13:24before you start filling up
13:25your calendar with tastings.
13:26But this is really where you can start
13:28to put yourself in the shoes
13:29of your guests
13:30and develop a delicious menu.
13:32The footage that you're seeing right now
13:33was recreated footage
13:34with the catering company
13:36that we chose for our wedding.
13:37Events by Peter Ambrose.
13:38And here you're seeing me
13:39tasting the food all by myself
13:41because once again,
13:42this is recreated footage.
13:44But in reality,
13:45this was a whole family affair.
13:47Chef Pete came into our family home
13:49and essentially did
13:50one giant dinner for nine of us.
13:52It was basically a big meal
13:53of mini tastings
13:54of different hors d'oeuvres,
13:56appetizers, main courses,
13:57and of course,
13:58a ton of dessert options.
13:59Everyone gets a menu card
14:01in front of them
14:01and then as you're eating,
14:03you take notes right on the menu card.
14:04Then at the end,
14:05we talk about what people liked
14:06or what they want to swap out
14:08until ultimately,
14:08we can develop a menu
14:09that everyone loves.
14:10And you can't forget about the cake.
14:13So we did our cake tasting
14:14on the same day
14:15as this catering tasting,
14:16even though the cake
14:17is a different company.
14:18The cake is another opportunity
14:20where we really style this
14:22to fit with the overall look
14:23of the wedding.
14:23So we really think about
14:25what we're placing this cake on,
14:27having the floral team come in
14:28and add flowers to style it.
14:30It's another moment.
14:32I actually did an entire episode
14:34of Lucy for Hire
14:34as a wedding cake maker
14:36and that was years
14:37before we got engaged.
14:38But I really do know
14:39how intense and how intricate
14:41the cake process can be.
14:42I think the best way
14:43to go about choosing
14:44what your wedding cake
14:45is going to look like
14:45is just to look through the internet
14:47and find photos that you love.
14:48And that's what we did
14:49and it was very easy.
14:51But there's also the option
14:51of looking through
14:52your cake maker's repertoire
14:54and seeing what they specialize in
14:55or other cakes
14:56they've already made.
14:57Or if you're really crafty
14:58you can draw a cake design
15:00on your own
15:00and build it from scratch.
15:02Generally about 20% of your budget
15:04will go towards catering.
15:0530% of your budget
15:06goes to everything else
15:08that we haven't covered.
15:09We're not even at marriage yet
15:10and wedding planning
15:11has been a journey
15:12in and of itself.
15:14I'm not going to lie
15:14it has been a little bit
15:15stressful at times
15:16but overall
15:17it's incredibly fun.
15:18And truthfully
15:19I wouldn't have even known
15:20where to begin
15:21without our planners.
15:22So if you can find planners
15:23that you like
15:24I would highly recommend
15:25passing off
15:26most of the heavy lifting
15:27to them
15:27especially if you already
15:29have a full-time job.
15:30Some planners charge
15:31by the hour
15:32others tack on a fee
15:33to the total cost
15:34of your wedding
15:34so just do some research
15:36and figure out
15:37what works best for you.
15:38Just to be sure I mention it
15:39here are some other
15:40major aspects of wedding planning
15:42that I didn't even cover
15:43in this video
15:43but are still very important
15:45to consider.
15:45Choosing your wedding band
15:47or DJ
15:47Choosing your wedding bands
15:49the rings
15:50Having hair and makeup trials
15:51Hiring a photographer
15:52and or a videographer
15:54Building your wedding registry
15:55Assembling all your accessories
15:57for the day of
15:58including shoes
15:59any jewelry you're gonna wear
16:00something old
16:01something new
16:02something borrowed
16:03and something blue
16:03and of course
16:04planning your honeymoon.
16:06Be sure that you're subscribed
16:07to my YouTube channel
16:08and following my Instagram account
16:10both are at
16:10lucybfink
16:11because I'll likely be sharing
16:13a little bit more
16:13wedding prep content
16:14before September 21st.
16:16Thank you so much
16:16for coming back
16:17as always
16:18and we'll see you next time
16:19on Try Living with Lucy.
16:20Mwah!