Help needed to plan a wedding remotely.

I think there are several differnet avenues you can take in order to locate all of the vendors you need, that fits your budget:

You may be interested in hiring a wedding planner to handle of these details for you, someone who is familiar and comfortable planning 'long-distance' weddings.

Use different websites, such as WeddingWire, as a main source for vendor information so that you are able to hit up one source for all of your needs. This will save you some time.

You could also find websites on the net that will narrow your search down, ones that cater to South Carolina only.

If you need any further assitance, just ask!

-Leia Bryant, Events by L.Michelle

I'm assuming you have family where your wedding is going to be held? If so, I recommend putting somebody in charge of vendors (a maid of honor, mom, cousin, etc.). Make sure it's somebody whose opinion is close to yours, and whose personality is close to yours. You can go online to find vendors, call them, get a feel for them, and then weed out all the ones you definitely don't like. Then, have the person you put in charge go meet with them in person to see if they like them in person. If so, then book them! That's how a lot of our couples have done it, or they've met with us on a weekend trip to town.

Also, we meet with a lot of our clients in person 2 to 4 weeks before their wedding, but if they're out of town we still make sure this meeting happens, just over the phone.

You could also hire a wedding planner, but if you don't have the budget for it, I recommend doing the above recommendation.

I did everything over the phone and via email for my destination wedding. The key is to find really communicative vendors who will work with you. I must have exchanged 100 different pictures through email with my florist, and everything came out perfect, even though I couldn't meet with her in advance.

Wow! Thanks for the fast responses. I feel more comfortable after hearing that it has been done by others. And here I was thinking that I was taking on an impossible task...

I filled out a match-me-to-vendors form this afternoon and was called by a photographer in our area a few hours later. H2B lives in our area but is stationed in Fort Bragg for a while. He is going to take care of the meetings and contracts.

So far, so good and 140 days to go! I really appreciate the help.

Congratulations on your wedding plans! I'm not in North Carolina, but I just wanted to suggest getting a coordinator to help you get the right vendors in place. I specialize in destination weddings and I save clients a tremendous amount of time by being able to match the appropriate vendors for their needs. E-mail is great for wedding planning, even my local brides use it as they are just as busy! All the best.

Again, thank you very much for your great advice. I am going to make some phone calls to see if I can consult with the experts. I'm so excited that sometimes I can't think straight. Does this happen to anyone else? Oh well, 139 days to go...

Hi Babygirl-

Congratulations. While I understand the lifestyle of the military (my husband just returned after being in Iraq for 18 months) I happened to service the industry with Invitations and believe it or not- majority of my clients never meet me! Between sending out samples and email...at least for this portion of your wedding planning. Don't stress- non traditional meetings can still turn out a fantastic invite!

Let me know if you have any questions.

God bless you both on this exciting time.

Ok. Now that I know that all will be well even if I'm not in the immediate area, I can try to let go of some of the anxiety. NOT!!!

You guys have been great! The military has taught me to be open to networking with people from all over. This forum has been an excellent tool.

Does anyone know of a wedding planner locator website? I have tried to search but can't seem to find a decent listing so I can shop around.

Much obliged,

Michelle

I live in Chicago and am getting married in Puerto Rico. I've done everything via e-mail ... I've never even been to Puerto Rico!!! I ask a million questions (to the point of annoyance) and those that are patient enough and answer everything for me, are the people/places I'm sticking with. I ask for lots of pictures and check out as many reviews as I can find for each individual place/vendor. I'll talk to more than one person at the same place too, helps to get a different perspective and sometimes, different answers!!