i feel like I'm doing everything wrong

I say keep pressing on! It sounds like your both fine with a Tuesday Wedding, check off that box and move on! The photographer you like their work. Okay so they don’t release the photos? Im not sure how this will affect you, you’ll still get photos, right?
You have two very important parts of your Wedding figured out, I’d say your on the right track. Now you can start to cut costs with the other parts your Wedding planning.

View Quoted Comment Thank you!!! I just needed to hear that.

OK, first of all, take a deep breath. It sounds like you are actually doing great in terms of planning, especially in such a short amount of time!

Well crap LOL I accidentally hit reply. Anyway, what I was saying…. You seem to be doing a great job of planning in such a short time. You already have two of the most important vendors booked! As far as the photographer goes… read over your contract. There should definitely be something in there about your rights to your photos. it would be exceptionally rare that a wedding photographer would not give you adequate rights to your photos. If, after reading through your contract, you are still not sure what your rights are, reach out to her to explain exactly what rights you have to your photos once they are done. Usually photographers just want to maintain the copyright to your photos, so that they can continue to use them on their social media, for marketing, etc. but allow the couple to make prints, publish them on their own social media, give them to family members, etc. The main restriction is usually just ensuring that the couple does not claim their photos as their own works, or use their work for financial gain. As far as having a wedding on a Tuesday… no, it is not “the norm”, but that doesn’t mean it’s “wrong” either! If that’s the date that works for you and the venue, then go with it! Few people realize that weekend weddings are actually quite a newer practice. When our grandparents were young, weddings were typically held during the week, and very rarely on the weekends. Weekend weddings were actually considered bad luck! Hence the old saying "Monday for wealth, Tuesday for health, Wednesday the best day of all, Thursday for losses, Friday for crosses, and Saturday no luck at all."

It seems you’re right on track! You can mark off 2 extremely important things off your list! I love WW for these forums but I used The Knot for their checklist.

View Quoted Comment I haven't heard that saying before but that totally made me smile. I am going to tell my grandmother that as she was upset it wasn't on a weekend. I'll reread the contract. I was reading it as I can only buy prints from her but that doesn't make sense. I need digital copies and they're included. So I think you're right and I'm just getting stressed over new advice too late.

View Quoted Comment I'll check out the Knott. My friend gave me a planner by them.

I can relate so well to this! We got engaged in October, 2020 and after a long time of fighting for a decent venue that wasn't price gouging an arm and a leg, we are now having a micro wedding (32 guests) on my brothers property. We found that doing a large, grand wedding, while beautiful, wasn't worth the stress and money. Especially with the back up of weddings from COVID. I urge you to at least think of having something a bit more out of the box. After deciding to go the route we have, I have planned more in the last month than I had in the last 10 and with little to no stress! After all, weddings are about having those that are most important to you around. Not your friends cousins aunts sister-in-law. Not to mention the expected cost of our wedding will only be around $3000. I'm buying a boho dress online and having it altered. Also, you can rent your wedding dress. Also, ask family and friends if they know of anybody that could help. For example, my brothers friend agreed to officiate my wedding for free, my sister-in-laws sister-in-law went to culinary school and agreed to bake our cake(s) (multiple tiny tiramisu's) for a fraction any bakery I was quoted and my dad's cousins daughter has her own small photography business. So, all that alone is saving me over $5,000! I wish you the best of luck though! Hope sharing my experiences has helped you some!

View Quoted Comment The mark up since 2020 is so outrageous. Small and intimate you can really put those little personal touches.