out of state wedding planning....

Congrats! I would recommend contacting a few wedding planners in the area you are getting married in. They will know all of the fabulous locations and be able to get you to the right people. You could hire them for the whole event or pay them per the hour for finding your site.

Good Luck!

I'm planning an out of state wedding, too. It's been very difficult finding venues and meeting vendors. While I'm planning by myself, I would reccommend hiring a planner, too. I live less than 4 hours from my out of town wedding location and its hard. I can't imagine across country. To be honest, I've given some thought on getting a Day Of planner but haven't found the budget for that...

Oh im soo happy im not the only one trying to plan an out of state wedding lol i was starting to think i was crazy... for my day of i appointed my future sister in law and she was sooo excited to help that way. she had her sister do it for her wedding so she kind of has some ideas on how to do it and she is a great person because she is personal to me but not my blood family lol maybe that might work for you?? im looking into a planner im just soo nervous about the whole wedding im starting to think this is above my abilities isnt planning a wedding supposed to be fun?

We work with out of town brides about 6 times a year. Usually they are fininshing college and only come back home a couple times during the planning process. We do a lot of email correspondence and photo sharing online. Sometimes I don't even meet the bride until the day of the wedding. I'm sure it is much more difficult to pick a venue this way! I would find a good planer in the area and they can scout out all the good venues and vendors Then when you do go there they can set up meetings and be the go between for you.

I'm in the same boat as you. I was only able to visit once in Dec for 4 days and now I have to do everything long distance until a couple days before the wedding. I've been really lucky and a lot of vendors (especially my reception site) have been amazing with my situation. I would have people scout it out for you. I had my mom go to reception venues and take pictures and email them to me so that my FH and I could see everything. I would also just email different sites and tell them your situation and ask them for pictures as well. I cant afford a planner, so I have family and friends get out there and report back to me!

Amber, I'm planning from out of state too. I'm in GA and getting married in NC -- on the beach though, not Charlotte. =) I had lots of pix sent to me online and talked to a few people who managed to visit the place we were hoping to get married. I managed to make a trip there over Christmas for a few hours (slight detour on the way to visit family) but well worth it. I'm 7 hours away and that's hard enough b/c if needed I could go for the weekend but across the country would be difficult! GOOD LUCK!

Dont worry im planning from out of state too. Was planning from out of country for quite a while too so I understand your stress. We are now in California and the wedding is in Kansas City. The way we did it was that I researched a lot online looked at reviews and things and then we had a 2 day trip to Kansas City I had back to back appointments booked for the two days. We picked our venue, caterer and menue, cake baker did the testing and everything and met with a whole bunch of florists. So it is possible. We have since been in constant email contact with our vendors and they have been wonderful our venue even gave us a package with lists of hotels and other vendors and our baker gave us a wedding guide on kansas city and told us what she had heard about each of the venues we visited. Im now one month from the wedding and everything has been going really well so im really happy at the moment.

I wish I could use my FSIL as the Day Of Planner! She's great at stuff like this! I asked her to be a BM and now she's getting stretched too thin :-( She's great, though, and is more than willing to help me with this stuff, but she'll have too much to do...

I am planning from out of state too! From Texas with love... to California! I've just been researching... but man, I'm already stressed! LOL. I feel your pain

I may end up hiring someone to do planning and paying vendors and such, or have my FMIL do something for me.

My first suggestion would be the Ahwanee Hotel or one of the other properties at Yosemite - its beautiful there in the snow & they do try to keep the roads open. Second would be Tahoe. Both are far from OC, but snow in the San Gabriel Mtns can be iffy. Big Bear, Blue Bird, and Julian come to mind. E-mail me for a recommendation on event planners - I have a friend who is familar with both SoCal & NorCal.

Wedding planner. You can tell them what you want and they will find it for you! It's their job! You are a perfect canidate for one!

I have a candidate for planning my wedding?

I'm planning from Raleigh, NC to MN where both our families are from. We initially wanted to get married where we met and went to college together as neither of us has a huge attachment to our hometowns, but w/o the budget for a wedding planner I immediately decided that would be too much stress (for me at least) and opted for my hometown so my mom can more help. We were recently in MN for the holidays and got a lot done in a couple of days! You will probably just need to do things a little earlier than normal especially if you want to try to meet w/vendors and have limited time to do so. Good luck and happy planning!

I am plaining from ga and getting married in fla i would say get a wedding plannier and i have have one and i have not had to do anything but look at pictures and all that

I've had brides living on the east coast plan weddings here in Sacramento and Northern California with me. It is possible. What we usually do is plan all vendor visits on the couple of days that they are here in town. They get to see all the options with me and can go home and make well-informed decisions. It is possible to do! Don't stress and keep the planning fun. It will all work out!

I would definitely recommend getting a wedding planner, but if that is not something within your budget, there are definitely alternatives.

Once you narrow down an area, you can look for venues that have on-site planners with a preferred vendor list to make your search easy.

Have you thought about Sonora? It is small, but it is not that far from Sac-town. Otherwise, I second Tahoe.

Wow thank you guys I feel alot better. I really appreciate all your help. I was starting to think I would never be able to pull off my own wedding but I defiantely feel more capable now.

You may want to think about looking into state parks. I too am planning an out of state and mine will be in a park. One thing you can count on is them being maintained nicely and there may also be options for pavilions or shelters to use for the ceremony. Also parks typically will have very picturesque spots and you can call the park office for more info on a spot that may work. They often have many weddings and can suggest a good location. And the best part is they often have websites with photos so you don't have to pay someone else to scope out the location for you. Good Luck!