Planning a wedding out of state

Do you have your venue? do you have any of your vendors? on one trip you need to select your people and do meetings..I wouldnt do multiple trips but that's me

Check to see if there is a forum for Chicago. Other brides who are local may have ideas to make it easier. Good luck.

I am planning my wedding from out of state. I live in Connecticut and the wedding is in North Carolina. Make sure you look closely at every picture you can find of the venue, food, photographer, etc. Also read all the reviews. I have booked everything without seeing it in person. I booked my caterer without tasting the food. It can be done. You just have to put a LOT of faith into previous bride's reviews and hope for the best unless you are able to visit the state frequently for tours, tastings, meetings, etc. Honestly, as an introvert it's almost been easier planning long distance because I can take care of almost everything via email so that's been a huge plus lol.

April thanks for the silver lining... I am an introvert as well and get stressed when I have to meet with vendors lol

We live in NJ and are getting married in Fla. Other than our trip down to look at venues, we're doing everything from out of state. We plan on going down the Monday before our Saturday wedding. I'll do my HMU trial that week, but otherwise everything else is being done over phone and email. It really hasn't been a big deal at all. We're relying heavily on reviews. The one thing I don't like is that we won't meet our officiant or photographer till the day of the wedding, but oh well.

I also am getting married in Chicago and have been planning out of state! We go up to Chicago a weekend here or there and when we’ve gone, I’ve crammed as many meetings with vendors in as I could. Most of my initial contact and research has been done over email. For the things I wanted to do in person (taste testing, venue, HMU, met the photographer in person) the key is to know the weekend you’re going far in advance and set up appointments far enough in advance that they have availability for the days you’ll be there. We’ll usually do 3 maybe 4 appointments in a day. It’s a bit overwhelming but it’s gotten the job done!