Planning out of town

Me! Through lots of emails and phone calls. My parents did a lot of the in person stuff for me. Like going to a tasting at the venue next week to finalize our menu. We did the cake tasting when we were in town. My brother went to the tux shop for me. You do what ya gotta do. We have only been in town twice since we have been engaged (since last April). Wedding is this April. BTW--living in Las Vegas getting married in Cleveland.

From someone who's been planning this wedding long distance for about the same amount of time as you will be, you have plenty of time. Breath.

Currently FH and I live in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, before that we lived in DeLand. The wedding is in Ocala (Ft. Lauderdale to Ocala is about the same distance as what you're talking about) where my parents live. We scheduled meetings for whenever we were in town and booked a few vendors over the phone (i.e. photographer and DJ) without a face to face meeting.

I've been planning for our october wedding and our venue is about 3 hours from where we live now and even further for others. we always wanted a destination wedding, but with the size of both our families, we figured it was easier for most to not have to get on a plane. All our vendors are extremely accommodating and I just did a lot of online research before I settled. I did have to take a trip to our florist on one of my days off as that is something we need to do in person but we will also see them again at our tasting. I was most worried about hair and makeup, but relied on the many reviews on wedding wire and the one I ended up choosing will come up to me for the hair trial and it is not an extra travel fee. just do your research and be open with the vendors, they should be more than accommodating. best of luck!

Following.

I currently live in Louisiana but will be getting married in California. I've got a list of venues but I my next trip to LA won't be until June. Is ok to start calling around now to set an official date or should I wait until it's closer to June so I can actually visit the venue?

I am! I currently live in MO but will be getting married in my hometown in IL (6.5 hour drive). My mom and sister have been amazing with helping to do the in person planning for me, and I try to get things done when I go home to visit (which isn't very often). I get really uncomfortable talking on the phone, but I've realized calling vendors just has to be done. Planning from out of town is definitely harder, but it will all be worth it in the end!

Following! FH and I live in Atlanta, and we're thinking about doing a beach wedding in Florida. About 5 hours away.

Well email is my best friend. I suggest making an email address just for the wedding so you can keep track of it all

I also try to set up as many appointments in one weekend. Like this weekend I'm meeting with a florist, looking at rentals, and having a tasting.

Tell your vendors up front that you are out of town and they'll go from there.

Just be very organized

I am! We live in KC but are getting married in Iowa where I'm from. E-mail has been the best. I know some of my vendors prefer phone call but I explained living so far away it helps me keep better records. My mom has been helping with a lot of things, and anything that I DIY I'm planning on taking back when I take trips back between now and then. I try to bulk together multiple meetings that I'd need to be back for. It's about a 5.5 hour drive so back about once a month is doable for me. My bridesmaids got their dresses online on azazie, and since our groomsmen are in four different states we're using Men's Wearhouse, even if it isn't necessarily ideal.

My wedding is 2.5 hours away from my home and it makes everything harder. You do what you got to do.

Echoing everyone who said email works best. I tend to go do trips down to the area once every 2-3 months to meet vendors, figure out details like the hotel block etc.

We are..14 hour difference from Indiana and planning it to be in Florida. My best advice is to have majority of your contact via email or at least have them reconfirm what was said over the phone via email. This will help cover most of confusion and if they say they never told you this or that.

I had that happen. We had a long convo with a vendor and almost 5 months ago and she forgot what she told us via phone conference. That still urks me to this day but there's nothing we can do and it wasn't too big of a deal. We are visiting this weekend and im having my cake and plated tasting, hair and make up trial, 2 events coordinator meeting, and a planner meeting. Hopefully to get all done in the 3 days we are in town.

As for bridesmaids and groomsmen...they are all over the place. Davids and Menswear house is all over so no big deal with getting dresses and tux fitted.

FH and I are very grateful that we are able to make weekend trips when we need to. Given we only live about 3 hours away, but both our families live in that town. Every time we plan a weekend there, we try to get as much done as possible. And like every one else, email is gold.

I am a couple hours from where I'm getting married and I've only been down there twice. I've done everything through email and phone calls. Why do you feel that being closer would help? I feel like even if I were getting married closer I'd still do all the planning via email.

Yes! I am from Mass, but I currently live in Myrtle beach, SC. My entire family is in Mass and most of his is as well. So no questions asked, we are having our wedding up there so we know everyone will be able to come. My mom and grandma and my dad have been a big help. Just lots of calling back and forth. Definitely know what you mean how it can be hard being so far away. I was up in December so that is when we booked our hall. But I can't make it up again until August which is when our wedding is. So I'm doing a lot from down here but I have people up there who are willing to help.

Just got to be hopeful that it will all come together how you want it to and trust the people there who are willing to help.

It's all you can do, really!

Good luck!

FH and I live in AZ and we are getting married in DE. Our engagement will be a year and 5 months total, but we actually booked the venue at the beginning of Feb 2016, so the real planning is taking more like a little less than 14 months. There have been some difficulties, but it's doable. We had to prioritize which things we wanted to do ourselves in person, and plan them for the times when we were going to be able to travel out there. Menu and cake tasting happened the one trip FH was able to take out there. The other things that I felt I needed to do in person were split between. The trips I took out there once every three months (I was visiting family). Other things, my parents volunteered to help with, since they only live an hour from the location of the wedding. They met with some vendors and reported back to us with information so we could make the decisions. And yes, there has been a lot of email between myself and some of these vendors.

It was really important to me to have a somewhat inclusive venue. Ours came with a fantastic wedding planner, who has definitely made the long distance planning easier. On top of that, the venue takes care of the catering and things like flowers and the cake were included in our package. They're done by outside vendors, and we had our choice of a list of vendors the venue would cover, and our package just gave us an allowance to spend with the florist and baker we chose. We could, of course, upgrade through the baker and florist if we wanted something more. It made it easier knowing some of this stuff was already partially taken care of and we were being pointed in the right direction.

@FB99 yay! Glad I have a twin

I live in Illinois and I'm getting married in Tennessee. I have visited twice. Everything else is being done online. My vendors are fabulous so I have total faith in them.

I live in upstate NY and am getting married in VA. I got a wedding planner and just communicate via email and phone. Have met some of my vendors via skype. Did have to fly back for the tasting.

@Erin I'm guessing the only major hurdles are the tastings.

I'm getting married two hours away from where I live, I contact most people by email. I've gone a few weekends over the past year after setting up meetings, and I finalize a lot of things in one day. You feel super productive.

Basically, the Internet is your friend.

I live in Dallas and our wedding is Chicago. Chicago is our hometown and that's where our families are. Surprisingly it hasn't been stressful planning from far away. We got a lot completed within the first few months. I'm just anxious when it gets closer to the wedding