So many brides and grooms are getting wedding coordinators to guide them and help them find the perfect venue and vendors! It’s not very expensive, and you often wind up saving money through the unique spots they find and their great partnerships with the best-priced vendors in the area. They can help you create a timeline for planning, too. Visit http://www.bridalassn.com to get a list of area wedding coordinators you can interview, or ask the WeddingMapper couples here who they hired and loved.

If you don’t want to get a wedding coordinator, get my book The Busy Bride’s Essential Wedding Checklists, which offers you that timeline so that you have a solid, easy to follow plan, and can get rid of the sense of overwhelm that it sounds like you have right now.

It seems like you’re ready to figure out your budget and guest list so that you know the size of your wedding, which is important to know before you book a venue and start looking for vendors. So start now with your beginner guest list, and limit parents’ friends and such. Once you have a final guest list, then you can move into checking out potential sites for the ceremony and reception. For an outdoor wedding, you’ll need to make sure the sites you’re checking out allow a tent, if that’s what you have in mind [some places don’t allow tents, so ask first!!] and find vendors who do outdoor weddings. Some caterers and musicians, for instance, have a rule that they only do indoor events to save their equipment and staff from the elements. So there’s a lot of research and checking to do — start by asking all of your friends and nearby relatives where they looked [some might have the perfect outdoor site for you that didn’t work for their wedding, but it was awesome!] and who they hired. Personal references are a great way to line up the perfect team!

Any other questions, just let me know!

Hey I met withn Lisa Ferguson the florist for our July 11th wedding and she does not have you down for June 9th which is scary since its coming up real soon- may I ask who is this or did you change florist? She just needs to know so she can relax. She saw your reply to me on here and asked me who it was-thanks,

Hey there, if you’re looking for an on-location wedding hairstylist, I’d like to offer my own services 🙂 Weddings are my specialty!
Please feel free to drop me a line if you’re interested!
Good luck with the planning…
~Jennifer
828.808.0280
[email protected]

We looked at alot of them-Lowndes Grove is $7500 to rent without food, tables ,linens etc. Cannot have 200 there with a sit down dinner.So that was out.Plus we are July and it will be too hot outside.Boone Hall is another one don’t know the cost.Check out Charlestowne Landing-It was nice but you have to rent tents…Magnolia Gardens and Middleton Place is another home setting.They were too far from our wedding ceremony site.Hibernium Hall we booked and then cancelled b/c they went up to $10,000 for ’09 again just to rent.We settled on the Francis Marion Hotel Colonial ballroom.Our budget was 25,000-30.You would have no problem there with your budget.Hope that helps, Vicki

My niece is planning a September 2009 wedding Charleston. Just looked at the William Aiken house. Cost is outrageous. Wedding planner said near 100,000. She too is going to have 150-200 people. Budget is only around 30,000-40,000. Is that a possibility? Do you know of any outdoor locations or “house” like atmospheres?

the 20th of june at boone hall plantation.

What day in June-the 13th? we have good friends who are getting married then at Lowndes Plantation.We chose Lisa as well.

We have also chosen Lisa for a June,2009 wedding. Great personality.

No, I was in the Colonial. I was hoping for 150 and got 183 so it just depends on when the wedding is. Mine was in June and that 30% rule did not apply….and most everyone had to travel to get there!

Thanks for writing back-lots of good info.Was it the Goldroom?Thats the only one available.Its so hard to predict the attendence.How many invites did you send out?They all say expect 30% to not show up.

Hi Vicki,
Everything went relatively smoothly at the Francis Marion. They did change the “wedding coordinator” person on me but it wasn’t a big deal. The ballroom was really tight with 180 people-I was in the one with the windows facing the front. Even though it was a little tight-it was perfect. 225 and you might need a larger room. Two of my best friends were married at Charleston Place and it was gorgeous but there aren’t any windows in the ballrooms but it will hold a ton of people. However, the Francis Marion is much less expensive. CP raised their prices two years ago and its quite a difference. I would recommend the following vendors:
Lisa Ferguson for Flowers-AMAZING AND REALLY AFFORDABLE.
John Paul’s Creative Cakes-Great tasting and beautiful
Band-Hands Down the best band ever and I’ve been to sooo many weddings:”Rubberband” My family sTILL talks about how great they were.
Francis Marion-Obviously the food was great and everything went so smoothly.
Lines-BBJ-I had those shipped in-not a big deal and affordable. The hotel put them on and off.
Photographer-Lacey Gadwill-words cannot express how great she was. Here are some more pics: http://www.laceygadwill.com/ROOF
First Baptist Church of Charleston-beautiful and great to work with.
Good Luck Planning!

I am just now planning a wedding in Charleston for next summer for my daughter and have no clue about vendors there .I am looking at the Francis Marion as well.Did everything go smoothly there?How big is the ballroom in reality with 180 people? were you crowded at all? How many tables did they set up? We might have 225.Did you check out Market Pavillion or Charleston Place too?I could get so taken to the cleaners b/c I do not know vendors.Any DJ you recommend?
Vicki Bachman

I just did chair covers-they can be expensive but I did the basic ivory with a gold bow and it looked great in the ballroom-I didn’t like the chairs either. I got them from BBJ and they sent them and the hotel put them on and sent them back. I had exactly 180 as well. Which ballroom are you in? Who are you getting your flowers from? That’s definitely where I saved. Lisa Ferguson does an amazing job and she was very inexpensive compared to the others.

Two Things:

1) Rent out a Restaurant for your Reception. We rented out Toucan Reef (the restaurant near the aquarium) for our reception. Because it was a restaurant, it came with EVERYthing! We didn’t have to pay extra for tables, chairs, linens, plates, glasses silverware and even the staff was included! We paid a tad extra for an extra bartender. Renting out a restaurant limits some of the stuff you can do but it makes it so much easier and cut the number of vendors I needed to use in half! It was great and they did a great job. 180 is too many for Toucan Reef but consider having your Rehearsal dinner there. Great views of the Harbor.

2) Skip the Favors and do something meaningful. Favors are typically a waste of time and stress the bride out b/c she has to assemble them.

Make a donation to a charity in honor of a family member. We did this and put cards on all the tables saying “In Lieu of Favors a donation has been made in honor of __________”. Your guests don’t have to know the amount but we donated $100 to the American Heart Association.

BOTH – Chairs are no acceptable at hotel – but they cost so much to rent

Are you looking for help on how to keep the costs down for the linens or at the hotel in general?

Any suggestions to keep cost down? 180 guests – do not care for hotel chairs and linens