The Deep End: 6 to 9 Months Out

Sharon Rumsey  0:00  
How do you feel about your wedding planning checklist? No, honestly, how do you really feel? Most people think that seeing each and every task written down is very overwhelming and scary. But don't worry, we've got you.

Kristina Stubblefield  0:12  
It is so much easier to break wedding planning tasks down according to when they need to be completed. So you're just dealing with small blocks of time, instead of over a year of planning all at once.

Michael Gaddie  0:26  
So take a lesson as we break down the six to nine months out from your wedding. one task at a time.

Kristina Stubblefield  0:34  
You got engaged. Congratulations. Happy. Yes. joyful time. Of course. Now what timelines to do lists and checklists. 100% Don't worry, you're in the right place. Welcome to The Ring The Bling And All The Things. Hi, I'm Kristina Stubblefield, one of your hosts, along with my two good friends, Michael Gaddie and Sharon Rumsey. We have over 50 years of wedding industry experience between us. We have seen it, heard it, done it and found a way around it. We are here to get you from down on one knee to down the aisle. Our podcast will cover everything from you saying yes to the I do's and all that happens in between. So buckle up and enjoy the journey. Now let's get started with this episode.

Mike, I know if we don't hop in here at the beginning of this episode, we may not get a word in edgewise.

Michael Gaddie  1:50  
She does such a good job and she knows what to do. When to do it. How to do it

Kristina Stubblefield  1:55  
well, and planning. Obviously, there's a knack to it. But I know what Sharon's gonna say is checklists are so important. But for those out there that are listening, we may be talking about some things in this episode that you haven't thought about yet. Or you didn't realize you needed to go ahead and have that checked off your

Michael Gaddie  2:16  
list or something that maybe you've done already, but it's good to reform new remind you and come back to it.

Kristina Stubblefield  2:23  
Absolutely. Because it is overwhelming. It can be overwhelming. Okay, well, since she's staring at us, Mike, I guess we better let her go ahead and get

Sharon Rumsey  2:31  
going. I hear the two of you saying his you love to make fun of my checklist, and my color coded calendar and all of my OCD. But in the end, you realize you really need those things to plan your wedding, you really need a plan a checklist. You need a calendar to keep up with everything. So all I can say is You're welcome.

Kristina Stubblefield  2:51  
Thank you, Sharon. And yes, I am agreeing with you. You need all the things right here. And

Michael Gaddie  2:57  
that's why I love you so much because you keep everything on track. Okay.

Sharon Rumsey  3:02  
I am unapologetically over the top and extra with my my planning. Okay, so

Kristina Stubblefield  3:08  
let's hop right into this because I know we got some stuff to cover. What time frame are we at now?

Michael Gaddie  3:12  
six to nine months? Yeah,

Sharon Rumsey  3:14  
we've already talked about the things to do right when you first get a gauge that nine to 12 months out from your wedding.

Kristina Stubblefield  3:19  
And if you haven't listened to that episode, go back and take a listen to it. Yeah, go ahead share

Sharon Rumsey  3:23  
today, we're actually going to hop into what I call like the deep end of wedding planning those six to nine months out, are like your most. It's where you're going to get the meat of the wedding done, you're going to get a lot of pieces come together at the six to nine month out mark and a lot of major tasks are checked off hopefully, during those three months. One of the first things I wanted to talk about is we talked on our last episode, the nine to 12 month episode about securing all of your major vendors. And I still say that in today's wedding world that needs to be done at least you know, nine to 12 months out. Once you get those major players in place. Think about what fun vendors you you still want to add maybe you know you had a little money left in your budget and you want to add an extra touch. So maybe some fun things I've done. I've had a cigar roller. I've had a live wedding painter. I

Michael Gaddie  4:26  
tell you what, we did a wedding show this just a few weeks ago, and we had a lot of wedding painter there. And that was one of the most popular things that the couples came up and talk to us about was that painting, you know they they pick a section of the night to paint,

Sharon Rumsey  4:44  
right first

Michael Gaddie  4:46  
ceremony or cutting the cake or whatever. And I think that's amazing.

Kristina Stubblefield  4:50  
I went over and talked to him actually. And he has about 80 to 85% of the painting done by the end of the night. And when One of the cool parts I thought about it, I just thought, wow, something you'd hang in your house you're always going to have, but they recommend doing Thank you car. I love it I love that way your guests can see the finished painting. So that was something that was very unique. But Sharon going back to your list, the other thing I've seen is champagne walls. Champagne walls, I

Sharon Rumsey  5:21  
love to do what I call a sip and be seated. So instead of your traditional seating chart where everybody's name is just listed on you know, a foam board or something, you actually get a champagne wall and you put the escort cards on the rim of each glass, so it would say Michael Gatti table six So Mike comes in, he gets his glass. He's already got a glass of champagne in his hand to start the night off and he knows where his table is. It's a really classy touch.

Michael Gaddie  5:46  
I love that. I think that's amazing. I've never seen that done.

Sharon Rumsey  5:50  
I've done it twice and it's really been a kid.

Kristina Stubblefield  5:53  
I'll let's also not forget about a chocolate chocolate fountain and from Louisville chocolate fountain has been a guest on our podcast before talking about some of that. And actually that can be used as appetizer or alongside that

Sharon Rumsey  6:08  
I actually had a couple talk to an at the show this weekend. They're wanting to do a case Oh found for their cocktail hour and just have some nachos and case Oh, so just a lot of fun stuff. Like I said, I've done cigar rollers where they come in and they actually row cigars for the guest as as they're standing there. And then the bride and groom got a humidor with their wedding date and everything on it afterwards, we made a cute sign that said like the night with love and had a little lounge area outside to smoke cigars. So there's just a ton of stuff you can do. So once you get your major players booked your DJ, your caterer your florist, your venue. If you have some money in the budget, consider some of those fun add ons because it just adds a little personal touch and says a little bit about does

Kristina Stubblefield  6:54  
one of the other things I want to throw in there that I people were talking about at that last wedding show we were at? How about the sparklers or the

Sharon Rumsey  7:03  
glow sticks? or? Yeah,

Kristina Stubblefield  7:05  
there's so many different things. They're using them with their first dance not even just to leave at the end of the night.

Michael Gaddie  7:11  
What are they called smoke

Sharon Rumsey  7:12  
are called dry sparkler sparklers.

Kristina Stubblefield  7:14  
Anyways, Sharon, I know we could go on and on about this. But there was a lot of buzz about that.

Sharon Rumsey  7:20  
Yeah, there's just a lot of fun things you can add on. So six to nine months out the time to really be looking at that budget and seeing if you have money for any of those extras. And if you do what's important to you.

Kristina Stubblefield  7:30  
And I love how you said you can utilize it throughout parts of the reception, like the SIP and be seated. Like there are items that you're going to need to get people seated. It's not just something that's extra, but it actually plays right, an important role in that evening. Right?

Sharon Rumsey  7:48  
It has a purpose.

Kristina Stubblefield  7:49  
Yes.

Michael Gaddie  7:49  
So I know we talked about nine to 12 months, last time that that's when the bride gets her dress and all that but six to nine months, you're you want to think start thinking about the mother of the bride, your bridesmaids, and so on. So, you know, that's real important to get done.

Sharon Rumsey  8:09  
I agree. And the the mom's dresses are always a thing. You know, you want to get your bridesmaids dresses, whatever you decide to do, whether you decide to have everybody wear the same dress or just the same color and their own style of dress. You know, that's up to you. But that decision needs to be made and the lady start need to start ordering their dresses. But always always I get questions from the moms, what should I wear what's appropriate, and the brides always want some input in that. So now's the time for the mothers, the mother, the grandmother, the bride to be looking for their dresses as well.

Kristina Stubblefield  8:43  
One of the things that we talked about on the previous episode, Sharon was about shipping delays. Is that something that can also affect those types of dresses as well?

Sharon Rumsey  8:54  
I think honestly, in today's world with everything going on and shipping logistics, I think it can affect anything. I mean, heck, I know my Amazon prime is not two days anymore. You know, even I think everything's affected. So earlier is better.

Michael Gaddie  9:08  
And really, you could even jump those dresses back for the moms and the bridesmaids and everything. Next, you know, back to six to nine, I mean, nine to 12 months because shipping is so bad right now. I mean, you really got to jump on that early, early early.

Sharon Rumsey  9:26  
Yeah, another really important important thing that I want to make sure I mentioned so I don't forget that happens in this six to nine month period is you want to schedule your engagement photo session. And I would do that at about nine months or eight months. The reason I say that is a lot of couples want to use those engagement photos for their save the dates. And I like my couples to send save the dates out six months ahead of time, at least. So that that helps us you know people are already kind of thinking about coming and if they need to make travel arrangements, airline reservations, hotel reservations. So I really, really like those save the dates to go out in this block of time. And for that, you usually need your engagement photos done as well.

Michael Gaddie  10:11  
Well, and don't forget, we also your engagement party. Oh, yeah. So you want to make sure you go ahead and get that planned in there to have another big fun event.

Sharon Rumsey  10:21  
And I know we've talked about this before. But Sharon, I love your tip about when you do your engagement photos, it's a great opportunity to do your trial run for your makeup, possibly hair, it's great to be able to utilize that 100% and that those things cost money, so you might as well get some good use out of them. And speaking about the save the dates, once we get those out, it's time to be getting those hotel blocks done. Because you want to make sure that you have your hotel blocks set up early enough that the hotel will have availability for the amount of rooms you need. And once we have that done, the next thing I recommend you do is your wedding website. Once you get your wedding website up and running, and there's a ton of different platforms, you can do that on, you can do it on Zola, Zola, my clients have access to set their own website up through aisle planner, the planning platform that I use. But anywhere you're going to set it up, make sure you get that set up and you get those travel arrangements on the website so that guests can simply click on the link on the website and go ahead and make their travel arrangements.

Michael Gaddie  11:32  
Now that's also good for gift registry

Sharon Rumsey  11:35  
100%.

Michael Gaddie  11:36  
So I mean, because I'm not sure about all of our planner, but I mean, can Is there a tab on there that they can pick, the guests can click on

Sharon Rumsey  11:44  
once you set your website up, then they can click on the registry links and go right to it. Well, I

Kristina Stubblefield  11:50  
want sorry, Mike. One of the things I like to tell people about a wedding website, is that really can be your communication hub for your guests, your wedding party, all of the anyone that needs to know anything about your wedding, in case, there are any thing that could come up, maybe there's a change with hotels, or maybe there's an additional hotel or place to stay that needs to be added in. Anything that needs to go on with that wedding can go on that wedding website. And it's so important, I think to include that, in your invitations and all of that stuff is such an integral part of wedding planning.

Sharon Rumsey  12:28  
A lot of couples now are even doing an option to RSVP on the website. So you know, we still send out the paper cards, I don't know when I'll be ready to let them go. I still like the paper. I think that's a little bit more formal, right. But some some of my couples do include the option to RSVP online. And honestly, for a lot of younger people, that's how they do it.

Michael Gaddie  12:53  
I had a bride last year our friend not abroad, she was abroad, but she was our friend. And she invited us to her wedding in Ireland. Oh, and everything was done by her website. Now with COVID. And everything that happened last year, they did postpone it to this year. But that's how we were communicated between the bride and the family in us is everything was changed. It went from Ireland, and it happened in Key West Florida. But everything was done over this way. So

Sharon Rumsey  13:23  
when you have a major change to announce it's honestly the best way. And then I've also done Facebook blast and Instagram blast to let people know of changes, you know, if we're in a short amount of time that we need to communicate,

Kristina Stubblefield  13:36  
we're back to communication is key. How many times does that come up in our episodes? All right, I know you have other stuff, you know, I know I cut off my cast,

Michael Gaddie  13:45  
I'm booking your honeymoon. You know, you live the groom takes care of that, or the the guy or the fam the God of the bride and groom. That was kind of crazy. But I mean, that's the fun part. So I mean, you know planning your trip, getting in touch with a travel agent and taking care of that trip, you need to do that about

Sharon Rumsey  14:06  
and to add on to what Mike said now's also the time at that six to nine month mark. Look into passport requirements. If you don't already have your passport, you certainly don't want to be not able to leave on your honeymoon because your passport didn't come in in time. And now, especially in today's world, look into what vaccinations you need in order to travel to the place that you're going. Also right now. You know, I just had a wedding this past Saturday, the bride and groom had to go Friday and get a COVID test that because they had to have results back before they left on Sunday afternoon. So just look into all that don't be caught by surprise at any of that.

Kristina Stubblefield  14:45  
That's a really great thing, Sharon because even if we knew some of those time lines that it took to get those passports and things it can change. So make sure you know what you're dealing with when it comes around and gets closer to that, yeah, this is

Sharon Rumsey  15:02  
the block of time and wedding planning where you just want to check out anything that could be a surprise and eliminate that element of surprise. I also, this is the time where I post on aisle planner, the requirements for getting a marriage license in whatever county the couples getting married in, because I don't want them to be caught by surprise. And you'd be shocked here, at least in our local area, your wedding license cannot be more than 30 days old. And I have clients that want to knock it out of the way. So they they take a day off work or they go on their lunch break or something and they try to get their marriage license only to find out. They're too early getting it. So you just want to know what those requirements are know that Yeah, I had no idea has to be within 30 days of the wedding date.

Kristina Stubblefield  15:44  
Well, and think about two of your desks going a destination ceremony. Maybe you're having a reception here.

Sharon Rumsey  15:49  
What what goes on where we're based out of Indiana or Kentucky may not be the same. If you're going out west, or the county you're getting married in a lot of people think it's your county you live in. But it's not. It's the county and where you're where you're getting married. And if you are doing a destination wedding, I had a client a couple of years ago, they went to the Riviera Maya. And I did a little research and I found out that that marriage would not be recognized in the United States. So they had to get married at the courthouse here just to have it legal. And then they went and had their actual ceremony and their family and everything with them in Mexico.

Michael Gaddie  16:27  
That's some good information. But you know what? I never even thought of that. Yeah, I honestly people probably wouldn't, I

Sharon Rumsey  16:33  
honestly did not either. And it was my first destination wedding. So I looked into it. And I was really glad I did. Because I would have felt horrible.

Michael Gaddie  16:41  
Well, along the same lines, what about wedding insurance, I mean, wedding insurance, I know we have a insurance person that we work with, and actually sales insurance for your reception halls. But you also can buy insurance that will cover Mother Nature, right? You know, so no cancellation or something like that. So that's really important to go ahead and get that on the books. And really, it's not that expensive, compared to what you're spending compared to what you may lose,

Sharon Rumsey  17:13  
it's really important to to really read that venue contract and see what they are requiring you to have. Some venues don't require the client to have any, as long as the vendors are all insured. We have a vendor here locally, that requires a $1.5 million coverage. So you really have to know what's required. And then you have to kind of shop around for that.

Kristina Stubblefield  17:37  
Well on also, there's a lot of people that are having outdoor ceremonies or at farms, things like that. Family members properties, you know, make sure you know what you need to have in place, especially if you're going to be serving alcohol,

Sharon Rumsey  17:52  
for sure, for sure for sure. Does.

Michael Gaddie  17:56  
I'm just asking a question here for you, Sharon. So does the insurance comes from the bartender? Or is that something that the bride and groom needs to check into? Honestly,

Sharon Rumsey  18:06  
my recommendation would be both. Any venue worth worth being called a business will have a requirement that their catering and bar both have license and insurance in order to be part of their venue and usually have to show proof of that DJs usually have to show proof catering has to show proof. But I also recommend that my clients get event insurance that covers them as well. Because God forbid, there should be a horrible accident or something after your event. I think all of those parties would be open to litigation, if not covered by insurance. So I would recommend both.

Michael Gaddie  18:50  
You know, it's not something you want to talk about. It's Friday it is but you know, if you go ahead and do it and get it budgeted in or whatever you need to do to make that happen, then you don't have to worry about it later.

Kristina Stubblefield  19:02  
Well, the other thing I'm mentioning is those that do backyard events, and not to call it just a backyard event, but on a family member's property. It's great that they're letting you use that property, but some time earlier, or falls, oh, I was hurt. There's many things but also, sometimes those are open bars at those kind of situations. And I don't know if people realize that there are insurances that you can get out there for event to cover you

Sharon Rumsey  19:34  
in case and one of the things that I actually learned from an insurance agent that I'll never forget, is I used to tell clients just add a rider on to your homeowner's insurance for the event. And I thought that was the right advice. But in talking to this insurance agent. If you add it on to your homeowners and there's a claim filed against you, then it goes on your homeowners insurance. We all know how easily homeowners insurance gets cancelled. So it opens you up to your homeowners insurance getting canceled, your premium being raised, it's then harder to get insurance, you know, say you do get cancelled and you have to shop for a new company, it's going to be much harder for you to obtain insurance. Because you've had that claim against your homeowners, where if you just get a strictly one day event policy, it's not attached to your home or anything in your personal life. So therefore, God forbid, there should be a claim against you. It doesn't affect any other part of your life,

Michael Gaddie  20:33  
because basically, they are responsible for all the guests began there. So I mean, it just something like you said, it's a

Sharon Rumsey  20:40  
fun sucker on soccer. But unnecessary fun size is scary.

Kristina Stubblefield  20:44  
And that's we've talked about having a guest on to really go into the details of that. And I think that would be a great, great topic. Yes. Okay, Sharon.

Sharon Rumsey  20:54  
So another fun thing to start doing at this point is when you've narrowed down those vendors, that are your major players, start doing some tastings. And let's start working on maybe finalizing that catering menu, it's the time to do your cake tastings, it's the time to lock in that bar package and decide what liquor you're going to offer. If you're someplace where you are not providing the alcohol. And you're actually going with a package that is offered at the venue or through the cater, you're going to be asked to decide what types of wine what types of beer, if you're doing a full bar with liquor, you're going to be asked if you want top shelf liquor, just premium liquors, our base liquor, so there's a lot of decisions that need to be made. And let's get all this done ahead of time. So we're not dealing with all these little details so close to the wedding.

Michael Gaddie  21:42  
Well. And another thing is parking. If you want to decide if you want to have valet parking or make sure there is plenty of parking at the being good

Sharon Rumsey  21:49  
point cuz boy is at a booger when there's not

Michael Gaddie  21:52  
I mean, especially if you're on private property, you want to make sure that there's a plenty of parking to you don't want to have that traffic jam,

Sharon Rumsey  21:58  
right. And that's another great thing to put on that website, you know is is where to park, it's also the time to be talking with your cater your florist, anybody that's going to have a hand on that wedding to see if you're going to need to rent anything to pull your vision off. I know I've done a couple of weddings recently, and I have one coming up in September where we have had to rent just about everything, you know, tables, chairs, even down to like the ovens that cater heated up the food in. So you want to really get a grasp on what you're going to need to rent and go ahead and get the quotes for those things. And then the fun stuff like you want to if you're going to rent linens, or if you're going to rent place settings, China, you know, flatware, glasses, barware, that kind of stuff, it's the time to start looking and shopping for that stuff and start locking it in.

Michael Gaddie  22:52  
And also thinking about rehearsal dinners, you want to think about your guest list, you want to think about where you want to have it have to get your biggest lesson, you know how many people is on there, then you can pick a place to have a rehearsal, that's

Sharon Rumsey  23:06  
a great point, I really, really, you know, we've done an episode before on on rehearsal dinners, because they're their own event, I really recommend taking that master guest list. And then going through that guest list and creating a sub list for rehearsal dinner, and who all who all from that major list is going to be at the rehearsal dinner. And if someone's not on your main wedding list, they're not going to be on your rehearsal dinner list. So that's a very safe way to do it. And once you have a good idea of what that guest counts gonna be, then that tells you what venues you can can look at and to consider for your rehearsal dinner, and it's time to go ahead and get that locked down at this point, too.

Michael Gaddie  23:46  
I mean, really, these past from six to 12 months. I mean, if you get through that that's the main planning part right there and potatoes of it for sure. And then after that, it should be and we will cover that in upcoming episodes. But I mean, least you're gonna be able to breeze through the rest of the month.

Sharon Rumsey  24:03  
Yeah. Some other things to consider during this time is your ceremony. What exactly is that ceremony gonna look like? And I think we're gonna do an episode coming up on ceremony.

Kristina Stubblefield  24:13  
I think we should Oh, yeah,

Sharon Rumsey  24:15  
there's a lot to it. But you know, just start talking with your partner about what's important. Are there going to be any type of unity celebrations that take place are there you know, is it going to be a religious ceremony is it going to be a nondenominational ceremony, just those kinds of things. So start talking about what that ceremony is going to look like. You also want to start talking about how your venue is going to look you know, you've probably met with your florist by now and have that person booked. But the other things that you need to help pull off the look of a venue lighting, you know, market lights up lighting,

Michael Gaddie  24:52  
lighting is can change the whole AI change because it can change the whole direction of the rehearse the reception. I mean And change the mood.

Sharon Rumsey  25:01  
And now's a good time. Once you've picked your venue when you went initially, you knew what you were looking for. And there's a reason you pick that venue. But now's a good time to schedule that second walkthrough. If you have a wedding planner, she needs to go with you. Sometimes even the florist or wedding designer will go and really take a look at that venue now that you've chosen, and this is your place, and you know, this is the special place where you're going to have your event. Let's look at how we can decorate that place and what look we want to pull off and what is required to do that.

Kristina Stubblefield  25:32  
Wow, my goodness, this is a busy time for wedding planning. Right.

Michael Gaddie  25:37  
It's it's the busiest time. Yeah, it's the most important part too.

Kristina Stubblefield  25:41  
I don't think she has done yet.

Sharon Rumsey  25:43  
But one of the things I did want to talk about too, and I know we've mentioned it on the our nine to 12 months episode was now's also the time to sit down and really think through that timeline. Okay, so the bridal party is getting ready at this Airbnb, and then we have to go to the church, and then we have to go to the reception venue, now's the time to be thinking, who needs to get from point A to point B? And how are they going to get there. And that way you can determine any transportation needs that you might have, because even the biggest transportation companies only have so many of each vehicle. So you want to go ahead and get yours booked. This the six to nine month mark is when I do most of my in the office making phone calls, getting things on the book. It's it's the meat and potatoes.

Michael Gaddie  26:31  
Well, you know, it's the sounds like a whole lot. And I'm going to plug you here.

Sharon Rumsey  26:36  
Oh, please, please do it.

Michael Gaddie  26:37  
I'm telling ya. I mean, this is why you have a wedding planner to help you, you know, organize and organize the whole year because it's not it is just one day. But there's a lot that leads up to that one day, and you can't do it by yourself. And you're the girl for it.

Sharon Rumsey  26:55  
Oh, well, thank you. I think it's very overwhelming for a bride just to see this huge checklist. I mean, mine has over 200 task on it. So I think if we just break it down into what needs done when you know my grandma used to say you eat elephant one bite at a time. And I think that that's that's how you need to look at it. Don't try to look at the whole year, as oh my gosh, I forget all this stuff done. It's like this three months, this is what I need to accomplish the next three months, this is what I need to accomplish. And honestly, as a planner, that's exactly what I'm gonna do. So I think that if people can just break it down into chunks, work with their planner, you know, listen to her guidance. I have some brides that, you know, we don't have a caterer yet but they're picking out silverware. They tend to get ahead of me, they get several steps ahead of me. And sometimes I'm reeling them back in going Hold on, you know, we're gonna worry about that. We have other bigger fish to fry right now. So I think working with your wedding planner, and just taking her advice on when to do things. I think it can be a really joyful process and it doesn't have to be so overwhelming and scary.

Kristina Stubblefield  27:59  
I think that's a perfect way to sum up this episode. So thank you everyone for tuning in. Mike, you did an excellent job getting those words in. Throughout share. I'm telling you episode Mike,

Sharon Rumsey  28:10  
my friend Mike has over 30 years wedding experience. And don't you guys let him fool you? Because when I don't know what to do, he's on speed dial.

Michael Gaddie  28:21  
I appreciate that. Hey, I don't let you know when it comes to timelines and every little detail of the wedding. That Sharon's that's fine. That's that's not my field.

Kristina Stubblefield  28:30  
Well, and we hope you take away from this episode that having a checklist is so important. And as Sharon mentioned, don't let it overwhelm you take it in sections. That's why we're trying to bring you this information based on the timeframe that things are kind of broke down in wedding planning. So we hope you found this beneficial. And as always connect with us on social media. And if you like what you hear, Sharon loves us to have a glowing five star review. Until next time, everyone take care.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Ring The Bling And All The Things. If you like what you heard, make sure to hit the subscribe button to get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website, theringtheblingandallthethings.com for past episodes, and make sure to connect with us on social media. If you would like to help us get the word out about this podcast. Make sure to share with your family, your friends and anyone you know in the wedding business.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai