Engaged? Congratulations!!! After you tell your family and friends, here are the First Five Things to Do to set the foundation for planning your celebration.

 

1) Create a Wedding Email Address: Use a new email address to inquiry information from wedding professionals.   This will also help avoid your main email from getting spammed.  Consider creating an email address that incorporates the use of a #hashtag.  For example, EileenOnMike0207@email.com.  (4 Tips: #Wedding Hashtags)

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2) Set an Overall Budget: Whether it's a million dollar wedding or a simple backyard wedding, everyone has a budget.  When a budget is identified, this will determine, the location, time of year, day of the week and wedding professionals.  Since the pandemic, the cost of everything has increased. The overall budget will determine what areas can be upgraded or reduced. National websites on wedding costs generally do not reflect the reality of wedding costs on the North Fork or in the Hamptons.  The costs are generally higher, in some cases a lot higher.  Kindly note, true wedding professionals want to make your wedding vision a reality.  The professionals pricing is based on several factors: their cost of doing business, experience, reputation, supply and demand for their services. 

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3) Set the Date & Location: Saturdays from May through October are prime dates and there are only 26 of them. If the date is flexible, the vendors might be a flexible as well.  For 2023, some of the super prime Saturdays are around the holiday weekends; May 27 (Memorial Day Weekend), June 17 (Juneteenth), July 1 (Independence Weekend), September 2 (Labor Day Weekend), October 7 (Columbus Day Weekend) and dates like 09.09.23, 09.23.23 and June 24 (Graduation Weekend).  Consider having a weekday wedding on a holiday weekend.  This will allow your guests to explore and enjoy the east end of Long Island.   On a side note plan ahead, from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend there are multiple summer galas and private events, that require many of the same type of professionals.

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4) Vendors Needed:  Create of wedding professionals that are needed.  Determine which vendors are most important and will have the greatest impact on making your wedding vision a reality.  This will also assist with the wedding budget. Not all vendors are created equal, 10 TIPS Selecting the Best Wedding Pros

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Venue, Caterer, Entertainment, Flowers, Event Rentals, Photographer, Videogapher, Cake, Tent, Lighting, Hair/Make-up, Wedding Officiant,  Transportation, Valet Parking, Portable restrooms, Security, Tick & Mosquito Spray 

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5) Get Inspired: Gather ideas from a variety of sources.  For the latest trends, follow us on social media, INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK.  All of the posts are from the professionals on our website. 

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