5 Days Of Wedding Planning | Try Living With Lucie | Refinery29 - video Dailymotion

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On this episode of Try Living With Lucie, our host, Lucie Fink breaks down how she planned her entire wedding in 5 whole days. From venue to menu, she walks us through what it takes to plan a big wedding. Press play to get some wedding planning inspiration!  ABOUT SERIES Try Living With Lucie follows our favorite R29 millennial, Lucie Fink, as she dives headfirst into social experiments — five days at a time. From a week without sugar to full-blown street performing; there is nothing she won't try!   ABOUT REFINERY29  Refinery29 is a modern woman's destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life.   RELATED CONTENT 5 Days Of Becoming More Organized https://youtube.com/watch?v=X3U1v-woUqc 5 Days Of Meal Prep https://youtube.com/watch?v=DWaU47V3rMU 5 Days Of A Capsule Wardrobe https://youtube.com/watch?v=Di9Bjf_OPj4  SUBSCRIBE TO REFINERY29 Subscribe to the Refinery29 channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-to-r29  TALENT Follow Lucie Fink on Instagram: https://instagram.com/luciebfink/ Follow Unbothered on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29unbothered/ Follow OnHerTurf on Instagram: https://instagram.com/onherturf/ Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/

Transcript

00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this week is five days of wedding planning. Hello everyone!

00:04Welcome back to New York City and welcome back to Refinery29's YouTube

00:07channel. If you're new here and you haven't yet subscribed, be sure to click

00:11on the little subscribe button down here. Be sure you're subscribed to my

00:14personal YouTube channel at Lucy B. Fink and give this video a thumbs up if

00:17you're excited for a new Try Living With Lucy episode. This is sadly going to be

00:21one of the last episodes ever that I shoot in this bedroom because Michael

00:24and I are moving soon. So look around and say goodbye, take it all in. Now I know

00:29why you're all here and that's because you want all of the details and all of

00:32the behind-the-scenes info about wedding planning, so let's just get into the

00:36video. Honestly there is so much that goes into the entire wedding planning

00:39process, just way more than can fit into one YouTube video. If I actually made this

00:44video accurate and I tracked the video through the entire process, this video

00:47would be a year-long video. So for this video I'm gonna pick five major aspects of

00:52wedding planning to explore, but just know we're scratching the surface here. One

00:55disclaimer that I want to make upfront is that this video is probably going to be

00:59most interesting and also most helpful to people out there that want to have a

01:03traditional wedding. A big party with your family and friends, a caterer, a band or a

01:07DJ, a bloke. However, every wedding is different and every bride and groom wants

01:12something different from their wedding day. Many people don't even want a wedding

01:15at all. So if you're interested in a very small personal wedding, a lot of the

01:19details that I'm about to throw at you will probably not be applicable to your

01:23situation. Michael and I both wanted to have a big wedding celebration and we also

01:27both have very big families. So that's why this video is going to be pretty

01:31traditional. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let's go. The first thing

01:34that you'll likely need to consider and probably the least fun aspect of all of

01:38this is your budget. Your budget is going to dictate everything you do moving

01:42forward. There are a ton of online tools that can help you when it comes to

01:45planning your wedding budget, but because that is so not fun that's what I'm

01:48going to skip over right now to get to the fun stuff. Things I will cover in this

01:52video. Selecting your venue, your color scheme and flowers, wedding invitations

01:57and all the day of stationery, picking your dress and of course catering and the

02:01cake. As I've mentioned in a couple of previous videos, Michael and I are using

02:05wedding planners. So before we go any further, let me introduce you to them.

02:09I'm Sarah Duke and I'm Taylor Van Dusen and we are Lucy and Michael's wedding

02:13planners. We've been working together since 2013, but we've been friends since

02:18birth, pretty much. Lucy really did come in with a really strong idea of where she

02:25wanted to take the wedding and those different details, but did really leave

02:28it open. She really has had so much fun with this process. She knew what she was

02:33looking for in terms of design and aesthetic, but she's been so open-minded

02:37and really creative throughout the process. And now let's dive in to step one,

02:41finding your venue. First step in looking for a location for a bride would be to

02:48determine their budget, as well as how many guests that they will be having. The

02:53process can begin a full year for some clients and these places book up fast.

02:58Some brides and grooms start the wedding planning process by actually diving in

03:01to the nitty-gritty details. Napkin rings, bouquets, what colored dance floor they

03:06want to have. But I think the small details are best kept for later and I

03:10would say that immediately after you set your budget, the next big thing you should

03:13do is find your venue. You might be surprised how far in advance you need to book some of

03:17these venues. Of course it depends on the time of year, the location, and also how

03:22many other couples are vying for that same space. But just to give you an idea,

03:26Michael and I signed the contract for our wedding venue in May 2018, which is one

03:31year and four months before our actual wedding date. And to be totally honest, a

03:35lot of other weekend dates around our date were already booked at our venue at

03:38that time. You really do have to pick that venue first because if you think about

03:42it, the venue is going to be the place that dictates what day you can get married, and you

03:45can't start booking things like florists and vans and caterers until you can tell

03:50them exactly when and where you're getting married. And when it comes time

03:53to look at venues, there are a ton of factors to consider. Of course there's the

03:56visual appeal. You want to make sure that both the outside and the inside of the

04:00venue fit with the vibe you're trying to create. You kind of need to know a rough

04:03number of how many people you plan on inviting because a lot of these venues do

04:07have a cap on the amount of people they can hold. And this is the moment when

04:10you're really gonna start making some major decisions about your event. Is it a beach

04:14wedding? Is it on a lake? Is it in a forest? Is it in a hotel? Are you having the

04:19ceremony inside or outside? At a church or any other religious space? At first,

04:23Michael and I thought that we wanted to get married in New York City, potentially

04:27on a rooftop with city views. So we did start out by looking at a few venues

04:31locally. So despite this footage that you're seeing right now, which shows me

04:34walking through a venue totally by myself, I did in fact do this process with

04:38Michael. I just had to go back to film it during the work week when he wasn't

04:42available because we didn't actually want to film the real experience when we

04:46were trying to pick a venue. Tribeca Rooftop is a gorgeous venue in New York

04:49City that has stunning views of the Hudson River and of the Freedom Tower. And the

04:53indoor section has a glass ceiling and a giant open space that you can do so

04:57many things with. The Glass House is another beautiful venue with huge windows

05:01and amazing city views. Typically when you visit these places as a potential

05:05wedding venue, someone is giving you a tour and showing you the whole space. And I

05:09found that one of the most helpful parts of this is when you sit down with that

05:12person and they show you photos of the space from previous events that have

05:16been there. Michael and I ultimately settled on a venue outside of the city

05:19because we wanted our wedding to feel like more of a full weekend getaway. But

05:23the venue we chose is an art museum which makes things a little bit trickier.

05:26It's not a standard event space that has tables and chairs or even a kitchen. So we

05:31have to bring in everything from every fork and knife to the dance floor itself to

05:35even assembling a cook tent with backup generators for the caterers. So there is a

05:40lot to think about here when it comes to venues. Typically 15% of your overall

05:44budget goes to the venue.

05:48After securing your venue and your wedding date I'd say the next big thing to focus

05:52on is to start building a mood board. Look at colors you love, floral arrangements, and

05:57overall design inspiration. Our venue is a very raw space so if we didn't have any

06:02design elements in the room it would pretty much just be black walls with a

06:05solid slate floor. So this was the moment in the wedding journey when I went crazy

06:09with Pinterest, magazines, design books, and so much more.

06:13Typically one of the most prominent elements of planning a wedding is

06:16selecting your floral arrangements. One of the things to be considering when

06:20looking at flowers for your wedding is the time of year you're deciding to get

06:25married because a lot of the flowers that you're looking at might be only

06:28available in the spring or some that are only available in the fall.

06:32Certain types of flowers actually signify different moods or hold deeper meanings.

06:36For instance, as you might already know, a red rose symbolizes deep love, passion,

06:41and unwavering affection. But a yellow rose much of the time is saying get well soon.

06:46Now listen, a lot of people choose their wedding color scheme purely based on aesthetics,

06:50as I did. I did not do too much floral research here. But this can be a moment where

06:55you can get a little bit poetic or deep if you're into that. The various aspects that

06:59are going to ultimately play into how your overall wedding looks include the furniture

07:03that you're going to rent like the tables and chairs, every plate, dish, napkin, and fork,

07:09centerpieces, candles, bread baskets, and then of course lighting. Is it a daytime wedding?

07:13Is it dimly lit at night? The way things worked with our florist was that we had a couple of

07:17meetings

07:18early on where we showed design inspiration and talked through things we liked and didn't like.

07:22Their team has been taking everything we've said and sent them into account and they've been sending

07:26us emails back where they're actually sending through pictures of what our space is going to

07:30look like. And then one day, about one month before the wedding, we're going to do one more in-person

07:34meeting where we'll have a final mock-up. So we'll actually go there in person and see a table set

07:39up exactly the way it's going to look at our wedding. And that's when we can get really hands-on

07:44and

07:44start moving things around a little and just making final tweaks to the look. One thing that was really

07:48stressful to me when discussing the flowers was realizing how wasteful the floral process is.

07:53You pay for so many flowers. It's such a big expense. They're so beautiful,

07:57but they're used for five hours and then they're thrown away. So on our wedding day,

08:01we'll be partnering with a company called Repeat Roses and they basically come to your venue.

08:05They collect all of your flowers and then they take them to cancer treatment centers and hospitals

08:10nearby. They leave them there for about another week or so. And then when they're really at the end of

08:14their life cycle, they pick the flowers back up and they compost them. I think it's an amazing way

08:18to add a charitable element to your wedding while also reducing your environmental impact.

08:22Typically 25 to 30% of your overall budget will go towards floral and decor, rentals and lighting.

08:30As a calligraphy and stationary junkie, I have to say that planning out the invitations and also the

08:36entire suite of day of paper products was one of the most fun parts of the entire process for me.

08:41This is the one area in the budget where people always say they don't want to spend a lot and

08:47then

08:47always end up overspending once they see all these options. I did for a brief second consider hand

08:53lettering all of our invitations, but I quickly realized how much work that was going to be.

08:58So thankfully I came across a custom letterpress and wedding invitation boutique in Manhattan called

09:02Ipanema Press. Hi, I'm Adrienne. I'm the owner of Ipanema Press. There are so many options that we talk

09:08about with clients when they come in to look at stationary. The paper, the print method, the ink

09:13colors, the envelope liners, the type of envelopes you use. So from the first stages of save the dates

09:20all the way through to the day of stationary place cards and menus, we take it step by step so

09:26it's not

09:26so overwhelming. We're working with Ipanema for all of our wedding paper products. So the invitations,

09:32RSVP cards, menus, place cards, even thank you notes, and a lot more. Traditionally, someone would probably

09:38use that same company that's doing all of that to make their save the dates, but if you've watched any

09:42of my

09:43previous wedding videos, you might know that Michael and I chose to send out a save the date video

09:47instead of save the date cards. If you want to watch that, it's on my Instagram TV at Lucy B.

09:52Fink.

09:52When Lucy came in, she wasn't quite sure what direction she wanted to go in, but she did have a

09:56venue that was

09:57modern. So from there, we decided let's go with something that is super simple and really clean

10:04and really unusual. So we walked through the whole process. We looked at papers. Lucy really loved this

10:09beautiful textured cotton paper. She liked touches of modern calligraphy, but also like a really clean

10:15streamlined block font. One thing I realized after we sent out our invitations was just how important

10:20they are as a physical reminder to really get your guests excited for your big day. I can't even tell

10:25you how many of our guests called me or emailed me or called my parents to let everyone know how

10:31excited they were once they actually got the invitation. And the process of actually packing

10:35up the invitations to send them off was so much fun. My family got together and we basically just made

10:40a huge assembly line and had an envelope stuffing party. We all put on surgical gloves to protect

10:45the invitations from the oils on our hands. And we went through our guest list person by person and

10:50packed up each person's invite individually, adding all of the necessary elements. And then we mailed them

10:55all out in bulk. And don't even get me started about all of the excitement of starting to see

11:00people's RSVP cards roll in. I would say about five percent of your overall budget goes towards the

11:07save the date invitations and also the day of stationery.

11:13If you haven't watched any of my previous videos on this topic, here's a quick recap. When it came time

11:18to pick my dress, there was pretty much only one bridal boutique that came to mind and that is

11:22Kleinfeld bridal, home of Say Yes to the Dress. And it only took me two appointments to find

11:27my dream dress. In my first session at Kleinfeld, I genuinely liked almost every dress I tried on.

11:33They were all gorgeous and I could have seen myself picking pretty much any of those.

11:37So I left kind of confused. At my second appointment, I was in the process of trying

11:41on some of the same dresses from my first appointment when my Kleinfeld stylist, Debbie, said,

11:45hang on, give me one second. I'm going to go grab one new dress that just came in from Milan.

11:50She came back with this gorgeous dress in this clear packaging. I knew it was the one the moment

11:55she unzipped it and I saw it. And it was nothing short of a magical moment. I screamed and then

12:01I

12:01looked myself in the mirror and I had this sort of out-of-body experience where I was making eye

12:05contact with myself while I was thinking, wow, this is so strange. I'm watching myself put on my wedding

12:11gown for the first time. Some brides like to change outfits between the ceremony and the reception,

12:15so they might have two, maybe even three dresses. Once I found this dress, I just knew that I loved

12:20it so much and I had to spend the entire night in it. So I only have one dress and

12:25I won't be

12:25taking it off. Seriously, I might even sleep in it. And about three minutes after I first stepped

12:29into this gown, I officially said yes to the dress. So you're currently seeing footage of me trying on

12:35dresses at Kleinfeld and I have a whole video on this, but I'm not showing you the dress that I

12:39ended

12:39up selecting. Stay tuned on my Instagram account and my YouTube channel after September 21st for the

12:45final reveal. We don't usually include the wedding dress in our budget at all because our clients

12:50are looking for such different things when it comes to their dress. When choosing a caterer,

12:56we like to think about again what location we've chosen and what time of year that is because we

13:02want to keep it seasonal. Let's be honest, being a professional food taster seems like it would be one

13:07of the best jobs in the entire world. And as a bride and groom-to-be, you basically get to

13:12do this.

13:12The food served at your event can be a big part of your wedding day if you choose for it

13:16to be.

13:17And every catering company specializes in something different. Some are amazing at using locally

13:22sourced ingredients. Others have a stunning presentation that looks like something right

13:26at a chef's table. But I have to say one of the most fun parts about being a bride-to

13:30-be is getting

13:31to do the food tastings. Some catering companies do tastings entirely for free. Others only charge you if

13:37you choose not to go with them for your event. So definitely do some research before you start filling up

13:41your calendar with tastings. But this is really where you can start to put yourself in the shoes

13:46of your guests and develop a delicious menu. The footage that you're seeing right now was

13:50recreated footage with the catering company that we chose for our wedding. Events by Peter Ambrose.

13:55And here you're seeing me tasting the food all by myself because once again this is recreated footage.

14:00But in reality, this was a whole family affair. Chef Pete came into our family home and essentially did

14:06one giant dinner for nine of us. It was basically a big meal of mini tastings of different hors d

14:11'oeuvres,

14:12appetizers, main courses, and of course a ton of dessert options. Everyone gets a menu card in front

14:17of them and then as you're eating you take notes right on the menu card. Then at the end we

14:21talk

14:22about what people liked or what they want to swap out until ultimately we can develop a menu that everyone

14:26loves. And you can't forget about the cake. So we did our cake tasting on the same day as this

14:32catering

14:32tasting even though the cake is a different company. The cake is another opportunity where

14:37we really style this to fit with the overall look of the wedding. So we really think about

14:41what we're placing this cake on having the floral team come in and add flowers to style it. It's another

14:47moment. I actually did an entire episode of Lucy for Hire as a wedding cake maker and that was years

14:53before we got engaged. But I really do know how intense and how intricate the cake process can be.

14:58I think the best way to go about choosing what your wedding cake is going to look like

15:02is just to look through the internet and find photos that you love. And that's what we did and

15:06it was very easy. But there's also the option of looking through your cake maker's repertoire

15:10and seeing what they specialize in or other cakes they've already made. Or if you're really crafty

15:15you can draw a cake design on your own and build it from scratch. Generally about 20% of your

15:20budget

15:20will go towards catering. 30% of your budget goes to everything else that we haven't covered.

15:25We're not even at marriage yet and wedding planning has been a journey in and of itself. I'm not gonna

15:30lie it has been a little bit stressful at times but overall it's incredibly fun. And truthfully,

15:35I wouldn't have even known where to begin without our planners. So if you can find planners that you

15:40like I would highly recommend passing off most of the heavy lifting to them. Especially if you already

15:45have a full-time job. Some planners charge by the hour, others tack on a fee to the total cost

15:50of your

15:50wedding. So just do some research and figure out what works best for you. Just to be sure I mention

15:55it,

15:55here are some other major aspects of wedding planning that I didn't even cover in this video

16:00but are still very important to consider. Choosing your wedding band or DJ. Choosing your wedding bands,

16:05the rings. Having hair and makeup trials. Hiring a photographer and or a videographer. Building your

16:11wedding registry. Assembling all your accessories for the day of including shoes, any jewelry you're gonna

16:16wear, something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. And of course planning your honeymoon.

16:22Be sure that you're subscribed to my YouTube channel and following my Instagram account,

16:26both are at lucybfink, because I'll likely be sharing a little bit more wedding prep content

16:30before September 21st. Give this video a thumbs up if you liked learning more about my wedding planning

16:35process. And if you've already had a wedding or if you just have tips to share, please comment them

16:40below. Thank you so much for coming back as always and we'll see you next time on Try Living with

16:44Lucy.

16:44Mwah! Hey YouTube, thanks for watching. Click here for another video on this channel. Right here to

16:51subscribe to R29 on YouTube and right here for my personal YouTube channel. Don't forget to find me

16:56on Instagram at lucybfink and comment below with your next Try Living with Lucy suggestion. See ya!

5 Days Of Wedding Planning | Try Living With Lucie | Refinery29

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