Given that I am a wedding planner getting married there is an expectation that this will be a walk in the park for me.  I have worked with hundreds of brides from all walks of life and budgets to match, and they are all so different. But each person has their own little favourite parts, be it the centre pieces or the flowers, or sometimes it's the dress or an incredibly stunning cake.  So as I sit down to start the planning of our own wedding the creativity is abundant.

I can assure you I am going through the same challenges and excitement that you are, probably even more so because I have seen so many amazing and gorgeous weddings that it is hard to work out what I will choose for myself.  So…. from venues to dresses, flowers, styling and most importantly food this is a journey that I’m excited to be taking.

The beginning of your planning journey is always a challenge - where to start and who to talk to and it's definitely been no different for me.  As I tell all my wedding clients, the best place to start is to know your budget.  Before you do anything else sit down with a pen and paper or a spreadsheet to list all the items you will need to pay for.  You can get this information from wedding websites or magazines as they are full of lists of things you need to include in your budget.

Then comes the fun part – RESEARCH.  Isn’t it funny how you can look at literally hundreds of venues, dresses, cakes and more; searching aimlessly through magazines, blogs, websites and bridal shops looking for the one.  More often than not you end up right where you started, at the beginning with the first dress that caught your eye or the venue that felt perfect.  You have spent all those hours researching to prove to yourself that in fact there really isn’t anything out there that’s better.

So step 2 - to me the next big decision we had to make was our venue, this is the where all our family and friends will come together and celebrate with us.  How do you go about picking such a place when the options and locations are endless?  Go with your gut, what feels right.  Is there a special place that means something to you as a couple or has history for you?  You need to know in your heart that this place will be exactly what you are hoping for, the right atmosphere, good food and staff who will take care of you.  Ironically this is where I have started to realise the true value of the role I play within other brides’ lives and how valuable a resource a wedding planner can be.

We have decided that our location will be Taupo, a small and intimate ceremony with 40 guests.  The day goes by so quickly and we really want to enjoy the celebration and spend quality time with our nearest and dearest.  After reviewing the options in Auckland the pickings are a little slimmer in Taupo and as much as I dreamt about having our wedding reception in the ballroom of the Hilton the budget prevented such extravagance.  We have chosen Huka Falls Resort, they handled my enquiry quickly, the guests can stay on site and the grounds are stunning.  Big trust has gone in to this decision as I’ve been told it’s amazing however I have only seen pictures on the internet so fingers crossed.

I do quite often find myself taking a scattered approach to my planning – I will find a cake or flowers I like, then it’s so easy to start wandering off in different directions.  Remember, it will all come together; the most important thing is to tackle one thing at a time and be really happy with that.  Making sure that you keep your overall theme and colours in mind is important.

If you would like to keep up to date with what I am doing check out my blog http://www.mywedding.com/adrianandlisa/blog.html. Or if you just have a question, please feel free to email it through This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Until next time ciao and happy planning!

Visit www.lisarobertson.co.nz for further details.  Lisa is available to answer any questions or provide advice if required, if you have a question for Lisa please contact her as below.

p. 021 0488 130
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w. www.lisarobertson.co.nz

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