Wedding planning season is coming on like a holiday snowball!

Hanukkah is over, Christmas is right around the corner, and starting in January many people will be schlepping around something more than just those few extra holiday pounds. We’re talking ice, baby! It’s engagement season!

Whether you knew your love was going to pop the question or not, chances are before you put the pics up on social media you’ll want to fill Mom in. She may or may not have some “suggestions” of what should or should not be a part of your big day.

We had a chat with event professional extraordinaire and Director of Sales at Studio 27 Joseph Salierno about what to expect this wedding planning season. Joseph says it really is all going to come down to being prepared to manage your (and your mom’s) expectations.

If you are eager to get your planning under way, then the first thing you’ll need to start looking at is your venue. According to Salierno, this sets the tone for all of the other vendor planning categories coming down the line – which means you’ll also want to start thinking about a date. However, you’ll want to be a bit flexible with the date since right now the availability at most venues may be quite limited, particularly for 2022.

Once you’ve got the range of dates or a season in mind, you’ll be able to start looking at availability and touring venues online, as well as getting a feel for the cost and if it will fall within your budget. The venue will be your largest investment for the wedding, and this will likely also be one of the areas that mom will have strong opinions about, especially if she’s contributing financially.

Since the wedding industry took such a hard hit during the pandemic, thousands of events were pushed out, which caused the backlog of weddings that are now taking place. 2022 is a unique planning year, with many of the hot dates already sold out, so, not only will you want to be flexible with your date, but you also want to be flexible with the day of the week. Salierno says, if you’re not set on a Saturday night, a Sunday might work better for the venue and also work better for you financially. Same goes for time of day: a luncheon will be quite different than a dinner event. You’ll want to really work out what is most important to you.

You might also want to be open to a Thursday evening affair. Joseph says, “Thursday has become the new Friday in our expanded vision of what wedding planning is about. People are making it an expanded weekend: you do a Thursday, you take off Friday, and for some folks that really works. It’s definitely not out of the realm of planning possibilities.” It makes it fun – you’ve taken another day off from work. If that’s good for you, you’re going to find substantial savings on those weekdays. So if you can shift your mindset to “I’m having the exact same experience, just one day earlier,” you can save yourself thousands of dollars that can instead go towards future goals. That’s something Mom may be able to get behind. “Some moms,” says Joseph. “Depends on the mom.”

When it comes to choosing a photographer, one of the most important questions to ask is how the studio covers the wedding, since this can really vary wildly. Will you have one photographer or two? Joseph says that from his perspective, unless it is a super small wedding, you’ll always want two photographers documenting your story because no matter how talented the photographer is, they’ll never be able to capture the event as it’s happening as well as the emotional reactions. When the bride is coming down the aisle, the photographer is not going to want to choose between capturing the bride having her momentous walk and the reaction of her beloved waiting at the altar. That’s really what you want to think about.

The other question you’ll want answered is how many hours you’ll need the photographer for – and if the photographer goes over the agreed-upon number of hours, will there be an overtime situation? You’ll need to decide what points in your day you want documented. Will it include you getting ready? Or when you’re already in your dress and on site with the bridal party? You‘ll want to think about these questions before your meeting.

Once you have those answers, start looking at the visuals and what appeals to you. Ask if the photographer knows about Jewish customs and what is going to happen at certain points. You are not going to want them to miss the ketubah signing because they didn’t know that was part of the tradition. Salierno advises that if they’ve never worked a Jewish or interfaith wedding, let them experience the learning curve at some other event!

On your wedding day, you’ll be doing a lot for your guests and your family. Photography is the one thing that you’ll be doing for yourself, this is what will be capturing your memories, so keep that in mind when selecting your team for documenting your day.

If Mom is coming along with you to all your appointments, chances are she’ll have some expectations, particularly if she’s helping out financially.

What happens when her expectations don’t match those of the happy couple? Well, that’s where an experienced wedding planner can really help out: planners are trained to help keep the peace. An experienced planner is not only the one to deal with all the little details, headaches and issues that come up, they can also deal with all the questions, concerns, suggestions and creative ideas that Mom throws your way. A planner will not only keep the trains running, but will keep it from completely derailing!