Utah-based wedding planners address the unique aspects of planning weddings in Provo and give advice to newly engaged couples amidst the planning process.
Provo's wedding scene: What makes it different?
Kaushay Ford owns Kaushay & Co. Events, a Utah-based wedding and event planning company. Ford has worked in the industry for about ten years with several Utah and out-of-state clients.
Ford said one of the things she noticed that sets Provo apart in the wedding scene is the style of the wedding itself. For example, the open-house wedding style is very popular in Provo but is not something she sees as often in other areas.
The wedding ceremonies themselves are also unique to Utah, Ford said.
Ford has seen many couples who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opt to hold two ceremonies: one civil and one in the temple. In addition, some church members get married and sealed in the temple but hold their reception at a separate location.
Weddings with separate ceremonies and receptions involve more complex logistics, Peter Ktestakis, wedding planner and coordinator, said.
Couples planning a temple marriage followed by a separate wedding reception should consider several logistical aspects, he said, including coordinating the schedule, managing the transition between locations, updating the guest list from the temple ceremony to the reception and arranging catering for the different groups.
Provo couples often have a shorter time to plan on average, he said. The average wedding planning timeline elsewhere ranges from 12 to 15 months, but engagements in Provo typically last about three to six months.
"Planning can sometimes feel a little bit more stressful because you still have to do all of the things that anyone planning a wedding would do in, sometimes, a quarter of the time," Ford said.
Lilly Merrill is a newly engaged BYU student living in Provo. She is planning her wedding, which will take place this upcoming spring.
"Our culture has a theme of a very short engagement," Merrill said.
Merrill plans to get married in about three months, leaving her with little time to plan her wedding. This has impacted the availability of certain wedding elements.
"Venues, caterers and all the things are sometimes booked," Merrill said.
When certain vendors and wedding professionals are booked up, Ford said the best approach is to be open-minded.
"You might have to be a little bit more open to someone who might not be 100% everything that you pictured, but who's like 95% and is going to give you their 100%, and do a really amazing job," Ford said.
Planners' tips and advice to kickstart wedding planning
Couples who get input from family and friends during wedding planning should decide whose opinions they will allow to influence their choices before they get too far into the process, Ford suggested.
"If you can set that boundary at the very beginning, that makes life so much easier," Ford said.
Both Ford and Ktestakis recommended setting a budget early on.
"Getting an overall number, or at least a gist of what a number could look and feel like, is important," Ktestakis said.
Ford tells couples to consider their savings, any additional financial contributions from family or friends and how much money they are willing to save each month leading up to the wedding.
"You want to know what your numbers are," Ford said.
The guest list is another crucial aspect to nail down, Ford said. She recommends that couples list everyone they want to invite as they begin planning.
"If you don't know your guest list," Ford said, "you're not going to be able to get accurate estimates on anything else."
Both planners also suggested booking services early on.
"The pieces that are most directly related to your guest count are going to be the things you probably want to figure out first," Ford said. "Those tend to be really big portions of your wedding."
The services to secure early on are the venue, planner, photographer and videographer, because they are the most important and will make the biggest difference on the wedding day, Ktestakis said.
Both planners recommended that couples seek professional assistance to help with their weddings.
"They'll really be able to help you with the other planning resources and make sure that everything else from that point forward goes really smoothly," Ford said.
Couples planning their own weddings should consider hiring a day-of coordinator, Ktestakis said. These coordinators help ensure that everything runs smoothly on the wedding day itself.
"If they've planned their wedding all the way up to the wedding day, at that point, they just want to see it executed, but they don't want to stress about it," Ktestakis said. "That's where that day-of coordinator comes in and makes it go smoothly."
The beauty of every wedding
Both planners said that one of their favorite parts of their jobs is seeing the joy on the couple's faces at the end of the night.
"Every single wedding is unique and different and personal in really beautiful ways," Ford said.
Both Ktestakis and Ford expressed how fulfilling the wedding business is, especially in witnessing the joy of couples on their big day.
"To see them really sitting in and soaking in that joy and that love is a really, really beautiful moment," Ford said. "That moment is kind of the culmination of everything."