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How To Plan Your Wedding From Home

You don’t have to see it all in person for your dreams to become reality.

We sat down with wedding expert Michelle Carpente (LIVE on @twobirdsnewyork) to dive into all the ways you can plan your wedding from home, and answer some questions about wedding planning in general.

Michelle Carpente is a Destination Wedding Planner from Italy and has been working in the wedding industry for over 7 years. While she’s busy being a wedding planner, she’s not only a world renowned Italian actress, she is also our premier stockist in Rome, Italy and distributes twobirds' dresses across the EU. We were also fortunate to have Destination Weddings and Honeymoons Abroad with us for consultation as they are our go to publication when it comes all things wedding related.

SO—where to begin? You’re home and you don’t know who or what to book first, what you need to see IRL, and the list goes on. Here, you’ll find a few suggestions to get you started while getting some of those boxes checked off your list.

1. FREE FABRIC SWATCHES

What better way to center yourself on all the things you want to incorporate on your big day than to start with the color palette. This will be your guide through the rest of the process. Take advantage of our free fabric swatch program—choose up to 8 different colors/fabrications and we’ll have them shipped to you right away. You can get a real feel for exactly what you like.

2. ORDER A SAMPLE

After you decide on a general color family, order a sample from Twobirds. You can order Ivory to see if the Classic Ballgown is the wedding dress for you; the Ivory Jumpsuit for the rehearsal dinner; a short straight for all the pre-wedding things i.e., showers, rehearsal, after party, etc.; and of course, the option to try any style for bridesmaids, if you choose to have them. Order a sample, play with all fifteen (and more) tie styles for a week, send it back with the packaged return label, and easy as that + 10% off your entire purchase.

3. PINTEREST

Make that mood board!! Visualize all the things you want on your big day and it well help you stay focused on everything else!

And on top of that, if there’s one thing that’s easy to do at home (besides the swatches and sample, of course), start you wedding website so you can easily communicate with guests. On top of that, who doesn’t want to start their registry and feature it on their site? Your registry could ask for household supplies, travel accessories for the honeymoon, or our personal favorite, donations to a charity you and your partner are passionate about. You’re home, get creative, have fun with it—this is your party!

4. HAIR & MAKEUP VENDOR

Research, research, research. Depending on where you are getting married, check the portfolios and reviews of all the different hair and makeup vendors in the area. Michelle says You’ll be able to get a sense of what they know how to do based on their portfolio. Some cinema makeup artists have an edgier and more dramatic look, not all specialize in contouring. So, start up that mood-board, get a feel for how you want to glow on your big day, and jump on a video call with a couple different vendors. If they’ve don’e something before, they’ll be able to fix you right up.

5. CATERER

Already decided on filet mignon and lobster tail for the main? Or pizza and beer it is? Either way, any cater will do just as they are referred to as, and cater to your specific needs. Refer back to that mood-board and decide between you and your partner what you’ll be in the mood for. This is a good category to consult someone like Michelle in, especially if you plan to have a Destination wedding. Those whose expertise is in the home country you adore will assure you the quality of the food you are choosing—they can even go as far as meeting the caterer and trying for you to get a sense of things. The point is, your caterer will make what you want them to. It’s up to you to trust your gut (pun intended) on if you’d like try before, though it’s not necessary. 

6. FLORALS

This may come as a shock to you, but don’t let it… A lot of things are going to be a surprise on your wedding day. But hey, how else could it all be a dream? We learned from Darling Moon Flower that you can choose flowers that are seasonal to the time of year you wish to get married, and if you’re unsure of that, it’s okay to take your time—you already have your color palette so the flowers will follow suit. You can have any flower you’d like, out of season types will just be more expensive as they are harder to source.

However, even if you have a ton of photos of the bouquet you are set on, or know exactly the flower, the florist isn’t going to prep your arrangements until about the day before. This is because the flowers should be opening up, in their most beautiful state on your wedding day. So, you won’t get to see them before anyways. So book away!

7. VENUE

We’re starting to sound a bit redundant but, refer back to that mood-board and research venues in the location you’d like to marry. Find other weddings that have taken place there, gather photos and follow the reviews. It’s okay to be selfish—ask someone from the venue to FaceTime you, or through your video preference of choice, walk you through the place. Ask to see where the you and your partner will have space to get ready, how easy it is it to get from the ceremony to the reception (unless it’s all one open space).

This is also a good time to think about your guests and accessibility for them throughout the day.

8. PHOTOGRAPHER

With all this categories in mind, scroll through photographer’s instagrams, portfolios and try to find other weddings they have shot to see if they will capture all the things you’ve decided on. Will they get the flow of the dress right? Are they moody? Light and romantic? You’ve built your mood-board, you’ve decided on colors, so not to fret, you already know what kind of photographer you’re looking for.

Start with these. According to Michelle, it takes about 12-18 months to plan a wedding (though it can be done much sooner, especially with the help of a Wedding Planner like herself). If you’re home and ready to plan, these things will begin to shape the way your special day is going to pan out. At the end of the day, it will all be perfect, with you and your love at the center of attention. Consult people like expert Michelle, reach out to us at Twobirds, and be selfish. Do what you want, and do it how you want it. And the rest will come. X

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