It was a balmy Fourth of July night when my boyfriend got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.
A whirlwind immediately followed after “YES,” tears, hugs, champagne toasts, fireworks. It wasn’t until days later that it sunk in: We’re getting married!
It’s just, well, I don’t know what I’m doing. I never had a clear vision of the perfect wedding. When I was little, I was busy running around in the woods and through mud puddles. As I got older, I was busy interning and traveling, then working on my career and community projects. When I found myself happily engaged to “the one,” I was lost at wedding-planning sea.
Luckily, great family, friends and colleagues at Erie Insurance are helping me in a big way. In this periodic column leading up to our big day in October 2016, I’m going to share fun and factual things I learn on the way to the altar—and how to prevent some figurative mud puddles I’ll undoubtedly step in.
Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
- Take a quick inventory of your life. For starters, there is now a beautiful family heirloom on my ring finger that needs to be insured. And since we’ve already merged two houses into one, we need to add up the value of my art collection, his kayaks and everything in between so we have it all safe and soundly insured. (Avoid the overwhelmies by printing this helpful checklist.)
- Start budgeting. My lovely and enthusiastic matron of honor delivered a thick wedding binder to our house the same week I asked her to stand with me. She swears by it, and I can see why: It includes a list of everything to consider in the budget. (Most of which was news to me – a unity pillow? I never knew rings got so sleepy.) If you don’t have a binder, theknot.com has you covered. Future Hubs and I also opened a joint “wedding and honeymoon” savings account where we deposit a percentage of our earnings into it every pay day.
- Talk to an insurance agent. So far we’ve considered insuring the ring and the stuff. But asking a professional like an Erie Insurance Agent will give us a clearer idea of what needs to be protected down the road—and which discounts might be available, from bringing our assets together and other opportunities to get ahead. (More to come on this topic!)
In the next year before we say “I do,” I’ll get the scoop from subject matter experts from both the wedding and insurance industries. Keep an eye out for my next column for more helpful tips when tying the knot.
Have any advice of your own? Please share. You just might find your suggestion featured in a future story! Email your advice to [email protected].
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