10 Things to Know Before You Start Planning Your Own Vow Renewal

It can be a lot of fun to plan your entire vow renewal yourselves, or even just parts and pieces. But DIY-ing your entire celebration also has some potential pitfalls that every couple should be aware of so they don’t end up with problems.

Things will go relatively smoothly if you plan ahead and if you assign every day-of task that needs to be accomplished to somebody reliable. Here are 10 things you need to know before you become your own vow renewal planner:

1. While doing your own planning may save you money, it will take up a lot of your time. Working with and coordinating vendors, reviewing contracts, finding a venue, dealing with invitations and RSVPs, and maintaining the budget are all very time-intensive activities typically handled by an event planner. You’ll need to manage all of these things in addition to color and style decisions, attire, attendants, an officiant, DIY projects, and more.
2. You’ll need to plan to have everything you want to create yourself completed at least a month ahead of time. That’s when things tend to get very busy, and you won’t have time to work on DIY crafting projects.
3. You must write out your vow renewal day schedule and confirm it with your vendors a month before the celebration. This is necessary to give you plenty of time to resolve any issues. You’ll need to confirm it again a week ahead and the day before the celebration.
4. Planning to do anything yourself on the day of your vow renewal is a big mistake. You’ll be busy getting ready! You’ll need to make sure you’ve assigned everything to your friends and family (or hired staff) who are assisting you.
5. You’ll need to have an assertive, organized friend or relative assigned to handle everything the day of your vow renewal. You can’t be the one coordinating attendants or vendors.
6. You’ll need to have a cleanup/teardown crew pre-assigned to handle whatever your venue requires. Even if you have your vow renewal at home, you’ll want to make sure you have cleanup help. The last thing you want to do as a couple is having to spend the rest of the night cleaning up instead of enjoying some romantic time.
7. If you’re having an evening vow renewal, you’ll want to be sure to order lunch to be delivered for you, attendants, and your helpers in advance. Everyone tends to get grumpy (and intoxicated) if you forget to provide food for them when you’re together all day getting ready. The pizza delivery guy could turn out to be your best friend that day!
8. It’s essential to make your own transportation arrangements, if needed, for the day of your vow renewal. Your best off being in charge of making sure you’re on time to hair appointments, the venue, and photo sessions.
9. If you’re making your own cake or cupcakes, you can frost and decorate them up to a week in advance if you use buttercream or cream cheese icing. They must be kept refrigerated. Fondant can only be applied one to two days ahead of time and must be stored unrefrigerated. The cake layers themselves can be baked and frozen for up to three months ahead of time.
10. If you’re doing your own bouquets or centerpieces, you’ll want to finish them as far ahead as possible. Fresh flower arrangements can be made up to two days ahead if the flowers are really fresh and the arrangements can be kept in a refrigerated environment. Non-perishable arrangements and bouquets should be done at least a month ahead!

If you have a supportive group of friends and family who are happy to help you with your vow renewal, doing your own planning is entirely doable. You’ll need at least two people that can help on the day of your vow renewal to make sure everything goes smoothly from start to finish; 3-5 would be better, even for a small vow renewal.