Blog | Melhorn Manor | Mount Joy, PA

Q&A: Wedding Planning Tips from Local Lancaster Experts

Planning the wedding of your dreams with your partner should be a fun time, but it can also be very stressful. We’ve talked about methods to help reduce stress throughout the entire wedding planning process in some of our previous posts. But the best advice we can give? Listen to the experts and discover wedding planning tips you probably never thought about before!

Whether you’re talking to one of your vendors or have hired a wedding planner for your big day, you don’t have to handle all of the wedding stress alone. Wedding planners and vendors have been through the wedding process hundreds of times; we’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we’re ready to offer advice wherever we can.

In this post, we’ve consulted with two of our favorite local wedding planners—Taryn Blake Events and Simple Soiree. We asked both vendors some of the most common questions we hear with wedding planning, and why it would be beneficial for you and your partner to hire a wedding planner for the big day. Read on for all the insider tips from these Lancaster wedding planning experts!

How to Create and Keep to Your Wedding Budget

Money. No one likes to talk about it, but it’s necessary to be honest about it when you’re figuring out your wedding budget.

We’ve mentioned in some of our previous blog posts how money can be a huge stress factor for couples planning a wedding, but it doesn’t have to be! Whether your budget is $25,000 or $250,000, there’s a way to stick to your wedding budget without causing stress. With sufficient organization, support from your significant other, a little flexibility, and this guide, you can have your dream wedding and still keep to your budget.

How to Schedule Your Wedding Reception Timeline in Four Easy Steps

In a previous post, we discussed the ins-and-outs of what a bride or groom needs to create the perfect wedding timeline. From booking your venue right down to the details of getting your marriage license, we cover every detail. But, we want to break it down even further by discussing the details of your wedding reception timeline.

Keep reading to learn some of the wedding trade’s top tips and secrets that we’ve gathered over the years for having the perfect wedding reception.

5 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Wedding Venue

Picking out your wedding venue for your big day is typically one of the first things that you do. When it comes to planning your wedding, your venue is a big decision, but how do you know you’re choosing the “right” one?

Chances are you haven’t had to pick out a wedding venue before, and if you have, you know how stressful it can sometimes be! Luckily, professionals in the wedding industry have done this hundreds of times and know exactly what you may or may not need.

Being a wedding venue ourselves, Melhorn Manor has heard a fair share of questions, comments, and concerns. To help out any future wedding planning couples, we’ve put together this list of important questions you should ask your wedding venue before you book them.

What Every Bride Needs to Know When Creating Their Wedding Timeline

In a previous blog post, we discussed how to avoid becoming overly stressed when planning a wedding. One of the significant points in that post was how important it is to create a wedding timeline.

While planning a wedding may seem daunting, you can rest assured that a comprehensive wedding timeline will significantly reduce your stress in the long run. Here at Melhorn Manor, we consider ourselves experts in helping the wedding planning process go smoothly. To that end, we’ve put together this year-long wedding timeline for you to use.

Our Favorite Lancaster Wedding Photographers

One of the most critical choices of your wedding day is deciding on your wedding photographer. But when you search for wedding photographers on wedding websites like The Knot, you can get back an overwhelming amount of results.

Planning a wedding is stressful, but it’s never something you should rush through. When it comes to searching for the perfect wedding photographer for your big day, you’ll want to make sure you choose someone who meets all of your criteria. Things like price, style, types of services, and even personality can make or break your choice.

So while it’s important to “shop around,” we’ve created our own list of some of our favorite wedding photographers here at Melhorn Manor. Please note that this list is all of our own personal preferences, and is not sponsored in any way. Price ranges and offered services are either pulled from The Knot or the photographer’s website.

A Look at the Average Wedding Cost in Lancaster

No matter how fun it is to plan a wedding, the biggest concern (and likely the largest source of arguments for couples), is deciding on a budget. Between figuring out a caterer, picking out a dress or tux, deciding on a venue, and all of the other crucial details of a wedding, you may be wondering what the average wedding cost is in the Lancaster area.

At Melhorn Manor, we’re always trying to help out stressed couples wherever we can. Your wedding budget doesn’t have to be a source of stress if you know what to expect. So to assist couples with budgeting and planning a wedding, we took a look at the average cost of holding a wedding right here in Lancaster, Pa.

Why Melhorn Manor is Your Perfect Barn Wedding Venue

Picking out a wedding venue is a big step for most couples and can sometimes be overwhelming. There are so many factors to take into consideration like size, location, parking, amenities, and a handful of other dynamics as well. If you’re looking for a barn wedding venue, that list of factors probably got even bigger! So, where do you even begin when you’re looking for that perfect place for the big day?

According to The Knot, there are over 500 wedding venues in Lancaster County alone—that’s a lot of choices to make! And if you’re looking to celebrate the rich history that the county has to offer by choosing a barn wedding venue, that list doesn’t get narrowed down by a lot.

Luckily, when you’re looking for the best barn wedding venue in Lancaster County, you don’t have to look any further than Melhorn Manor.

What You Should Know Before Hiring a Wedding Caterer

Your wedding day is likely one of the most important days of your life. It’s a time when your closest family and friends come together to celebrate the love between you and your bride- or groom-to-be. Despite all of the stress, most people know how important it is to book your vendors way in advance, but there’s one, in particular, we want to discuss today—your wedding caterer!

There’s not much that brings people together better than food. Whether you’re doing a seven-course meal, having a buffet, or even bringing in a few food trucks, the food (and maybe the drinks) are what people tend to look forward to the most at the wedding. Well, except maybe spending time with the happy couple!

How to Not Become Overwhelmed by Planning a Wedding

First things first—congratulations on your engagement! You’re about to dive headfirst into a year or more of whirlwind wedding stress, planning, budgeting, and probably more headaches than you can count. You’ll be visiting venues, cake tasting, choosing your vendors, picking a theme, coming up with a guest list, and much, much more during this busy time.

So our second bit of advice? Don’t panic. When you book your wedding with Melhorn Manor, you can take comfort in knowing you’re in the hands of the professionals. We hope that our beautiful and peaceful wedding venue—located in the heart of rural Lancaster County—will relieve your wedding anxiety and help ease the stress that comes with planning a wedding.

To help out, we’ve put together a few tips and tricks for getting rid of some of that all-too-familiar wedding stress. Just remember—you’ve got this, and we’re here to help you every step of the way.