{"id":6999,"date":"2022-02-28T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T14:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=6999"},"modified":"2025-08-24T11:10:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T15:10:18","slug":"diy-vs-professional-wedding-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2022\/02\/28\/diy-vs-professional-wedding-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY vs. Professional: Wedding Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Oct. 14, 2022, gets closer, Kaitlyn Phillips can barely contain her excitement. She constantly tells her family how many more days: 251 if you\u2019re curious. Although she is planning her wedding on her own, she\u2019s lucky enough to have professional help from Lauren Fitzmaurice. Fitzmaurice has found her calling in wedding planning.\u00a0 \u201c<\/span>I’ve always loved weddings. Planning my own was the best time of my life. But I honestly never thought about doing it professionally until the opportunity presented itself,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Phillips showing off her sparkly engagement ring, moments after Rokitowski popped the big question.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fitzmaurice began her career as the manager of Wild Blooms Bridal<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>a boutique in Wappingers Falls, New York. Now she is a professional wedding planner and she couldn\u2019t love it more. Fitzmaurice is Phillips’ soon-to-be cousin. So both women were extremely excited to start this adventure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Phillips and Fitzmaurice both agree that one of the most important parts of planning a wedding is the budget. \u201c<\/span>It is important to set an ALL IN wedding budget to help guide you in your decision-making. It is also very important to manage your expectations of how far your money will get you,\u201d Fitzmaurice said. They both agreed that vendors are extremely important, as well. \u201c<\/span>You have to have an idea of how many people will be attending before booking a venue to make sure everyone can fit. You also need this number to get an estimate from the caterer as well,\u201d\u00a0 Phillips said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Phillips also thinks that the first thing a couple should do is pick the date. Without that, they cannot get any estimates or bookings.\u00a0 Phillips remembers sitting down with her fianc\u00e9, Steven Rokitowski, and trying to pick a date. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t decide if we wanted to try for a 2022 wedding, but it all fell into place,\u201d Phillips said.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Phillips said that the most difficult part of planning a wedding is the impact from COVID-19. There was a wedding boom this year, so she did not think she had a chance to plan her dream day. After she got engaged in 2021, she immediately started planning and had almost her entire wedding planned within a few months.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fitzmaurice said that the most difficult part of her job is personal budgets. Weddings are more expensive than people realize. \u201c<\/span>It can be really hard to wrap your head around the cost of everything, especially since you (usually) only plan a wedding once!\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Wild Blooms Bridal<\/span> offers many different packages that serve different levels of need. Full planning is when Fitzmaurice will do just about everything. People typically hire her if they\u2019re too busy, overwhelmed or are from out of town. Another option is partial planning, where the couple already has a venue and she helps with vendors. The other common option is month of coordination. The majority of the wedding is planned, but it’s always helpful to have an extra set of hands.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fitzmaurice believes she has important assets for her job.\u00a0 \u201cI love my couples and I love weddings! I take great pride and pure joy in guiding couples through their wedding planning process and getting them down the aisle. A planner is a great resource throughout your wedding journey because they see SO much.\u201d She loves to help couples get their perfect day. She takes her job seriously and even gets emotional. \u201cYes, I do cry at every wedding when I send my couple down the aisle,\u201d Fitzmaurice admitted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Although Phillips believes she did not necessarily need to hire a professional, she had some help. \u201c<\/span>I was also lucky enough to have Lauren to give me some advice and recommendations every now and then!\u201d<\/span> Phillips reminds couples that this will be stressful. But make sure you take the time to enjoy it. \u201c<\/span>I know it can be stressful. But the time goes by so fast. So try to soak it all in and have fun at the same time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Oct. 14, 2022, gets closer, Kaitlyn Phillips can barely contain her excitement. She constantly tells her family how many more days: 251 if you\u2019re curious. Although she is planning her wedding on her own, she\u2019s lucky enough to have professional help from Lauren Fitzmaurice. Fitzmaurice has found her calling in wedding planning.\u00a0 \u201cI’ve always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8196,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6999\/revisions\/8196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}