“I’m a planner, so maybe it’s easy for me to say,” Bryan advises, “but I think every bride should immediately come up with a plan. Sit down and think, ‘What do I really want? How does this fit into my life?'” He suggests making a timeline, a calendar, a budget, and even an idea of your personal style. After that, the rest will fall into place beautifully. “If you take care of it early on, then you can actually forget about it later,” Bryan adds.

 

Nothing is impossible, especially with the right team. If there is something you really want to do…make it yourself! David once built an entire Moroccan sleeping village over what was a tennis court. “It was for a celebrity a few years ago, who I can’t name, but they had a wedding for about 80 people on an estate in the Hamptons that they rented,” he says. Instead of putting guests in hotels, David and his team made small jewel tents under one large tent. “Each couple got their own tent. It was very romantic, like a hotel suite,” he says. “Just the whole idea of having to basically create a hotel was very different for us and over-the-top in its conception, but at the end of the day, it was a really amazing experience.”

 

“My favorite part of the wedding is seeing things come together that we’ve imagined,” Marcy says. If you stay focused on the grand scheme (and let the professionals handle the details), the end result will be far more enjoyable. “When you actually see something that was a little difficult, like transportation or entertainment coordination, come together as you envisioned it, that’s great fun,” she says.