Bride-To-Be, Maren Buckoski, Shares Her Wedding Planning Tips!

I met Maren and Morgan this past October for their engagement shoot.  The two came down from Milwaukee to meet me for an afternoon strolling the Art Institute Gardens.  Maren and Morgan are getting married on St. Patrick's Day this year and their reception will be at the Pabst Brewery.  Needless to say, I think this will be quite the party and I cannot wait to shoot it in all it's Irish glory.

In honor of these two sweet souls tying the knot in just over a month, I thought I'd ask Maren, the bride-to-be, a few questions about wedding planning to share with you all!  Maren shares her Top Five, her favorite place to find inspiration, advice she wishes she knew before she started planning, and much more.  

1) What has been your favorite part of the wedding planning process?

 Sharing the process with Morgan (my Fiance).  He's been a great help to me.  I feel most men take a step back and let the bride plan everything but he's been ultra supportive.  He designed our invites and he did a fantastic job.  

2) What is something you wish you had known before you started planning?

How many little details there actually are when it comes to wedding planning.  All the small things that I've never noticed about other weddings.  I will not miss making all the tedious phone calls.

5) Tell us a little about your venue.  How did you pick it?  Where is it?  What is your favorite part about it?  

[The] [c]eremony is at Old St. Mary downtown Milwaukee with reception at the Best Place at the Pabst Brewery.  I knew the Best Place was perfect for us after viewing only two venues.  The big selling point was Kim the coordinator.  She has such a laid back personality that just clicked with Morgan and myself.  My favorite thing about the brewery is the backstory.  It was about to be torn down until the current owner stepped in and saved it from demo.  The great room, where we're having our reception, is amazing on the inside.  It has original cream city brick and stained glass windows.  My absolute favorite thing about it is that is supposedly haunted!  Believe it or not, I knew it was "the one" the minute I was told there were ghosts.  :-P

6) Did you DIY anything for your wedding?  What was it and where did you get the inspiration for it? 

I did the center pieces.  I bought a bunch of green glass vases and spray painted wine bottles gold.  I got the inspiration from the "world of inspiration", Pinterest.

10) Did you ask your bridesmaids in a creative way?

I put together a small package with hot chocolate and bailey's (our wedding is St. Patty's day, so it was only fitting).

11) What is one piece of advice you have for brides just beginning the planning process?

It sounds so cliche, but just enjoy every minute of it.  Wedding planning is a roller coaster.  We had over a 1.5 year engagement.  At times it felt long and at other times I felt rushed.  Another big piece of advice I would give is make sure to communicate with your future spouse.  I had no idea Morgan wanted to be as involved as he was, so make sure to check in with your fiancΓ© during the planning process.  Believe me, even the slightest bit of help goes a long way.

12) Tell us a little about yourself.  How did you and Morgan meet?  What is your proposal story?

 I am a 27-year-old living in Milwaukee.  I am an Oncology nurse who devotes most of my time to others.  Morgan and I met at UW Milwaukee while working in one of the dorm cafeterias.  We started out as friends, only hanging out in a group of work friends.  We started hanging out more over winter break and began dating on leap day 2012.  The proposal didn't go as planned but it was still fantastic.  We had a camping trip planned up in Door County in July 2015.  I speculated something was up because Morgan told me to pack a "nice" dress.  We've gone camping tons of times before and he never asked me to pack a dress before.  We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant which was a bit crowded.  I was guessing he was going to do it at dinner, but he didn't.  We then headed down to the Egg Harbor Marina to watch the sunset.  It was then that I knew he was going to do it.  He seemed really really nervous.  Well, the sun went down and still nothing.  As we were heading back to the car he ran away saying he had to go to the bathroom.  I went to sit on a bench on top of the hill and waited for him.  He came out of the bathroom, face red and eyes teary and took out the ring box and popped the question.  My response was, "are you going to get down on your knee?"  He did and I said yes.  A car of people drove by honking and cheering.  It was on the night of the blue moon, so we went out and had a couple Blue Moon beers to celebrate.

I cannot wait to celebrate with you guys!  Let the countdown commence!