He’s just proposed to you with the diamond ring of your dreams, and you’ve just decided on a date. You can’t wait to get married, and you couldn’t be happier – but you don’t know where to begin when it comes to planning a wedding, and we don’t blame you. It takes a lot of planning and organizing to pull off a lovely and memorable wedding, and while you will come across certain obstacles, the more you plan ahead, the better off you’ll be.
So do not fret, we are here to help! Let’s take a look at our five tips on starting a checklist leading up to the wedding so that you can make the most of it all.
1. Work Out Your Budget
One of the most important parts of planning a wedding is working out the overall budget. Costs can quickly add up when you’re planning the big day, especially when things come up that you didn’t expect.
From making sure you’ve got the catering sorted to resizing that beautiful diamond ring for a perfect fit, there are all kinds of things to consider when working out your budget. We recommend leaving a bit of room in case any additional costs come up that you weren’t expecting.
2. Choose Your Wedding Party
Just like deciding on your budget, it’s also essential to choose your wedding party before the real plans begin. This is because there will be a lot of things to do that depends on how many people are on your guest list, like seating arrangements, food & drinks, and bridesmaids dresses, for example.
If you choose your wedding party early on, you can plan around them. This will make for a much smoother time leading up to the wedding.
3. Hire a Planner if Necessary
If you’ve always dreamed of the perfect wedding but don’t love the thought of being in charge of logistics, it could be a smart move to hire a wedding planner.
One of the best parts of hiring a wedding planner is that they already have established relationships with vendors. This means that they’re going to make the entire process a lot easier so that you can focus on the finer details, like picking out your wedding dress.
“You can spend 50% less on a wedding by having your wedding in Mexico” says Samantha from Paradise Weddings, a wedding planning company that specializes in destination weddings.
4. Plan Your Engagement Party
Before you get married, you’ve got to celebrate your engagement with an engagement party. It’s best to get this out of the way earlier on, so you can spend the rest of the time focusing on the wedding plans.
We recommend making sure that the guests you invite to your engagement party are also on the wedding guest list as well. Also, make sure you hire a photographer to capture some lovely engagement photographs of you and your future husband.
5. Book Your Officiant
Before you get into things like wedding cake flavors and reception flowers, it’s important to know who’s going to marry you. Whether you’ve got someone in mind or are happy to choose a celebrated officiant for the big day, it’s important to book them well ahead of time.
With all the excitement of planning the fun parts of your wedding, it can be easy to forget essential things like booking your officiant. If you do this early on, you can tick it off the list and get busy with the smaller details.
Planning a wedding doesn’t have to be overwhelming or stressful. It’s all about planning ahead and being well organized. Before you’ve even made that checklist, be sure to cover our list of 5 tips – not only will these help you get your dream wedding off the ground, but they’ll save you a headache at the eleventh hour.