Newly Engaged? Where to start with your wedding planning.
Congratulations on your recent engagement!
It is an exciting time. Planning a wedding can be a lot of fun but also stressful if you have a lot going on and not sure where to start. Today’s blog will give you the top 10 steps on where to start with your wedding planning.
Decide on your budget.
It is important to start your wedding planning with a realistic budget in mind. From here, you will want to decide what are the most important aspects of the wedding that you can see spending more of the budget on. Will it be the food, the entertainment, attire, etc. Don’t forget to include any money that might be donated from family members as well.
Create your guest list.
Start creating your ideal guest list of your absolute must invite to your wedding. Also discuss with your family if they are wanting certain friends or relatives invited. You may want to create an A and B list depending on your budget and your venue’s capacity.
Decide on your ideal wedding date.
If you are thinking of a pretty popular wedding venue, have a back up date just in case. This will also depend on which month you are wanting to get married in as some months are definitely more popular than others. Popular wedding months include June, August - October. Some things to consider are whether or not you can/want to have your wedding on another day of the week. If you are flexible with this, you will most likely see more options available at some of your favourite venues.
Start researching for your venue.
Do you want to have your ceremony at the same place as your reception, do you want an indoor or outdoor wedding? If the wedding is outdoor, does the venue offer a back up plan in case of bad weather? Does your dream venue offer onsite catering? Do they allow outside caterers? Can you bring in your own beverages?
Find your photographer.
If you have a photographer in mind, that you absolutely love their work, book them quickly. Next to venues, photographers book up quickly. Ensure you are asking to view full portfolios of previous weddings that fit the style you are looking for.
Decide whether you want to do a wedding website with online invitations or paper invites.
If you are going with paper invites, find a stationery artist and start working on some ideas of what you want your invitations to look like. Creating a wedding website is a great way to keep your guests informed of any live changes as they happen and the perfect tool to track all your RSVP’s and guests meal choices. One of my favourite wedding websites to use with my couples is WithJoy.
If you have it in your budget, hire a wedding planner.
Your wedding planner can be with you from the get go; helping you to find and build your amazing vendor team and helping to take a lot of stress out of doing your vendor research. (check out our previous blog about the benefits to hiring a wedding planner here) You could hire a wedding planner for the Month-of the wedding. Your Month-of Coordinator will start working with you anywhere from 4-8 weeks prior to your wedding, helping to pull all the details together, working with you on creating your wedding day timeline, be the main point of contact for your vendors and helping to ensure your wedding day goes smoothly (check out previous blog about why you might want to hire a Month-of Coordinator here).
Send out Save-the-Dates.
With the wedding boom, sending save-the-dates as early as possible, gives your guests and love ones so much more time to start planning their calendar. On your save-the-dates, you can also include your wedding website so that they can check back for updated details regarding your wedding.
If you will be wearing a dress, grab your best friend, family member, etc. and start shopping!
Finding your dream dress can take a few tries at different shops. Once you find your dress, it can take up to 8 months to get the dress ordered, brought in and fitted so make sure to give yourself lots of time.
Find your florist.
Do some research on what florals are available around your wedding date. Getting florals that are seasonal will help with costs. If being sustainable is important, find out if the florist works with local suppliers. It is a great way to keep things local.
This list will help get you started. For more information on how to start planning your wedding, checking out our free download
