Getting set for the big day means being organised so you’re smiling rather than stressed. Here are our wedding planning tips to get you started.
Congratulations! Now you’re officially engaged, enjoy the moment... then float down from cloud 9 and get set to start planning the big day. While getting married is romantic, planning a wedding can be a labour of love. So, if you want anything other than a quick trip to the registry office in your lunch break (and there’s nothing wrong with that!) you’ll need to get organised.
The 5 Ws to the perfect wedding:
- When
- Who
- What
- Where
- Why
When
- Start by leaving as much time as possible until the big day to save stress, look for the dress, get inspiration from wedding magazines, and get the pick of the best venues at more competitive prices.
- The details – make a list of everything you need to buy or book ahead such as the photographer, cake, wedding car/s and look into them as soon as possible after you’ve drawn up your budget.
- Invitations were traditionally sent out 6 weeks before the wedding, but now go as soon as you like so your guests can save the date and you get to know how many are coming well in advance.
What to ... spend/do/wear/arrive in/eat and drink/include/avoid
The list is all about detail. It can be as long as you like and may include photography/filming, flowers, invitations, care hire, cake, bridesmaid's outfits, wedding favours, wedding present list and add-ons such as the hen/stag dos.
Drawing up a budget may not be the most romantic thing about getting married, but it will affect everything else in the ‘what’ list, so do it before you do anything else. Weddings can cost a fortune: £20,000 or more, according to recent figures. They don’t have to of course, but the wedding industry is big business and it’s scarily easy to be tempted by gorgeous gowns, lush locations and designer decor. If your budget is modest (and whose isn’t these days?) keep things simple: it’ll still be a perfect day and you won’t be paying it off for years to come.
- Figure out what you can afford and set an absolute maximum figure that you won’t go over – repeat daily and stick to your guns.
- Research how much things cost so you can decide what you want to spend more or less on. For example, you may prefer to spend more on your honeymoon and save on the photography by asking a friend to take the pictures, or create your own invitations instead of having them printed. Or you could consider picking up a second hand or hired dress (worth investigating: a beautiful dress worn once and cleaned could be as good as new for a fraction of the cost) and have more for the venue of your dreams.
- Be prepared to negotiate on everything to get the best deal – be charming, but firm: if the hotel/car hire company etc want your business, they’ll be happy to trim the price or throw in a few extras for free (This works much better if you have plenty of time before the day).
Where
- Wedding and reception - will it be church, a hotel, a tropical island...? As with everything, do your research, negotiate and stick to your budget. And remember to check out the legal requirements of a civil or religious ceremony, or civil partnership, and find out how to give notice of marriage/civil partnership. Check on your local authority website or go to www.weddings.co.uk or www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/civilpartnerships/
- Honeymoon - a good one to delegate for someone else to organise, to your brief and, you guessed it, your budget.
Who
- Guests – the number of guests determines the size of your venue and amount of catering. You will probably be editing this a number of times depending on how much family and how many friends you’d like to be there and how many can make it.
- Delegate. Divvy up jobs from the start. Your mum/dad/auntie/best mate/other half will be happy to get involved, and you can’t do it all alone. You could even delegate the whole thing, either to your mum/auntie etc, or, if you have the cash, to one of the dozens of wedding planning companies out there who will happily sort out every last detail, for a fat fee of course.
Why to stay focused
In short, so that at no point do you and your partner ask yourselves ‘Why are we doing this?!’ Keeping calm and grounded will help things come together the way you want them as much as possible, and make your wedding memorable for the right reasons.
Bounty
Bounty
