Wedding Planning – Where to start!

Congratulations on your engagement! I’m sure you’re both still buzzing and can’t wait for the next stage in your lives together! Wedding planning can be a daunting task and most couples have little experience of organising a large event, let alone one as important as their own wedding.

There are some important items that need to be discussed right at the start to ensure you’re both off on the right track to planning your perfect day.

Your Date

Obviously everything else is planned around your date, so having an idea of when you would like your big day is important! Consider the season, are you hoping for a sunny summer wedding, or would you love to have the autumn colours as the backdrop to your photos? Make sure to check that your dream date doesn’t clash with any big holidays or events, such as Easter or sports cup finals.

Style your day

Everyone has their own style and your guests will love to see your wedding being just perfectly you! Have you always dreamt of a glamorous formal day, or have you your heart set on a much more relaxed, laid-back day? Gather some ideas of what you would both like and use those to set the tone. Feel free to ask friends & family for their thoughts but remember this day is all about you, so make it how you both love it!

Time to save

Weddings are expensive events, even small scale gatherings, so make sure you have plenty of time to save for your day without putting yourself under too much stress. Don’t forget that you may be looking to buy a house around the same time as well, which is equally as expensive and time-consuming as wedding planning.

Priorities

We all want our wedding to be perfect but we all have our own idea of perfect. Sit down with your other half and discuss what your priorities are for your big day. Maybe your hubbie-to-be wants the coolest car ever (Yep, that’s me!), or your future-wife wants her dress from her dream designer (Yep, that’s Vanessa!) Make a list of your priorities and then you’ll know where to devote your time and budget.

Organising

The less glamorous side of wedding planning is the “wedmin”, all the necessary admin to ensure your day runs as smoothly as possible. It can be hard to keep track of everything that is read, said and agreed. I recommend setting up a wedding email account (Gmail is free) to handle all communications, as well as a free Dropbox account to store the all-important spreadsheet and other electronic documents. Both of these will allow both of you to access all of your wedding info from any device, ensuring both of you are always up to date!

Wedding website

It’s important to keep all your guests up to date with the plans for your big day and wedding websites are becoming more popular and powerful. Your website can be used to share the info for your day, such as the venue address, suggested hotels nearby, as well as collect RSVPs, share gift lists and even help you crowdsource photos from your guests! We used GettingMarried which was very easy to use, and Joy is rapidly becoming very popular with even more features. Even better, both services are free!

Get covered

A hot topic in 2020, wedding insurance should cover you from losses that have affected your day, such as problems with the venue or vendors, external events beyond your control and even events causing damage or injury at a wedding. As with any insurance policy, make sure you check what is included and excluded, and destination weddings will likely require a specialist policy.

Also, don’t forget travel insurance for your honeymoon as well!

Talk to other married couples

Recently married couples will have plenty of tips to help you, and pitfalls to watch out for, that they’d be happy to share with you. Their advice and insights will reassure you that you’re heading in the right direction and likely provide plenty of resources to help you along the way.

Hopefully this helps you start your wedding planning journey, it’s a lot of work but it’s definitely worth all the effort when you’re both enjoying the best day of your life!