Congratulations on getting engaged. Planning a wedding is a very exciting time of anyone’s life but also one that can be quite overwhelming.
With all of the magazines, Facebook groups, apps and wedding fairs, where do you start with planning a wedding?
Here are my top three things to do before you do anything else with your wedding planning.
1. Write a draft guest list
There is no point in trying to look at venues or anything else until you have a rough idea of how many people you need it to hold.
Think about all of the people in your life that you may want to invite:
Immediate family
Extended family
School friends
Uni friends
Work colleagues
Make decisions about whether you are going to invite partners and children. All of this will add to your final number.
As I said it does not need to be exact but you need to know whether you are looking at 50 guests or 500.
2. Budget
Who wouldn’t love to be able to throw endless amounts of money at our big day? Unfortunately, the majority of us will need to set some kind of budget to keep us on track.
Food and drink is almost always the biggest chunk of the budget. This is why we suggest doing a draft guest list before starting your budget.
We would advise to have an ‘average’ and ‘maximum’ column for each item as well as an ‘actual’ for when you have booked things. Revisit the budget regularly to work out if you need to save or splurge.
3. Venue
Capacity is obviously a big element to consider when looking at venues, as well as cost which is why this is step three!
There are many different styles of venue to consider so it is good to have discussions about what style of wedding you want. Outdoor venues are very popular but you may wish to go for an urban vibe or classical country house.
Popular venues do get booked up several years in advance so it is important to secure one early on in your planning process. This is especially important if you have your heart set on a specific date or month.
Other things to consider when looking at venue are:
Distance from church or registry office if you are having a separate ceremony on the same day.
License options if you want to get married at the venue. It is also worth looking at timings for bar and music.
Accommodation options either onsite or nearby for guests that are travelling.
What is important to you. If you and your partner are big foodies, what is the food like or are you able to bring in your own caterers? If you are a wine buff, does the venue charge corkage to bring your own?
Still need help?
I hope that you have found this post useful but if you need some more personalised support please get in touch. We offer 1-2-1 one-off wedding planning sessions. This can take place either on Zoom or in person.
For more information on personalised support, please click here
