HOW TO PLAN YOUR BIG DAY

Getting married is one of the most exciting and important times in your life. On the other hand planning a wedding can be one of the most stressful things you will ever do.

Our guide and checklist aims to make it a little less stressful and a bit more manageable, we look at the key stages you need to go through and how to plan a wedding step by step, what’s important and things you should consider.

WEDDING PLANNING CHECKLIST

We have created it with a simple checklist for all the different areas of planning your special day.

KEY PLANNING STEPS:

1. Set your Budget
2. Decide what’s important to you
3. Ideas, styles and themes
4. Find a venue
5. Send out your invites
6. Hiring a Photographer and other suppliers
7. Finalize

Everyone is going to want to know all the little details of everything so be prepared to have a few answers on hand. You don’t have to go into detail and most people just are curious and excited for you, so don’t get frustrated with this part. Be happy!

1. SET YOUR BUDGET

One of the first decisions is to set a budget, and it is important to set a budget, weddings can cost as little or as much as you want and it is easy for costs to quickly exceed any budget set.

Nothing ruins plans quite like running out of money. If know how much you have to spend, you can then set the event details to be in line with the budget.

Things you will need to consider in your budget are:

• Venue: This cost will include rental as well as any setup fees or insurance that is required.
• Food & Beverage: It may be necessary to hire outside catering and service staff. Make sure that how many guests will be in function. In some cases, this cost may be included as part of your venue fee.
• Entertainment: The costs associated with entertainment will depend on the type of event you are planning. Entertainment options could include guest speakers, a band or DJ, or something different and unique. Consider any A/V equipment rentals that may be required for your entertainers.
• Venue Décor: Again, some elements of this may be included in your venue rental but if you are planning to fully brand your event or emphasize a specific theme (and you should!), you will need to leave room for it in your budget.
• Photographer: Wedding photographers can be booked up to 2 years in advance and there is no guarantee they will be available on your date, so once your date is confirmed you should try and book one as soon as possible.
• Emergency funds: Sometimes, things happen. Make sure you have extra money in your budget to cover unforeseen expenses or last-minute changes to your original plan.

2. DECIDE WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO YOU

• Next comes the one of the fun parts! Deciding on what you want most for your big day. First and for most, a venue! Do you want an inside wedding? Or an outside wedding under the stars. Then comes a lot of smaller but still very important details.
• With your budget set, the next thing to consider is what sort of day do you want, and this is everything from the style and theme, type of venue, ideal location, small or large, intimate or epic, home town or destination.
• You may have in your mind exactly what you want, and that’s great. When your budget you can split it up for different area and this is where you can decide what’s important, your venue will likely be the biggest cost with your food too, however you may wish to spend more on that dream dress, or that amazing wedding photographer you have seen.

3. IDEAS, STYLES AND THEMES

When you know what type and style of wedding you want it is easy to start find venues, suppliers and ideas for such a wedding. Event planner makes to place for ideas, you can quickly find beautiful ideas for everything from wedding decoration, bridal flowers, wedding cakes, table decorations and many more.

Color Themes

With a wedding style in mind, such as a barn wedding, on a country house estate or a festival wedding, you can then consider themes and colors. Colors for your decoration, bridesmaid dresses, groomsmen ties, flowers and more.

Lavender / Purple – Purple is always a popular choice for wedding color schemes, whether it be the deep Cadbury’s purple or a more muted tone.

This beautiful tone can also be combined with brighter shades of purple or pink for a rich, deeper color scheme.

Pastel pink – For a truly romantic color scheme you can’t get any more feminine than pastel pink. This color scheme is elegant and beautiful. Think pink macaroons! Using various hues of pink with ivory throughout your decorations, bridesmaid dresses, bouquets and accessories keeps things simple, yet elegant.

If you want to add a splash of contrasting color, blue or white makes an impact when combined with pink.

Peach color- Peach are colors that are usually associated with winter weddings but are fast becoming a popular choice across all seasons. Using different shades with peach across your wedding can look very sophisticated when combined with cream or white.

It as an accent color throughout accessories such as sparkly heels or table centerpieces.

4. FIND YOUR PERFECT WEDDING VENUE

• With a budget and guest list number in mind you can search for your dream venue, depending on your style this could be a barn wedding, country house or castle. Did you want to get married in a church, or did you want a civil ceremony?
• Using online platform you can browse venues depending on your type and style, by location. If you wish to have a local wedding then this is great for finding wedding venues near you, however if location isn’t as important then you have a wider choice of venues.
• When choosing your wedding venue consider its location to your guests, is there accommodation on site, or nearby. Does it fit into your budget, what are the food costs per head, and then the logistics side, parking, suitable for children.
• Once you have found your wedding venue, get it booked, and then your date is set and the countdown begins!

5. SEND OUT YOUR SAVE THE DATES & INVITES

6. HIRING A PHOTOGRAPHER AND OTHER SUPPLIERS

With the venue booked you can then look at the other details. With a date set the next thing to consider it your wedding planner, photographer, caterers.

Wedding planner

A wedding planner is a professional who assists with the design, planning and management of a client’s wedding. Weddings are significant events in people’s lives and as such, couples are often willing to spend considerable amount of money to ensure that their weddings are well-organized. Wedding planners are often used by couples who work long hours and have little spare time available for sourcing and managing wedding venues and wedding suppliers.

Photographer

Wedding photographers can be booked up to 2 years in advance and there is no guarantee they will be available on your date, so once your date is confirmed you should try and book one as soon as possible.

You may wish to have a video too, and hiring a videographer is becoming more popular and it a great way to relive your wedding day.

7. THE FINAL CHECKS

Now onto the last leg of your journey. The finalizing! You have already planned and purchased everything. You know your entire color scheme and how you want every decoration done.

Everything is lined up, so now you just need to finalize. Make sure you call all of your venues and caterers, double check the numbers and make sure everything is set and ready to go.

Most of all take a day or two to plan for you. Plan your special day the way you want. One most important thing is food! Most brides get so busy that morning that they forget to eat. Everyone is running around and you don’t want to take the time out to ask someone to leave and go get something, so plan ahead.