The wheels are really in motion now toward your wedding day. You’ve set the date and now all the details are clamoring for attention.
Here are five tips to help you make your way through the maze that leads to a happy wedding event.
1. Decide On Your Wedding Style
What kind of tone do you want for your wedding? Is a big formal wedding, a religious service, a casual civil ceremony, or a wedding with a theme, such as a fairytale fantasy? Whether you are having a religious ceremony or not you need to decide now what tone you want for your wedding. One way to proceed: Sit down with your partner and do some free association talking about your respective visions for an ideal wedding. Write down the words that come to mind about the event. If you are undecided or you have decidedly different approaches, look at bridal magazines and web sites for ideas that can help you reach a common style.
2. Establish A Budget
Find a printable budget worksheet from a wedding web site. Even if you and/or your intended are computer geeks or accounting whizzes, you will miss something if you don’t use a guide set up by a bridal expert. Next look your income, total up your current savings and determine how much you can set aside monthly. Speak with each set of parents; ask if they wish to contribute to your wedding. If so, come to an agreement about how much parents will give, or if there are specific things they’d like to give, such as the reception costs. Finally, decide if you are comfortable going into debt for your wedding. Ideally, avoid getting into debt as much as you can. Nothing will squash marital bliss faster than money trouble; couples fight more about money than any other issue.
3. Invite Your Bridesmaids And Groomsmen
Members of the bridal party do more than walk down the aisle, hold the bride’s bouquet and hand the ring to the groom. Check out bridal magazines and web sites for the list of duties typically handled by wedding attendants. This may give you a clue as to who among your relatives and friends can serve best in various capacities. Naturally, if you have siblings with whom you are close, you will want to give them a position of honor such as best man and maid of honor but be sure you share in the wedding planning as well as the “doing.” Even with a casual wedding, you will need at least 2 members of the wedding party. Decide together how bridesmaids and groomsmen are enough?
4. Start Searching For Wedding Venues
Face up to the truth: Since weddings in the UK may take place only at registered venues, many of the favorite venues are booked as far as 18 month in advance. You are more likely to get the venue you really want at the date, time and cost you can bear if you start far enough in advance.
5. Get Help and Support
Smart couples know they don’t have to do their wedding planning all alone. Help is available from all kinds of sources: bridal magazines and web sites, close relatives and friends and even professional wedding consultants.
Start by using one of the many free wedding planning forms available online. These are especially good if you are working with a relative, friend or even your fiance(e) in another location. Keeping a checklist will help you track all of the most important tasks.
If you have a position or career that consumes much of your time, think about hiring a wedding planner. A professional consultant with experience in many weddings can help accomplish necessary tasks. Just remember that you don’t have to allow the wedding planner to take over your wedding day - it’s YOUR day and YOU are in charge of it!
