If you had double the reason to celebrate this festive season, then huge congratulations to you! For all of you who got some Christmas bling on their finger, now that the festivities have passed, we’re very sure that you’ll be keen to get planning your wedding straight away.
But with so much to organise, where should you start? As with so many aspects of your life, “Organization is key to wedding planning,” as @theknot notes.
Aside from working out your budget, another important thing to organise straight away is your wedding venue. This needs to be your priority, especially if you want to get married within the next 12 months.
Lots of venues book up months in advance, particularly if you’re hoping for a summer wedding – although winter weddings are currently proving to be very popular too so don’t get caught out! When you start to think about where you would like to get married, it’s important to begin with the issue of with how many people you envisage sharing your Big Day.
After all, there’s no point booking a venue that can only squeeze in 80 people at a push if you have your heart set on a huge wedding with everyone you know coming to celebrate!
There’s also the opposite issue of wanting a small, intimate wedding with a handful of your favourite people but then booking a venue that overwhelms your group. Some venues are perfectly appointed to accommodate any size wedding.
Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire, for instance, is perfect for small or large weddings due to the wide selection of spaces available. Trying to work out how many people will be coming to your wedding is a crucial element of the wedding plan, so the first list you make (after your to do list!) should be your guest list.
After you’ve sorted out your venue, you can move on to focusing your attention on the rest of your Big Day.
Now it’s time to think about the fun stuff! Here’s our recommended wedding planning To-Do List to help you get started:
- Draw up a guest list
- Choose a venue
- Choose the important people (best man, maid of honour, bridesmaids, etc.)
- Book a band, wedding singer, and other entertainers
- Choose a photographer and videographer
- Buy dresses, suits, shoes and all the other glad rags
- Organise the food and drink
- Go cake hunting
- Find your flowers
- Send save the dates and invitations
- Book your honeymoon
- Create a table plan
- Arrange hen and stag dos
- Relax and enjoy being engaged
We know it’s easy to get swept up into wedding fever and that as the weeks tick by it can become very stressful, but the vital thing to hang on to in the moments where the red mist descends is that you are marrying the love of your life.
Try to work together as a team, communicate with each other and enjoy the journey that planning your wedding takes you on.
