Contributed Collaborative Post
When many of us think of weddings, we often have a picture in mind of what the actual day might look like.
While some people also have daydreams of what the planning process looks like, it’s still common to be left a little confused (and stressed!) when you actually have to plan your own wedding.
Below, we’ve gone through some of the basic things to include in your planning process, along with a rough recommendation on when to get started.
Main things to plan
Below, we’ve listed some of the core things you’ll want to include in your plan.
Venue
Think of your venue as the physical and, in many ways, emotional frame for the rest of your wedding. The option you choose to go with can have a big impact on everything from how many people you can invite to the general vibe of the event.
There are a wide range of options available – anything from a more rural option like Heaton House Farm to a smart hotel lobby in the centre of the city.
Food, drinks & entertainment
Aside from the ceremony, which will be a relatively small component of the actual wedding, the rest of what you’ll be planning is basically a big party.
As a result, you’ll want to sort out food, drinks and entertainment options that suit as many of your guests as possible and can keep people content for a couple of days.
Be creative and personal here; sure, book good vendors, but if a family member who you know is a good baker really wants to make the desserts, encourage that – it’ll feel much more intimate and special.
Invites
Relatively early on in the process, you’ll want to send out some save-the-dates. Autumn is generally a less socially jam-packed time of year (although it is popular for weddings), but you still want to be sure that your loved ones who live in different countries or have tricky schedules can make the appropriate arrangements.
When to get started
With most autumn weddings, you’ll want to get started around 12 months in advance.
Venues can easily get booked up a year in advance, and if the options you’re considering are particularly popular, you’ll want to enquire about availability as soon as you literally can.
The sooner you start with all of this, the longer you’ll have to get it all sorted out. To begin with, that could include spending just a weekend each month going over some rough plans and mood boards; towards the end of the process, you’ll likely be spending long, long nights trying to sort everything out.
Planning a wedding can be a lot of fun, but there are definitely some things you should do to make it less stressful. Be aware of your budget from the beginning, leave enough time, and remember to keep it true to what you actually want from your big day, rather than just recreating a version of what you’ve been exposed to in the past.
This is a contributed collaborative post
