Real Wedding Planning… a brief
but vital guide to getting started
There are 3 essentials you need
to decide in order to begin planning and organising your perfect wedding day:
The budget
The wedding date
The guest list
Once these are sorted, the
wedding planning can commence. These 3 essential details all
play off each other to start your plans: Without the budget you can’t chose
your venue, dress, accessories and so forth; Without the date you can’t plan
the venue; Without the guest list you don’t know how big your venue needs
to be, how many people you have to cater for or how far you have to stretch
your budget! So get these three
organised and your on your way to becoming Mr & Mrs!
The wedding budget can be managed
in a number of ways, with savings, cash gifts from generous parents and
relatives and salary/ wages in the lead up to your wedding day. Don’t forget you rarely have to pay for
everything all at once or as soon as you decide to get married, you do have
time to drip feed the expense of your wedding, but it’s essential to plan…
Here’s a helpful budget-planning
checklist to get your exciting wedding plans underway:
Registrar/ church fees
Wedding rings
Bride’s dress
Bride’s accessories
i) veil
ii)
jewellery
iii)
shoes
iv)
lingerie
Hair & Make-up
Groom’s outfit
Groom’s shoes
Best man/ ushers outfits
Bridesmaid dresses
Wedding photographer
Wedding cars
Stationary
Flowers
Cake
Reception venue hire
Table decorations
Table favours
Chair covers
Catering
Drinks/ bar
Band and DJ
Thank you gifts
Honeymoon
Handy tips:
1) When I was planning my wedding
I found that I became dependant on lists, they were indispensable. It was really helpful having lists from
favourite venues and prices, the best wedding dress shops in the area, weekly
checklists of things to be sourced and paid for and in season flowers. As you work on each section of your
wedding plan, having the lists to refer back to is invaluable and saves time
revisiting (and trying remember) previous ideas.
2) Unless you have a clear idea
of theme, or favourite flowers or era it seems it’s a case of going through all
available magazines, blogs, wedding fairs and websites for ideas. This can be not only confusing but also
overwhelming!
I created a digital mood board by
copying my favourite photographs, themes and colours from all of the websites I
was traipsing through. It didn’t take long for a colour theme and style to
emerge through the images of weddings, dresses, table decorations and flowers.
3) There are many resources
available for advice and up to date themes.
Just for starters have a look at:
Top wedding bloggers:
Top wedding magazine websites:
Top stores to grab a wedding bargain:
