The Wedding Planning 101

Wedding planning can be a daunting prospect. After the excitement of the engagement has died down, you are suddenly hit with the enormity of the task ahead of you – your wedding day. Getting all those little details just right, on budget & on time can be enough to give even the professionals a headache.

But never fear, here are a few top tips to help you organize your wedding planning & make sure nothing is forgotten or left behind!

1. Budget – You will achieve very little without knowing what your budget is first. A rough idea won’t cut it either. You will need to know down to the last cent just how much money you have available to spend. Set up a spreadsheet & list down everything you want for your wedding. Ring around some vendors & suppliers for an idea of prices & note them down next to each item. When you total them up you will be able to see how much your dream wedding is likely to cost. From this point you will be able to refine & tune up your list to fit a figure that you can afford.

2. Open a Wedding Bank Account – Keep your wedding budget separate from your everyday spending money by opening a separate account with your bank. Look for accounts that will pay good rates of interest on balances & make payments into it each month to get the best from the account. This way you wedding fund will continue to grow & you may just get enough to add back in some of those little details you initially had to write off.

3. Make a Scrapbook – If you are sitting there pouring over the bridal magazines & drooling over wedding favors, dresses, shoes & more then make up a scrapbook with all your favorite details in. Cut images from magazines, print them off the internet & collect pictures from any other sources available & stick them into a large scrapbook. Order them by type for instance, wedding dresses, accessories, wedding favors, decorations etc so that you can easily reference them. With a scrapbook you will be able to see how certain details will look or work together & be able to coordinate the look, style or theme of your wedding with greater ease.

4. Finalize your Guest List – Remember that for every name you add to your guest list, the more money you will need to spend. You can start by writing down every person you know & then fine tuning the list to those people who are very important to you & limiting the numbers to a level at which you can afford. All those that you do not invite to the wedding proper, could be invited to the evening celebrations instead.

5. Stick to What is Important – It is easy to loose sight of the real reason for doing all this – to get married. That is why you should regularly take some time out & do something a million miles away from your wedding planning. It will help you re-focus & you will come back to your planning refreshed & with an open mind. At the start of your planning you should both make a list of the most important elements of your wedding, for instance the venue, the entertainment & your wedding dress. Keep this with your planning notes so you can refer back to it from time to time when you feel you are getting bogged down with irrelevant details.