Happy New Year! There have been a flurry of wonderfully romantic engagement stories over Christmas and I just loved hearing them all. Now you’re engaged so you need to think about where to start, how to plan your wedding and of course, if you need a Wedding Organiser. What strikes me most about newly engaged couples, is that they don’t know what they should do next or where to start. They are immediately hit with so many questions from happy friends and family  – What venue? What date? What Year? Are Children invited?!…. They are just as excited as you are.

Once you have had a chance to enjoy the moment and celebrate, here are a few steps to help you get started with the Wedding Planning.

Step 1: Wedding Guest Numbers and Budget

Your Guest Numbers & Budget (sorry to mention the word!). To plan your wedding, the first thing I would recommend is that you start making a list of who you would like to invite. This isn’t the easiest of tasks but will immediately allow you to think about your budget and venue. Once you have this you can start thinking about the budget and start having this discussion with your partner, parents or whoever will be involved.

Step 2: The Dream Phase

Enter the Dream Phase! Talk about what your priorities are. For example, what is most important to you both on the day… Is it the food and wine, is it keeping budget to a minimum, is it doing something very different, will it be a civil/humanist ceremony or a church wedding… etc?  This will help you figure out what type of wedding you want and will help you with the next step.

If you are struggling with this step it may be worthwhile having a consultation with a Wedding Planner to help and put together a sketch and ideas for your day. Click here to find out more about what a Consultation involves.

Step 3: The Wedding Venue Search

Now that you know how many you are expecting to invite (and expect approx. a 15% decrease on this for your final number), you will be able to start researching venues. Ensure you have discussed what date or time of year you would like also – and if you would like to stay near home, or go abroad. If you are considering or have chosen to use a Wedding Organiser, bring them along for your venue site visits, or better still let them choose the venue’s based on the criteria you have discussed as part of Step 2.

Step 4: Booking Your Dream Wedding

Get Booking! Put a deposit down on your venue and start working on the next big ticket items. Next on the list would be church if you are not having your ceremony onsite with your venue. Then it is time to start thinking about music, DJ’s & Bands, Photographers/Videographers, Cake, Makeup & Hair and the list goes on!

Step 5: Staying Organised

You have started paying deposits and booking suppliers,  it is important to stay on top of everything and stay organised. I recommend setting up an email address for the Wedding Day. You can have all of your suppliers contact you through here so you both have access to it. Have a spreadsheet on Google Docs that you both have access to and can update. This will keep track of budgeting and when deposits are due. And of course, if you choose to have a Wedding Organiser, they can also keep track of all of that for you, so that you can relax! Budget tracking is included in the majority of our packages, and all of our services are listed here. 

Just 5 tips to help you plan your wedding, but don’t underestimate these steps. Big decisions have to be made within each one and the most important thing throughout the whole process is that you both communicate and work on this together. If you don’t agree on something, don’t let it slow down the process, find a compromise and move on. It can be overwhelming to plan your wedding day, but you are both in it together!

And importantly, enjoy the process and keep the end goal in mind. At the end of all of the hard work and planning, visualise yourself being surrounded by your most loved friends and family, with your best friend by your side.