Whether you only have two years or three months to plan your wedding, it can be daunting. If you're anything like us, you constantly construct mental or written lists only to forget them moments later.
Here is a detailed guide on how to plan your own wedding. It is a detailed timeline of all the essential steps you must take to create a wonderful wedding day.
The amount of organizing that goes into a wedding, including scheduling, financing, and investigation, can be intimidating.
1. What are the steps to planning a wedding?
It's a good idea to use a checklist while figuring out how to organize a wedding and to complete the tasks on the list in the correct sequence. There is a technique to this craziness, implementing a wedding planning schedule will make the entire process simple and less hectic. To ensure your outfit is appropriate for the occasion's surroundings and season, you should, for instance, choose your date and reserve your venue before deciding on your clothing. And that's just one illustration of the significance of adhering to the processes in wedding planning; the list below contains many more.
If a wedding to-do list scares you, here is a list of the essential duties you must complete to guarantee the success of your big day. Of course, there are additional tasks you could undertake, but in this case, we are only talking about the basic essentials. Are you prepared to start planning? Here's a step-by-step guide to wedding planning.
2. Set a Wedding Budget
Establishing your budget is an important first step in wedding planning. Although it may not be the most enjoyable aspect of the process, it is a step that must be taken first because it initiates the remaining of your wedding planning process. The final thing you want to do is falling completely in love with a place, a seller, an attire, etc. Only to discover that it is completely beyond your budget. Decide on a total budget with your parents or other prospective supporters, and then allocate the funds proportionally to each vendor or service.
3. Get Inspired
Finding motivation is one of the most enjoyable aspects of organizing a wedding on a step by step basis. Think about the spiritual or aesthetically pleasing vibe you desire for your ceremony. Are you trying for a very elegant and stylish vibe? Or what about a laid-back rural marriage theme. You have a choice, but its good idea to start looking at Pinterest, Instagram, or the most recent wedding ideas to start thinking about wedding colors, décor, and other details. We recommend starting this process early on but kicking it into high gear once you’ve selected your venue and set a date.
4. Start Your Guest List
Although if you don’t need to have a comprehensive guest list until a bit later, Having an estimated guest as soon as possible is vital when thinking about how to organize a wedding from beginning to end.
Events with 50 people and those with 300 people differ significantly, particularly in terms of venues you choose. So determine your expected guest count before looking at wedding venues.
5. Pick Your Wedding Party
After compiling your guest list, it's time to select your wedding party, who will stand by your side on your special day. So choose the members of your wedding party you want to play this significant role, whether they are bridesmaids, groomsmen, grooms ladies, or brides men.
6. Narrow Down the Dates
You won’t officially “set a date” until you book your venue. But before you begin to look at locations, we advise selecting a few suitable wedding dates. First, think about the season in which you’d like to wed—and if a Saturday night wedding is a must (convenient, but potentially more expensive and competitive). Next, check at the schedule, eliminating options by taking into account work schedules, vacations, conflicts with family, etc. When choosing a venue, having a few prospective wedding dates in mind will be quite beneficial.
7. Choose a Venue
Now that you have a budget, an estimated guest count, and a few potential wedding dates in mind, you have all the information you need to book a wedding venue—. To locate your perfect wedding site, read internet evaluations of nearby wedding destinations, go there in real, and collaborate with your spouse. Once you’ve thoroughly read your ceremony and reception venue’s contract and signed on the dotted line, you’ve officially set a date for your wedding—and the real fun begins!
Some couples hire a wedding planner before choosing a venue, others wait until afterwards—it all depends on the type of assistance you need.
8. Start Your Wedding Registry
Pretty much immediately after you announce your engagement, your loved ones will ask: “Where are you registered?” When thinking about how to plan your wedding step by step, it’s a good idea to create your wedding registry relatively early on in the process. Your family members and friends may want to purchase engagement gifts—you can always make changes and additions to your registry later on. Use our wedding registry checklist to get started.
Pretty much immediately after you announce your engagement, your loved ones will ask: “Where are you registered?” When thinking about how to plan your wedding step by step, it’s a good idea to create your wedding registry relatively early on in the process. Your family members and friends may want to purchase engagement gifts—you can always make changes and additions to your registry later on. Use our wedding registry checklist to get started.
9. Create a Wedding Website (and Wedding Hashtag!)
Among the most crucial aspects of wedding planning is creating a wedding site, which is also the simplest method for keeping your guests informed. Make sure to include all of the important information about your big day on your website—date, location, travel information, room block details, and more. Now’s also the time to create your wedding hashtag to use on social media leading up to your wedding day.
10. Book Vendors
To help you construct your ideal wedding, the average couple employs 13 providers. The correct individuals must be hired although it may look like a load to manage on your special day. The vendors will help you figure out when to book each pro, from your wedding photographer or videographer to your florist and DJ to your officiant, to help you choose the best.
11. Finalize Your Guest List
If you haven’t already, it’s time to create your final wedding guest list. Remember that if your parents are contributing financially to your big day, they’ll get a say in who’s invited. Be sure to keep your venue’s capacity in mind as well, and don’t invite more people than the space can handle.
12. Send Save-the-Dates
It’s time for your guests to mark their calendars. To allow your family and friends to make the necessary plans, save the dates must be distributed as early advanced as feasible.
13. Purchase Your Wedding Dress and Other Attire
Make sure you have sufficient time to locate the ideal attire for your ceremony. Do not even wait until the very last minute because it can take several months for your clothing to be correctly cut and wearable, especially when it comes to wedding gowns.
14. Figure Out Rehearsal Dinner Details
Scheduling is also necessary for the dinner party which often occurs the day before a ceremony. Traditionally, the groom’s family plans the rehearsal dinner, but it’s important to figure out who’s planning (and paying) for this event well in advance—also be sure that you reserve a location and workout the specifics in good time, approximately six months before the big ceremony.
15. Attend Those Pre-Wedding Events
Engagement parties, the bridal shower (or a co-ed wedding shower), the bachelor and bachelor party, and more—your schedule will likely be jam-packed with pre-wedding events. While the soon-to-be married couple usually has little role in planning these celebrations, you’ll need to clear your calendar to attend as guest of honor.
16. Send Wedding Invitations
Wedding invitations are usually sent six to eight weeks before the big day—and the RSVP deadline is typically about two or three weeks in advance. Sending out your invitations on schedule is among the most crucial aspects of upcoming ceremony.
17. Prioritize what's important to you
Even if you have a strict budget, you don’t have to scrimp on everything. Take the time to think about what is most important to you and prioritize those things, then aim to cut costs on the less important elements. Perhaps you have always dreamed of that designer wedding dress but aren’t as bothered about the cake, or you want to spend more on that unique wedding venue that doesn’t require any extra decorations. You still can design your ideal day on an expenditure with a few astute preparation.
18. Buy Wedding Bands
Pick a wedding band that matches your engagement ring, is comfortable (you’ll be wearing it pretty much all the time!) and suits your personal style.
19. Create a Wedding Reception Seating
Establish how much tables your ceremony location can handle by working with your location and organizer. Then, use an online tool to figure out who sits where—keeping relationships and family dynamics in mind. Once you’ve finalized your seating chart (usually a week or so before your wedding), be sure to send to your caterer, venue, and stationer so that escort cards can be created.
21. Confirm Wedding Details with Vendors
In all likelihood, you’ve been in close contact with all of your wedding vendors in the days and weeks leading up to your big day. Ensure that all of your contractors have the knowledge they require, and that any loose ends have been wrapped off.
22. Book An Accommodation For Guests
We’re sure that your guest list is ready by now, and you must be aware about which relatives and friends are coming from other towns. It’s time to book a good and comfortable accommodation for them. To ensure that your friends are as comfortable as possible, look for reputable restaurants and tourist homes that offer friendly service and facilities.
23. How much time do you need to plan a wedding?
Honestly, there's no hard and fast rule, as you can really mold the steps above to your own timeline — slowing down or speeding up (we've even got a three-month wedding checklist) where it works. What further time you require is determined by two crucial elements: 1) The approximate year and weather conditions that you desire to get married, and 2) The length of your engagement. The typical engagement lasts 13 months, which is more than sufficient time to address the aforementioned.
24. What do you need to know before planning a wedding?
The answers to this question is a good starting point as you figure out how to plan a wedding. Once you’ve discussed these questions with your partner, you can move forward with other wedding-planning steps:
• Around how much do we have to spend on a wedding?
• Where do we want to get married? (Just a general location—like a city/town and state/region is okay for now.)
• When do we want to get married?
• Do we want a big or small wedding? (If you can estimate a guest count, great!)
25. Is wedding planning hard?
We’re not going to lie—different aspects of planning a wedding can be hard for different people. Perhaps you adore decorations but have a difficult time coming up with a invite list. Or maybe you enjoy graphs or figures but are entirely confused by Pinterest. Fortunately, once you’ve hired your vendors, you’ll have a team of people to assist you—and you can also delegate tasks to your partner, family members, or friends. If you’re feeling completely overwhelmed and finding all of wedding planning too much, it may be time to hire a wedding planner, if you haven’t already.
26. What if you have a smaller budget?
Around $28000 is the usual amount that a spouse on their wedding or celebration. You can absolutely have an amazing wedding for less than this, you just have to be a bit more strategic. The number-one way to save money on your wedding? Cutting your guest list! You can expect to spend about $215 per guest, so the smaller your guest list (hello, micro wedding!), the less you’ll likely spend. There are lots of other ways to spend money on a wedding, so our best advice is to be flexible—being willing to compromise in certain areas will ensure you’re able to stay within budget.
27. Set a wedding day schedule
Establish a schedule and give your best to keep to it to guarantee that all components of your wedding day puzzle fit together perfectly. Take into account each stage, including awakening, preparing, sharing your first glance with your spouse, and even the pre-wedding toast.
While it may be impossible to follow a schedule exactly to a tee, if you are falling 15-20 minutes within each step, you’re doing extremely well. After all, your wedding day should be a monumental and joyous occasion celebrating the people you love, and not about perfect timing.
28. Final thoughts
Plan ahead, take your time, and be in constant contact with all of your vendors during the entire process. The effort has been worthwhile.