Countdown To I Do: A Quick Wedding Planning Guide

Planning a wedding can be emotional, whether you’ve got years or months to do it. Despite the overwhelming amount of love that permeates these special occasions, another tangible emotion is stress, the levels of which can quickly go into overdrive. Pulling off your dream wedding is no easy feat, so it’s not surprising if you’re starting to feel the crunch. 

Rest assured that you aren’t alone with a survey reporting that 96% of engaged or newlywed couples feel the pressure from all directions, whether from parents, friends, or in-laws. Plus, between conducting research, setting a budget, checking covid wedding vaccination requirements, and deciding on the venue, planning a wedding can be a daunting affair. 

If you, like many people, are guilty of trying to commit everything to memory as opposed to making a list or investing in a professional wedding planner – we’ve created this quick wedding planning guide outlining several must-do steps to ensure that your day goes perfectly to plan and minimize negative emotions. 

Create A Guest List 

When it comes to weddings, you’d love to be able to invite everyone, but sadly this is not possible unless you want to go massively over budget. So, you must be selective with invites and prepare your guest list well in advance to ensure that nobody is missed and give attendees an appropriate time to respond.

Doing so will ensure that you get an accurate number well before the date rolls around, making organizing catering, seating arrangements, etc., much more straightforward. If you’re struggling to narrow down your headcount, ask yourself the following questions: 

• How many people can you afford to invite to the ceremony? 
• Does your venue have a maximum/minimum amount of people, you can ask?
• Will you have the same number of people at the reception as the ceremony? 

While creating your guest list, you should also consider covid wedding vaccination requirements and whether this could potentially affect your headcount. To avoid any misunderstandings, use Greenvelope’s article for further clarification about covid wedding vaccination requirements and how you can communicate them using their services. For more insight, peruse their website or follow their blog for more wedding-related topics, or contact a team member directly today for more information.  

Consider Hiring A Wedding Planner 

Suppose that you’d like to take all the stress out of your big day and spend your days leading up to it counting down the days with your partner. In that case, you could consider enlisting the services of a professional wedding planner, who will take care of every aspect of the wedding for you, whether it involves managing your budget or selecting your venue. 

Despite being a beneficial service, one of the most significant disadvantages of hiring a wedding planner is the cost of doing so. Since weddings are a considerable investment anyway, not many engaged couples can spare the extra expenses, with only around 32% of couples opting to hire a professional, so they do everything themselves. 

Decide Upon The Venue 

Choosing your wedding venue is often considered one of the most significant decisions you and your partner will make throughout your wedding journey. As well as being a place that will be forever in your and your loved one’s memory, it will also influence other aspects of your special day, from how many people it fits to how you decorate the available space. 

Your venue will be one of the most demanding deposits that you’ll have to make – so it’s essential that you don’t make any rash decisions and feel confident that it’s the venue you envision your big day taking place in. 

You can solidify your choices by asking married friends or family members for recommendations, conducting internet searches, and paying in-person visits to the top-recommended spots. Doing so is the only way that you’ll be able to see up close whether it’s the ideal venue for you, your guests, décor, and your budget. 

Choose A Caterer 

Another extensive choice you’ll have to make while planning your wedding is choosing a caterer. Much like your venue, this is an aspect of your big day that you won’t want to get wrong and is well worth booking in advance, or you’ll be running the risk of missing out. 

Essentially, your wedding will be a dinner party where your closest friends and family members will be in attendance, so it’s essential that you choose catering that you and your partner will enjoy and your guests too. 

Ensure that you conduct relevant research into the best-rated wedding caterers in your area whose price point fits your budget, whether the company you choose is a recommendation from friends/family, the venue’s in-house caterer, recommended by your wedding planner, or an outsourced caterer. 

Plus, don’t be afraid to be unconventional with your choices. Just because the occasion is a wedding doesn’t mean that you must have canapes accompanied by a three-course meal; instead, you could hire a selection of food trucks or let guests help themselves to a buffet. Regardless of what you opt for, we’re sure that your family and friends will love your choice.