Wedding planning can be stressful. I know, as I’m going through it right now! But it shouldn’t have to be. Along my wedding planning journey I have discovered a few things that have helped me and I thought I’d share them with you. I really hope this post helps all you brides to be!
INVEST IN A WEDDING PLANNING BOOK
Having a wedding planner is great, especially if you find a good one. Sometimes they’ll include great tips, a calendar, a rough plan of when to book things and so much more. They’re a great thing to purchase to kick start your wedding planning. You can keep all your notes and ideas in one place along with supplier’s names and contact details, your guest list etc etc. I’ve listed a few great planners below if you’re in search of one.
Rock n Roll Bride Wedding Planner
Paperchase Evergreen Wedding Planner
Not On The High Street Gold Foil Wedding Planner Book
Kikki K Wedding Organise: Always & Forever
KEEP YOUR PINTEREST ORGANISED
Let me start by saying, you’re going to be pinning A LOT! I know I did when I started wedding planning. It’s another great way to get started as you might not know what sort of wedding you want. There are thousands of wedding images on Pinterest so using this as a tool to find ideas and inspiration is great. The only downfall is that you might pin too many images; it can get a bit overwhelming. My top tip to you, is why not have separate boards for different elements: The Dress, The Venue, The Ceremony, Bridesmaids, The Theme etc. This way you will only have a few images within each board, along the same theme for you to finalise your ideas. Then, once you’ve got your ideas, I’d say pick one or two images from within each board and pin to a final wedding board. Then you’ve cleared out all of the imagery you don’t like and kept the ones that really reflect what you want to create on the big day.
CREATE A SPREADSHEET
You might be a Bride that prefers to work on a computer rather than writing things down. A great way to keep all of your information together is to create a spreadsheet on excel where you can store details like: Suppliers names, their contact details, deposit amounts, who’s been paid, who still needs paying etc. I’ve done this and it’s honestly helped. I’ve emailed pretty much all my suppliers so it made sense using a spreadsheet as all I needed to do was copy and paste information from my email chats over to my spreadsheet. I’ve even got a section for notes where I can pop in important information about payment details eg. paying 6 weeks in advance. All of my suppliers want payment at different times, so a spreadsheet really keeps track of everything.
I also created a spreadsheet for my guest list. Well I created like 3 spreadsheets! One for who we wanted to invite, then another that included all their addresses and I colour coordinated according to if I had posted their invite or not. Then a third and final one of exactly who is attending. I probably didn’t need three, but my spreadsheets got a little messy, so I preferred to just start again each time so the information was clear.
SAVE THE TREES AND GET GUESTS TO RSVP VIA A WEBSITE
Getting Married offer free websites for couples which can hold information for all your guests from: travel, taxis, accommodation, the venue and the ceremony. And what’s even better, they can also RSVP on there too. I created a day and evening guest password which I gave to all of my guests; this was so random people couldn’t log on and RSVP; and the website stores their RSVP for you and even notifies you when you’ve had one. I then transferred all of this information over to my guest list spreadsheet. It saved on printing costs for the RSVP slip, paper and just made it easy for our guests.
TAKE YOUR TIME
Wedding planning, as I said can be stressful; so just take your time. If you want to rush to get married, go for it! But I’m personally glad I gave myself about 14 months. Most wedding planning books and websites work on a 12 month basis, so I was glad I had 14 months as it meant the first two were figuring out what we actually wanted to do. That then enabled me to work alongside the average 12 month schedule. Giving yourself time, will take the stress off and even allow you to be able to save for certain things that you might really want to have or do. Wedding planning should be fun!
ACCEPT YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE
Everyone has their own opinions about how your wedding day should be. Some of the time it might be great to listen, but other times it might not be. If you’re having 100+ guests to your wedding, then let’s be honest, you won’t please everyone. Everyone is different at the end of the day. Some people like tradition, some don’t. Some people are vegetarians, some aren’t. My top tip to you, is don’t listen to anyone else, you do you. At the end of the day your wedding day is meant to be about you and your partner. If your family are saying you should have a three course dinner, but you and your partner prefer BBQs. Opt with the BBQ. You’re not creating this wedding day to please everyone else, you’re creating it to be the best day of your lives for you as a couple. Everyone gets a chance at being a Bride or Groom for the day so they can have their day when it’s theirs.
PRIORITISE
Once you’ve worked out your budget, try to think about the things you really want on the day. Some couple’s budgets might not be enough to spend a huge amount on every element of the wedding, so it’s good to prioritise. For example, my friend got married last year and she couldn’t afford a videographer as well as a photographer. So she just opted for photos. I couldn’t let her not have a video for a wedding, especially since I have a lot of cameras, so I offered to film it for her as her wedding gift. Stop to think what’s most important to you and the details that aren’t, maybe you DIY it yourself or find a family member or friend that can offer a hand. When it comes to weddings, everyone wants to get involved, so you’ll definitely have people offering for help.
ONLY ASK FOR A FEW PEOPLE’S OPINIONS
I’ve found wedding planning hard in terms of making final decisions, however it has helped having a few dedicated people to give me their opinions on my ideas. It’s for the best to only ask a few people as otherwise you will receive too many thoughts and it just won’t help you decide. I’ve only ever asked my bridesmaids and groom for their opinion on things.
DESIGNATE JOBS TO YOUR WEDDING PARTY
Need some help researching or booking suppliers? Why not designate people within your wedding party to help. Give your Groom a few tasks, maybe even your Maid of Honour. I’m sure they’d be more than willing to help and it’ll take the stress off.
ALL ELSE FAILS. BOOK A WEDDING PLANNER
I’m lucky as I work from home, so when I’ve had a spare weekend or afternoon during the week, I’ve dedicated that time to doing some wedding planning. However, if your shifts aren’t allowing for that extra time and you’d rather not ask your wedding party for help, you might want to look into hiring a wedding planner. I’ve not personally done this myself, but I have heard of people doing so.
So they’re my top 10 wedding planning tips I’ve got for you for now! I’m pretty sure I’ll have even more by the time the big day arrives. Want to read more wedding blog posts? Click here.
Peace
x
Bloglovin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube | Pinterest