Planning a wedding can be stressful and time-consuming, but you want every detail to be perfect. Between watching your pennies to coordinating the timing of all the details and plans, you can easily feel overwhelmed with the entire experience. Some brides and grooms even get pretty far along with their planning efforts only to realize that their plans are not forming a dream wedding experience for them after all. These tips can help you to plan the wedding of your dreams more easily. You may even save some money by using these helpful tips.
1- Form an Idea Up-Front
Before you make any wedding plans, you need to have a firm idea about what you want your wedding to be like. Backtracking and making last minute changes will cost you time and money, and it creates unnecessary stress. Spend time looking at wedding magazines and viewing online photos for inspiration. Spend ample time on this step because it forms the basis for all of your decisions going forward.
2- Create Your Guest List
You may be eager to start looking at venues and to make concrete plans for your wedding, but many of your wedding plans will hinge on how many guests will attend. The bride and groom need to sit down together to create a firm guest list. You may also need to consult with your parents to firm up the list. Remember that not all of your guests will attend. It is reasonable for most weddings to have about 80 to 90 percent of invited guests attend. Keep in mind that some guests will bring their children or a date. These extra individuals need to be calculated in your total guest count.
3- Set a Reasonable Budget
Your budget should be reasonable for your wedding theme and the size of your event. For example, planning an elegant evening wedding with a dinner reception for 100 people on a $5,000 budget may not be realistic. If you do not have adequate funds for your event, you will run into significant challenges along the way. You can pull together funds through a credit card, getting help from your parents and looking at other sources. Knowing how much money that you have to work with is important so that you can properly budget for all expenses. It may be a good idea to allocate a certain amount of funds to different expenses by creating a preliminary wedding budget. You can revisit your budget as you make firm plans.
4- Choose Your Venue Carefully
Your venue will affect many aspects of your event. For example, a venue that is already reasonably well-decorated based on your theme may not require significant decorating on your part. Some venues also include tables and chairs, so you will not have to spend money renting these items. You may also discover that some venues require you to use their own vendors for catering, entertainment and more. This may be helpful to you in some cases, or it may limit your ability to plan a dream wedding. You may save money if you can host your ceremony and reception in the same location.
5- Plan Around Mealtimes
The time of your wedding can affect your reception activities as well as your budget. If you want a formal reception, an evening event with a sit-down dinner is a wonderful idea. However, if you need to trim expenses, a mid-afternoon event may help you to save money on catering. Rather than pay for a full meal for all guests, you could serve appetizers and cake.
6- Delegate Responsibilities
Planning a wedding is a big responsibility, and you do not have to do all of the work yourself. Bridesmaids and groomsmen may be willing to tackle some projects for you. Family members, such as parents of the bride and groom, are often eager to help as well. When you delegate, give specific individuals small projects with detailed instructions. This will help you to avoid letting your wedding plans get away from you.
While wedding planning is not easy, you can enjoy a more streamlined process with these tips. Regardless of how far along you are in your planning efforts, turning your attention to these tips now can help you with your planning efforts going forward.
