You’re engaged! Congratulations and hope your wedding day is awesome. In fact, if you’re reading this article, you’re very likely to have a great wedding. Wedding and Function has been in the wedding industry since 2001 and wedding planning is in our blood.
Here are our four tips to make your wedding plan easy.
- Always communicate with your fiancé and whoever holds the budget purse strings. If necessary, schedule frequent meetings to discuss the logistics. This may not be super romantic but it will also mean less stress and tears.
- Decide what is most important about your wedding. Is it all about the two of you or is at about celebrating this wonderful day with your family friends? Do you want to have fun or do you want to impress? Once you and your fiancé know what you want from your wedding day, always keep that objective in site when planning.
- Appoint a wedding planner if you can afford this expense. Just like any professional they can generally do better than you and, in the greater scheme of things, probably cost you less.
- If you want to plan your wedding yourself then simply follow our guidelines below.
Guidelines for working with your fiancé when planning a wedding
In the past, the groom had no say in the wedding plans. However, at that time the groom also made no financial contribution, it was all up to the bride’s parents to pay for the wedding expenses.
Those days are long gone. Not only do the groom and his family normally make a contribution to the wedding costs but the groom usually has a say in the proceedings too.
So brides and grooms, take the time out to chat about your plans and your budget. Find out who else will be contributing and how much they will contribute.
Remember that nothing in life simply ‘falls into place’. You have to work and plan to be successful. And same goes for a wedding.
Look at your personal strengths and weaknesses and the time that you each have available and allocate responsibilities accordingly. Set times to chat and give each other feedback on your progress.
In short, learn to communicate. Planning a wedding together is a good training exercise for when you are married. Soon you will have to buy and run a house together, raise kids and build your investments.
Choosing what is important about your wedding day
This may sound a little crazy but once you both agree what it is that you want to achieve, the planning becomes easier. Yes, the plan is to get married and the plan is to have a wedding.
But what do you want to achieve with your wedding? Do you want it to be an opportunity to get family together? If so then you need to check dates with those that are important to you. Find out from them what dates are possible and what date impossible.
Do you want your wedding reception to be a huge party or a truly romantic experience? If it’s a party then DJ’s, live bands and venues with a large dance floor are what you want. If it’s romantic then décor, setting and location will be important.
If you are out to impress your friends or your in-laws or hold a better wedding than a sibling you may find the results disappointing.
I always tell my children and my co-workers to do what they love and everything will work out great. You know what you love doing, so make it happen at your wedding!
How much do wedding planners cost?
Firstly, you only need a wedding planner if you are going big and the bigger the wedding the more important it is to have a wedding planner.
You cannot even begin to think of the things that can go wrong with a big wedding. Actually you probably don’t have the knowledge or experience to even plan for a big wedding. A successful big wedding that is.
Also consider your time. If you and your fiancé have a full time jobs or a business of your own to run, you will place yourself under a lot of stress in trying to plan for a perfect day. You may earn more in a day than a wedding planner and in that case it is good financial sense to employ the services of a professional.
So, the rule of thumb is that if you are having a big wedding (60 guests or more) and if you earn more per day than a wedding planner, then it would be best to appoint somebody to plan or at least assist with your wedding.
A relation or friend with time on their hands is also not a wedding planner. In fact, your stress levels are more likely to go up and the results less than what you want if you use somebody just because they have time (and no experience or knowledge).
If you read between the lines here you will understand that a wedding planner will actually save you money.
Most wedding planners will only tell you their fee after your first consultation. That fee will depend on four key factors; the type of package you choose, the size of the wedding, the experience and reputation of the wedding planner and the location of the wedding.
Do some research, meet with the planners on your short list, get a quotation and ask for references. Then make your decision on who to use.
What are the steps to planning a wedding?
Here you can rely on technology. There are literally thousands of wedding planning Apps, Online Checklists, Printable Charts and Digital Planning Calendars.
Choosing a date is very important and one of the first entries on any wedding planner. Make use of a good calendar. Don’t make the mistake of planning your wedding day on the same day as the FIFA World Cup Final!
These are two of the wedding planning Apps and websites that we can recommend:
Where can I find a wedding budget calculator?
Make use of the above two Apps as they both have built in budget calculators. Best of all they have the accumulative experience of thousands of bridal parties before you.
What are the biggest problems in planning a wedding?
Knowing where the problems normally arise makes it easier to avoid or overcome these difficulties. Most pre-marriage counsellors will tell you that these items top the list:
- Choosing the guest list
- Religious differences
- Working out a pre-nuptial agreement
- Differing opinions on décor, location, venue etc
Where ever possible rely on the advice of a professional. If you are having a religious wedding you will find that most religious institutions offer pre-marriage counselling.
If you have the opportunity to go for pre-marriage counselling then go for it! Don’t be arrogant or naïve and think that love conquers all. Actually it does, but love can hurt too. Use your pre-marriage counselling to help sort out some of you wedding planning problems.
Your wedding planner and a pre-nup lawyer can be a big help too.
Conclusion
Planning a wedding is no simple matter. Bridal parties, particularly brides, have huge expectations of their big day.
To make the planning easier and the wedding all you want it to be remember these four points:
- Communicate with your fiancé
- Know what you want your wedding to be
- Make use of a wedding planner for big weddings
- Use technology and professionals where ever necessary
Here’s to your wedding. May it exceed all your expectations
