Top 10 Tips For Planning A Wedding

Being engaged is a wonderful time, but now you have a big task ahead of you: planning your wedding! This can definitely seem like a daunting task, and with so many decisions to make, can be a very stressful time. However, it doesn’t have to be! Here are our top 10 tips to plan a wedding!

1 | Start Your Planning Early

The sooner you start planning, the less stressed you’ll be! Never underestimate how much time you’ll need for planning, as many decisions will be easier to make the earlier it is. Late planning could leave you with limited options, and may end up costing you your dream wedding venue, vendors, the perfect wedding dress, and more! We recommend trying to book your most important vendors such as the venue itself, wedding day coordinator, photographer/videographer, and your dress/suits at least a year in advance!

2 | Be Organized

Being organized will help you avoid the biggest headaches when planning your wedding. This will help you avoid forgetting important elements, and keep all your important documents in one place! Create a master document online that contains a wedding checklist, receipts, contracts, wedding timeline, and more. Creating a document in the cloud allows you to be able to access it wherever you are, and to be able to print it out for important people to refer to, like your wedding day coordinator!

3 | Overestimate Your Budget

Until you figure out your budget, it will be hard for you to make the most important decisions during wedding planning. Figure out how much you’re willing to spend with each vendor, and how much their deposit payment requires to secure their spot for your wedding day. The earlier you start planning, the more options you’ll have with your decisions, therefore potentially saving you some big bucks. However, it’s always a good idea to overestimate your budget. Many couples end up spending more on their dream venue or a vendor that they really connected with. It’s better to overestimate your budget and end up spending less, than underestimating your budget and end up spending too much.

4 | Prioritize Your Invitation List

Invite the most important people to your wedding first. This not only means important vendors like your wedding day coordinator or photographer, but also with your guest list! Invite your family and closest friends first, and then move on from there. One of the most common thing we see with guest lists is the couple being guilt tripped by other people to invite guests that aren’t as important to them. Remember, it is up to you and your partner to decide who should come to YOUR wedding!

5 | Ask Questions

Don’t be afraid to ask your vendors questions! The vendors you choose should be very knowledgeable in their field, and will be able to help you out with questions that relate to their services. For example, many couples don’t know how to plan out a wedding timeline, and how much time realistically needs to be allocated throughout the day. However, a photographer is usually with a couple from start to finish, and should have a very good understanding of how a typical wedding timeline would look like, and if changes are feasible to be made.

6 | Avoid The Conventional

Remember: your wedding day is about YOU! Don’t feel pressured to have a 10 min speech because your sibling had one at your wedding, or a photo booth because all your friends want one. If an idea doesn’t completely resonate with you and your partner, don’t be afraid to forgo the conventional path and go another way! Often times, the unconventional weddings with couples putting their own personality and twist to it end up feeling the most authentic!

7 | Trust Your Vendors

Asking questions, clarifying details, and sharing your vision about your wedding is definitely important to do. However, vendors work the best when they aren’t being micromanaged about every decision they make. A lot of vendors can definitely be expensive, but often times you are paying for their experience after working with hundreds of couples. Spend time finding the right people, share your vision with your vendors, and then sit back and trust them to bring your visions to life!

8 | Finish Planning For An Early Wedding

Wedding planning always takes longer than you think it will. This is why we advise our couples to set a wedding planning deadline a month before their actual wedding. This gives you a lot of time to complete planning in case things end up falling behind, or gives you a lot of time to relax if you finish early! Sometimes, couples may end up realizing that they forgot to plan something after they think they’ve finished everything, which is why having buffer time for wedding planning is always a must!

9 | Make Two To-Do Lists

When jotting down your checklist on things to do before your wedding, separate it into two lists. The first list will have the necessary “must haves” for the wedding, such as booking a venue, finding your photographer, finding a make-up artist, etc. The second list should contain the “nice to haves” for the wedding, such as little bow ties tied to the greeting cards for your guests. Ask yourself if you will care a week after your wedding if an objective is not completed. If not, this should go into the second list. We then advise couples to finish everything on their first list, before moving on to the second. Don’t waste time trying to sort out the small, less important details before figuring out the important, necessary details!

10 | Have Fun And Rest

Wedding planning can be fun! There are a lot of tasks that can be made exciting. Bring your favourite friends and family to watch you try on dresses, or take a day off work and go tour wedding venues with your significant other! For the less exciting tasks like budgeting and figuring out seating placements, be sure to space them out throughout the weeks. Trying to cram too many boring and tedious tasks will stress you out and make you hate wedding planning, but spacing them out will make things more manageable and leave you a lot less stressed!

Did any of these tips help you out? Leave a comment below about which one resonated with you the most! For more wedding tips, be sure to check out our guides here!