10 Easy Steps to Get Your Wedding Planning Started
Your world is coming together. You have found the person you want to spend forever with, and are now happily engaged. Most couples fly high on cloud nine for the first few weeks after becoming engaged.
This is exactly how it should be! Before you get to the business of living happily ever after, you’ve got a wedding to plan! Many women have dreamed of their wedding day since childhood, while others have lived day by day and have no pre-determined ideal wedding day.
Whichever category you fall into, having a guide to planning your dream wedding will help to ease any stress and keep you on track. Here are 10 ideas to help you get started.
- Tell your family and announce your engagement! You are no doubt deliciously happy at this point in time; and sharing the news with those closest to you will enhance the experience…and enable you to enlist the help of others when you need it! Announcements can range from print publications, to an engagement party, to a website dedicated to your happy day!
- Get a journal. The wedding planning experience is one that is filled with a multitude of memories you will want to remember forever. Planning a wedding is also an experience that can create some frustrations that you need to vent. While your loving groom is there for you, there may be some things that you don’t want to unleash on him. Best to keep some rants private.
- Choose your date. With this as your starting point, you can more easily move into the wedding planning steps that follow. By knowing the date you would like to celebrate joining with your beloved, you can know everything from where to honeymoon to what dress to wear. Keep in mind to avoid certain days of the year, such as The World Cup, Super Bowl, or religious holidays.
- Set your budget. Before you get too far into the latest issue of Bride Magazine, determine what your wedding budget will be. There is little that is more frustrating than desiring that special wedding dress or a certain venue and then finding that you just don’t have the funds to cover it. This is the step where you will sit down with mom and dad and ask if they would like to participate in contributing to your wedding. Budget worksheets are available online and can provide great assistance in staying on track in terms of money.
- Find Support. This is not the same thing as choosing your bridesmaids and groomsmen. This means that you meet professionals who can help you plan the most important day of your life. Working with a wedding planner may not be within your budget. If it isn’t, then think of the friend who always throws the greatest parties and see if they can lend some support in the way of ideas to actually assisting on the big day.
- Remember to breathe! With all that there is to do, it’s important to find some time to just relax and enjoy your significant other. This can be a few hours out of the house for a sunset picnic, or a nice couple’s massage at the local spa. Whatever you do, it is essential that you take care of yourselves or the event itself can overshadow the marriage relationship you are building.
- Consider your tone or theme. From the moment you become engaged, it is likely your imagination will start churning out thoughts of the special day. Will it be on the beach, or in a park? Will it be an elegant, formal affair, or a casual get together of only your closest friends? It is only after this consideration that you will be able to begin looking for a location for your wedding.
- Set up a checklist. A wedding checklist is the number one tool to keep you on track in terms of the wedding timeline. There are certain tasks that are best handled at certain times during your engagement. For instance, while it is tempting to run straight out for the fun stuff, there are some things that will take time to complete, such as your wedding dress or the catering menu.
- Comprise a guest list. No wedding is complete without the presence of the people you love. When adding people to the invitation list, keep in mind that more people equals more expense. Your guest list goes hand in hand with your budget.
- Choose a location. Some venues book as far as a year in advance, so begin looking for your wedding location early. The location must be able to accommodate the amount of guests you wish to invite, and applies to both the ceremony site and the reception site.
There are so many little things to remember when planning your wedding. Having the right tools, and an easy to follow step-by-step guide can make the difference between a well planned event and a stressed out couple!
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Source: This article has been submitted by Angela White, an EzineArticle.com expert who wrote these tips for TheBridalCoach.ca, the leading Online Wedding Planning Site when it comes to the wedding planning made easy and wedding planning checklists.
