First of all, Congratulations! Getting engaged is one of the most exciting times of your life and what lies ahead is even more exciting. Wedding planning is often referred to as a 'journey' and we couldn't agree more; so if you're at the start of your planning journey and you're feeling a bit stuck with how to get things moving, you're in the right place.
These are our top tips for getting your wedding planning underway without a hitch.
Get Wedmin Ready
Set up an email address you both have access to and keep it exclusively for wedding related emails. You're about to enquire with lots of venues and suppliers, so chances are you're going to receive a lot of emails! If you decide to host a wedding website to record RSVP's, you want all of that information going directly to one place too. This saves clogging up your own inboxes, you won't miss an email and you'll both be able to keep track of things.
Set Your Budget
It's important to sit down and have an honest and open discussion to decide how much you can afford to spend on your wedding. Be realistic and plan within your means.
Weddings add up very quickly, so once you've decided how much you would like to spend on your wedding, try to allocate your budget to different areas of spending so you're careful not to run out of money before you've booked and bought everything!
Top tip: Wedding flowers typically start from £2,500 for bridal flowers, ceremony flowers and reception flowers for a small-medium sized wedding. Many blogs will tell you wedding flowers cost £500 but this simply isn't true.
Start Your Guest List
This doesn't need to be a final list, but having a rough idea of how many guests you would like to celebrate with on your wedding day will help define the size of the venue you're looking for.
Be prepared to compromise on your guest list; keep a list written down and work together if you need to cut it down. Your budget may also drive the number of guests you invite. Each guest can cost you on average £80-150 each in catering depending on your venue.. it soon adds up!
Start a Pinterest Board (if you haven't already!)
This is the best and quickest way to find your wedding style. Scroll through Pinterest and pin anything and everything that takes your fancy. Very quickly you'll see a pattern emerging and your wedding style will come to the surface. Nothing is set in stone, so if you change your mind you can go back to the boards you've made and change things around.
Top tip: To our brides, we recommend creating a separate (and secret!) board for bridal style to pin your inspiration to; you don't want your partner stumbling across this and spoiling any surprises.
Wedding Insurance
Research wedding insurance and decide if it's right for you to invest in it. We advise all of our couples to strongly consider it, for peace of mind more than anything. Your wedding day is likely to be one of your biggest financial investments so it's worth protecting it in the same way you would any other investment.
Your Wedding Date
The style of wedding you dream of might drive the time of year you get married; for example if your perfect wedding ceremony is outside you're only going to consider the summer months. We've written a blog post on how to pick your perfect wedding date, so pop over and have a read for some extra tips.
Home or Away?
Dreaming of a destination wedding or something closer to home? It's time to decide where you want to get married. This will be the first big decision you need to make and it'll be the starting point for all of your venue and supplier searching.
Start the Search For Your Dream Venue
Now the real fun begins... you've narrowed down the geographical area, so it's time to start searching! Your wedding venue is the first booking you should make. Try to avoid setting your heart on any wedding suppliers before you choose your venue as there may be restrictions with the use of suppliers. Some venues have accredited lists of suppliers to choose from; others you have complete free reign.
Seek Advice
If you need some help kick-starting your plans and getting inspired, we're here to help you.
You can find us on Instagram if it's a little bit of inspiration you're after, or if to find out more about the wedding flower and styling services we offer, say hello as we would love to send you our brochure to tell you a bit more about what we do.
Have fun!
Don't let your wedmin take up every minute of every day. As exciting as it is to scroll Pinterest and Instagram for ideas, sometimes doing your planning in small doses is more enjoyable in the long run.
Featured on this blog post:
Venue - Cotswold House Hotel
Flowers - Bird Events
Photography - Tanli Joy Photography
Wedding planning - Bird Events