With a romantic proposal accepted, and a sunny future ahead, wedding planning quickly becomes the next topic on everyone’s lips. Here are some simple steps that will guide you through the process, including where to start and how to ensure your wedding will not be a source of stress!
Pick wedding venue(s)
Picking a venue is a very crucial step when planning a wedding. First, the type of venue you choose for your ceremony and wedding breakfast/evening party will generally shape the aesthetic and flow of your day.
For a highly curated and stylish experience, you may opt for a single location package when you can be married and celebrate in different rooms of the same complex. This allows for smooth transitions between stages (no midday car journeys) and catering to be provided seamlessly.
For a traditional affair, you might instead choose to marry in a church and hire a single large room to host the after-party somewhere local.
To take advantage of a summer-time wedding, you may want to incorporate outdoor elements such as holding parts of the day outdoors. In the UK, the weather doesn’t cooperate willingly with the wishes of brides and grooms-to-be, so be sure to have an indoor or covered option as a contingency!
Wedding venues are still very busy following their forced closures during the pandemic; therefore, availability is limited. As a result, the venue you choose will have a big impact on the timing of your wedding, as some venues are booked up for two years at a time. If you can be flexible on the venue, you could pick up a cancellation and be married in less than 3 months!
Decide on a guest list
Choosing a guest list is probably the most challenging single aspect of planning a wedding. It’s a task that will require you to make frustrating compromises and use all your strategic cognitive functions to achieve a satisfying result.
One conviction you should dump immediately is the premise that there is an ‘optimal’ guest list and seat arrangement. With a shortlist of 150 potential invitees to whittle down to 70 invitees, this allows for trillions of combinations of guests. Even a supercomputer would struggle to solve that equation. The precise make-up of your guest list and seating arrangement will never feel perfect, so the main objectives you should aim to achieve, in this order are:
- Ensuring the key people that you want there can attend
- Satisfying the wishes of both sets of parents
Hire specialists
Experts are great at what they do, so it makes sense to utilize as many specialists as possible if you can afford to make your big day very special.
Photographers, florists, caterers, hair stylists and singers are the key hires on everyone’s list, but additional options include wedding planners, photo booths and even chimney sweeps, which are considered good luck in the UK.
Find financial support from a variety of sources
The larger your financial firepower, the larger and most elaborate a wedding you can afford to host.
Some couples are lucky enough to receive some financial support from their parents, others use a combination of savings and loans to independently finance their wedding. Whatever source of cash you use, it’s useful to arrange this upfront so that you know where your budgetary limits sit. Nothing takes away from the job of crafting a wedding plan than realizing you must ring suppliers to cancel because you have run out of budget.
Delegate the minutiae
Many couples incorrectly assume that hiring specialists mean that their wedding will take care of itself. Unless you’ve splashed out on a dedicated wedding planner (most couples don’t), this still leaves a lot of micromanaging, such as coordination with the manager of the venue, and plenty of small details such as:
- The dressing of tables
- Wedding favours
- Music choice
- Flower choices
In totality, these smaller elements can have a sizeable impact on your wedding day, but they also present an opportunity for couples looking to involve their loved ones who might take an interest in helping prepare for the celebrations.
A top tip is to carve out any elements that you don’t feel would make or break the day and let a willing volunteer take total ownership over the execution. You can provide as little or as much upfront specification as you like.
With these simple steps, you will have planned for your big day in a way that reduces stress and provides your loved ones with the ability to get involved in ensuring that your wedding will be a successful event that everyone will be talking about for years to come .
How to Plan Your Wedding in Five Simple Steps
With a romantic proposal accepted, and a sunny future ahead, wedding planning quickly becomes the next topic on everyone’s lips. Here are some simple steps that will guide you through the process, including where to start and how to ensure your wedding will not be a source of stress!
Pick wedding venue(s)
Picking a venue is a very crucial step when planning a wedding. First, the type of venue you choose for your ceremony and wedding breakfast/evening party will generally shape the aesthetic and flow of your day.
For a highly curated and stylish experience, you may opt for a single location package when you can be married and celebrate in different rooms of the same complex. This allows for smooth transitions between stages (no midday car journeys) and catering to be provided seamlessly.
For a traditional affair, you might instead choose to marry in a church and hire a single large room to host the after-party somewhere local.
To take advantage of a summer-time wedding, you may want to incorporate outdoor elements such as holding parts of the day outdoors. In the UK, the weather doesn’t cooperate willingly with the wishes of brides and grooms-to-be, so be sure to have an indoor or covered option as a contingency!
Wedding venues are still very busy following their forced closures during the pandemic; therefore, availability is limited. As a result, the venue you choose will have a big impact on the timing of your wedding, as some venues are booked up for two years at a time. If you can be flexible on the venue, you could pick up a cancellation and be married in less than 3 months!
Decide on a guest list
Choosing a guest list is probably the most challenging single aspect of planning a wedding. It’s a task that will require you to make frustrating compromises and use all your strategic cognitive functions to achieve a satisfying result.
One conviction you should dump immediately is the premise that there is an ‘optimal’ guest list and seat arrangement. With a shortlist of 150 potential invitees to whittle down to 70 invitees, this allows for trillions of combinations of guests. Even a supercomputer would struggle to solve that equation. The precise make-up of your guest list and seating arrangement will never feel perfect, so the main objectives you should aim to achieve, in this order are:
- Ensuring the key people that you want there can attend
- Satisfying the wishes of both sets of parents
Hire specialists
Experts are great at what they do, so it makes sense to utilize as many specialists as possible if you can afford to make your big day very special.
Photographers, florists, caterers, hair stylists and singers are the key hires on everyone’s list, but additional options include wedding planners, photo booths and even chimney sweeps, which are considered good luck in the UK.
Find financial support from a variety of sources
The larger your financial firepower, the larger and most elaborate a wedding you can afford to host.
Some couples are lucky enough to receive some financial support from their parents, others use a combination of savings and loans to independently finance their wedding. Whatever source of cash you use, it’s useful to arrange this upfront so that you know where your budgetary limits sit. Nothing takes away from the job of crafting a wedding plan than realizing you must ring suppliers to cancel because you have run out of budget.
Delegate the minutiae
Many couples incorrectly assume that hiring specialists mean that their wedding will take care of itself. Unless you’ve splashed out on a dedicated wedding planner (most couples don’t), this still leaves a lot of micromanaging, such as coordination with the manager of the venue, and plenty of small details such as:
- The dressing of tables
- Wedding favours
- Music choice
- Flower choices
In totality, these smaller elements can have a sizeable impact on your wedding day, but they also present an opportunity for couples looking to involve their loved ones who might take an interest in helping prepare for the celebrations.
A top tip is to carve out any elements that you don’t feel would make or break the day and let a willing volunteer take total ownership over the execution. You can provide as little or as much upfront specification as you like.
With these simple steps, you will have planned for your big day in a way that reduces stress and provides your loved ones with the ability to get involved in ensuring that your wedding will be a successful event that everyone will be talking about for years to come .