Congratulations, you’re engaged! Wedding planning doesn’t always have to immediately start right after the ring, although it seems like it must. Enjoy this wonderful time in your relationship and life. When you are ready to start planning your day, we’ve got you covered. Below are 5 good things to start thinking about to kick off the planning process. It should be a pleasant and productive experience, despite what you may have heard.
Guests
First, think about how many people you want to share your day with and who those people will be. Also, decide if a kid-free wedding is for you. If children will not be invited click here for some ways to word that in the invitation.
If you plan to invite only your closest family and friends, you might be able to make your wedding richer, be more attentive to each of your attendants or put the saved money towards your honeymoon. You might even be able to take your guests abroad for a destination wedding if you want a smaller, intimate celebration.
If your guest list is quickly reaching 100+ you will want to organize it in a local area. Also, if you want to invite all your colleagues and the cousins you have never met, then you may have to cut down expenses on some other aspect – it might be food, alcohol or entertainment.
Budget
This is not the most romantic part of planning the celebration but should be done with the help of family and/or your future spouse. Take time to sit together, count the expenses for each aspect during the celebration, and decide who can contribute how much.
This is a time to decide what is going to be taken care financially by you or your family and what the guests will have to buy on their own (i.e. alcohol, parking). Splitting money correctly is a very important skill in life and during the preparation of the celebration in particular.
Location of the Wedding
This aspect is very important because you need to understand how far from home the celebration will take place. If you are an adventurous or nontraditional person and wish to take your attendants abroad, the initial thing you should think about is guest accommodations, passports, and cost.
If you wish for your celebration to be somewhere near home, start researching venues in your area. Figure out how far is too far for your guests to travel to your wedding ceremony and reception. Also, think about if you want your ceremony and reception to all take place in one spot.
Catering
The menu for your celebration is going to be one of the more difficult tasks to take care of. You should take into consideration any dietary restrictions of your guests. Do you have vegetarians and/or vegans among the attendants? Do you have guests that only eat white meat? These are things to start asking your family and friends. Sending a menu survey a couple of weeks before the celebration will help you learn any accommodations you need to plan for with your caterer.
Also, if you desire to have food from different cultures you should check with caterers to see if they can accommodate those dishes. You should also think about if you want to have a separate kids menu as well.
Entertainment
Although this is an aspect many couples have historically thought about later in the planning process, it would be wise to start thinking about it earlier, since entertainment drives today’s world.
Everyone wants their guest to have a great time so first determine what is important to you and your guests. Do you wish a band to play? Do you want all people on the dance floor? Do you desire to have your guests participate in different sorts of games and activities? Determining what kind of entertainment you want to include will give you more time to research bands, DJs, games, and more. Learn more ways to entertain your guests here.
If you feel overloaded with academic work and feel like you have no time to make wedding plans learn more. If you think you need further help with the wedding planning check out some great planners here!
Written By: Melissa Cartew