Wedding Planning Guide

From LoveToKnow Weddings

It’s easy to see how a couple can become overwhelmed with all of the details that make up a wedding. In fact, planning a wedding can be downright stressful! If you’re planning a wedding and don’t even know where to begin, relax. Perhaps this wedding planning guide can help. Here are some items that should be on the top of your wedding planning list.

Plan your perfect wedding.

First things First

The first item in your wedding planning guide should be to announce your engagement. Traditionally the bride’s family is to be told first followed by the parents of the groom. Choosing one set of parents to tell over another can lead to hurt feelings, however. If you feel this will be the case, you might want to tell both sets of parents at the same time. Once parents and close relatives are apprised of the happy news, you can begin to tell the rest of your family and friends. Engagement announcements can also be sent out, but they’re purely optional as are engagement parties.

Setting a Date

Nex bit of business in the Wedding Planning Guide is to set a date. This may sound easy, but in all honesty, there’s a lot of thought involved. Your first consideration is choosing a date that not only works best for you, but that all of your closest family members can attend. For instance, you wouldn’t schedule your trip for the weekend your sister has planned a vacation in Aruba.

There are also cultural differences to consider. Certain cultures have to consult a lunar calendar to choose the luckiest date and other cultures have unlucky dates as well.. It’s best to check with the families of both the bride and groom to be sure to choose a date that works best for everyone’s religion, culture and superstitious natures.

You’ll also want to consider the weather. For instance, if you’d like to have a beach wedding, you’ll want to schedule the festivities for one of the warmer months.

Do you want to get married on a holiday? If so, book early. Valentine’s Day, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are big days for weddings. Saturdays also fill up early. If you’re looking to save money or choose a date that might not be booked far in advance, your best bet is to schedule your wedding between the months of October and March. If you can schedule your wedding for a day other than Saturday, you have the best chance of getting married on the day you’d like. Even so, it’s best to choose a backup.

Choose the Venue

As soon as you’ve chosen a date, you’ll need to book a venue, even if it’s a year or two in advance. Since weddings are booked months ahead of time, you may have trouble booking if you wait too long. Even if you start shopping around for churches and reception halls a year in advance, you may find their booked on your chosen date. This is when you’ll need to make a decision as to whether or not you should get married on your back up date.

These should be the first three item on the Happy Couple’s wedding planning guide. Everything else after that will fall into place. That’s not to say you should take your time. Be sure to follow the standard wedding planning timeline and you’ll do fine!