Planning a Wedding: Checklist & Tips from Our Experts to Keep You on Track
First of all - congratulations on getting engaged! You must be so excited!
However, we bet after the initial shock of saying “YES!”, a tidal wave of “what now!?” may be washing over you. We completely understand how overwhelming planning a wedding can be!
Although it may feel like there are a million things to do, our first advice to all of our couples is to take a deep breath and try and enjoy this time; there is no need to stress about getting everything done immediately (trust us - we’ve done this a few times!). Planning a wedding can be fun (we promise!) and we encourage you to enjoy this time and have fun!
That being said, to feel confident to plan your wedding with flawless execution, it makes things way easier to feel organized and have the right tools at your disposal. Who knows, at the end of all this you may feel like such a rockstar you might consider changing your profession to ‘event planner extraordinaire’ (we did!) 😉
To help you get started, we’ve pulled together a quick checklist which you can dive into no matter where you are at in the planning process. This will help you stay on track and ahead of any deadlines, so you can focus on the important things like keeping up your sourdough bread making or cat’s Instagram account.
However, if details are just not your thing and you could think of nothing worse, save the nails on the proverbial chalkboard, we get it and we’ve got you covered. Let us check off this list for you so you can focus on enjoying the lead up to your wedding in other ways. We offer everything from venue-only rentals for all of you do-it-yourself pros, all the way to full service wedding coordination where all you’ll be asked to do is decide on personal details such as the wedding cake flavour (which means you get to eat cake all day - what could be less stress-free than that?)!
To help you get started, we’ve rounded up some of our top tips for each stage of your planning process. From years of experience it is never too early to start planning!
When you get engaged…
The most important step during this time is: be excited! Spend some extra time celebrating! Don’t get too caught up in the details just yet - there will be plenty of time to stress about seating plans.
Once you’ve soaked it all in, we recommend doing some visioning with your partner.
What do we mean by visioning?
We suggest taking a step back and ask yourself “WHY you are doing this?” (the wedding, not getting married!). We know, that answer may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many different answers we get to this question from couples just starting out.
How will you and your partner want to share your wedding experience with the world? This will help guide your decisions and get some of the foundational pieces out of the way. Are you traditionalists or prefer to do things your own way? Are you wanting to just be married and be-damned who is there, or is this a big family celebration which means a lot more people will be taken into consideration and their opinions carry weight. Is this for your parents - do what they want influence your decision? Or is this a celebration for you and your friends which means that Great Uncle Bill (whom you haven’t seen since you were 4!) may be cut from the guest list even though your mother insists this will be a family scandal?
Dreaming up your Wedding Day
In regards to the actual day, determine what is most important to you and focus on those things first. This may be the venue, the food, the photography - or you may just not want to think about anything at all and want an all-inclusive package. Once you determine what is important to you, you want to make sure the key vendors who will be helping to make your wedding dreams come true are available. Picturing your dream wedding and finding out the integral vendors are not available is incredibly disappointing. It is easier if you can be flexible with your date - especially if you are starting planning less than a year out when many are booked - however if you have the exact date in mind you may need to be flexible on the vendors you include.
Where to start?
If you are a bit of a loss of where to start, we suggest focusing on your venue. Being able to picture your wedding in an actual space helps bring everything together. It will also help narrow down your dates as many venues book up far in advance. Have a look at our venues - each with its own charms!
So how do you pick your venue?
We suggest reflecting on what type of couple you are. Are you the into small and intimate or big and extravagant? Do you want a blank slate that you can transform, or would you rather put in very little effort into design and decor? Once you get an idea start doing some research. There are lots of platforms out there that show venues in your area that you can filter but type and amenities.
Ready to Start Planning?
If you’re ready to take the plunge and start planning your wedding day - we’ve got you covered! Our detailed checklist will help you stay on track so there are no surprises on the actual day. Remember that planning should be FUN!