You’ve gotten engaged and now you and your partner want to dive in and start with planning the wedding. You’re excited, and you know there’s a lot to do, so of course you want to get started. It’s not going to happen if you don’t start, right? Here are 8 wedding planning tips to make all of those plans go smoother, make those details more cohesive, so you end up with the wedding you both want.

8 Important Wedding Planning Tips

1) Know Your (And Your Partner’s) Personal Style

Of all the wedding planning tips, this one is possibly the most important. There are so many options out there when you’re planning a wedding. While each option is not “right” or “wrong” in and of itself, it is right or wrong for you and your wedding. You need a way to pare down those options so you’re picking from those that truly fit you and your partner. So how do you do that? You and your partner need to define your personal style. (Don’t worry, this isn’t tricky).

Think about things like: Are you more contemporary or casual? Traditional, or classic? Are you comfortable in large crowds or do you prefer more intimate gatherings? Is your idea of a great evening filled with dinner and dancing or fabulous cocktails and yummy desserts? What style of clothes do you wear? How do you decorate (or want to decorate) your home? What are the types of music and books you prefer? What types of movies do you watch? What are some other favorite past times? Let the answers to these types of questions reflect in your wedding choices.

2) Know Your Priorities

Again, there are so many too many options out there, and some will be more important to you than others, and others not so much.

Make a list of all the things that you will have in your wedding – the music, the cake, the flowers, then rank them by order of importance. What’s more important to you, a delicious cake or awesome flowers? Fabulous food or a killer gown? Get your partner’s input as well. It’s not just your wedding! Besides, if something’s high on their list, and low on yours – guess who’s “to do” list it goes on?

By knowing your priorities, your choices will better reflect you and your partner, and you’ll have a better sense of when to skimp and when to splurge.

3) Set A Workable Budget

I’ll admit, budgets are not fun. But they are super important tools to have. When defining your budget, spend your money on what’s important to you (go back to your list of priorities). Determine which areas you can splurge on as well as where you can scrimp, yet still have the wedding you want.

4) Get Organized

Another one of our important wedding planning tips is to get organized. Even with the smallest, simplest wedding, there are just too many details to go at it willy-nilly. You’ll need a place to keep notes, contracts, brochures, and everything else you’ll collect during this time. Binders and divided folders are perfect with their separate sections.

Also have checklists, including a master checklist for all of the planning details, a photo shot list, a music “want to hear/have to hear/don’t want to hear” list. Have a reception item list (for all those things you will be dropping off to your reception venue the week of your wedding).

5) Create Your Guest List

Making the guest list is many couples’ least favorite part of wedding planning. It’s more than just writing down everyone’s names. WAY more. And, please, for your own sanity, don’t try to do this before you’ve determined your wedding style/size, and your budget. After you know your style and budget, you need to decide the maximum number of people you want to invite. You need to know how many people you can afford to have. Then you need to start gathering names. It’s helpful to divide the list of names into 3 categories 1) Have to be there, 2) Would like to have there, and 3) It’s ok if they’re not there. (This will be useful when you have to whittle down your list).

If you need to pare down your list, but are having trouble deciding how, keep this in mind. Keep cuts even across the board. Some examples are: Don’t invite relatives further than first cousins. Don’t invite children under the age of 13. Don’t invite anyone you haven’t actually spoken to or kept close contact with in the last year. And don’t extend a +1 to people who aren’t in a serious relationship.

6) Delegate

There’s a lot to do, so don’t be afraid to ask for and accept help. You are only going to create stress for yourself (and your partner) if you try to take on and micro-manage every single thing. Choose trustworthy people and delegate errands such as: delivering items to the reception venue, mailing the invitations, tracking RSVPs, and delivering Welcome Bags to the hotel.

Also, delegate someone to be your Go-To Person on the wedding day so you don’t get pestered with little questions all day. If you don’t have a wedding planner/coordinator, choose someone other than yourself, your partner, your moms, or a wedding party member. Among other things, this person will be a combination go-fer, hostess, trouble shooter, and will take care of all the little (and big) behind-the-scenes details so you and your partner can enjoy your wedding day and not worry about a thing.

7) Be Prepared With An Emergency Kit

They say ‘Hope for the best, plan for the worst’, because anything can happen. With all of the ‘moving parts’ of a wedding day, little problems can creep up. So having an emergency kit on hand, with items including a sewing kit, safety pins, first aid kit, stain remover sticks/wipes, and a glue gun is invaluable.

The most commonly used items in my emergency kit are tape, pins, and glue. I have glued together a broken cake topper, fixed the hems of the grooms’ pant legs, pinned falling wedding dress bustles, sewn torn dress straps . . .

8) Remember Why You’re Having a Wedding

Of all the wedding planning tips, this one is probably the most important. Remember why you are having a wedding. The reason for planning a wedding is not for the sake of having a big party. It’s not just because of one day, (although this day is immensely important). Instead the reason you’re having a wedding is for all the days that will follow. For all the days that you will be blessed to get to spend with the love of your life.

Photo Credit: Robert Kintner via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Hearts, Joy, Love!
Jean

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Weddings From The Heart can help. Contact me today at [email protected] or by phone or text at 937-581-3647!