Everything You Need to Know About Planning a Wedding

Ok, before we dive in, let’s start with a caveat. This might not be everything you need to know about planning a wedding, that would basically be a massive textbook and take you a month to read! Simply treat the following tips as the most important things you need to know about when planning a wedding. Because let’s be honest, every wedding is different, from timescales to seasons to individual styles and tastes, but some elements remain the same, and THAT is what we’ll be touching on here.

The first thing to note when discussing where to start when planning your wedding is to keep in mind that there is no right or wrong way to plan your big day. There may be stressful times sprinkled here and there, but if you’re both organised and remain planning as a team, your dream wedding will end up being arranged perfectly for you. We have made this slightly overwhelming task a little more manageable by creating a rundown of the key things you should know about before kick-starting the planning of your special day. Just think of us as your personalised digital wedding planner!

Plan your wedding budget and treat it as gospel

We all know that weddings can be one of the most expensive events of your life, so making a budget (and trying to stick to it) is hands down the best way to start the wedding planning process. Holding back 10% of the budget as a contingency fund is always worthwhile, too. Unexpected costs and last-minute wants can easily creep up along the way, so having that extra 10% as a backup will really help keep costs from spiralling out of control. It is always important to keep things realistic; undoubtedly, that romantic castle getaway would be the DREAM, and that (way over budget) fairy tale wedding dress definitely has your name all over it. Still, maybe your hard-earned cash is needed or could be better spent in other areas of your life, which is totally ok.

Choose your wedding date and get organised

It may sound obvious, but start your planning journey with the wedding date in mind. Of course, this might not be the date, but having at least a year, or even better, a month in mind will help you better understand how long you have to plan the big day and how much money you might need.

Once you have researched and secured your perfect venue, the countdown begins, and you can get properly stuck into those exciting wedding plans! Writing lists, accepting help, and keeping calm are the best ways to start because being organised from day one will help enormously, as will breaking those often overwhelming plans into manageable chunks. No one wants a bride or groomzilla on their hands now, do they?

Plan the guest list

Whether your celebration will be a big, beautiful wedding party or a small, intimate gathering, the earlier you plan the guest list, the better. Your guest list is a super important element of the wedding planning process and should be considered one of your top priorities. It affects many moving parts, including your budget, seating plan, catering, and venue selection. Don’t forget that your wedding guest list is made up of the people who are going to play a part in creating one of the most memorable days of your life, so don’t underestimate the power of the perfect guest list!

Start researching your vendors

Cool, covetable wedding vendors are fairly easy to find these days, thanks to the improvement of technology, especially social media for businesses. Not only can you hunt for vendors such as a wedding photographer or florist or even peruse wedding rings on Google, but utilising platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest could also help you find the perfect wedding vendors for your special day.

Make sure you check out their websites, read their reviews, and learn all that you can about their services so that you can gain all the information you need before reaching out and/or paying a deposit.

This is also a great time to consider if you are opting for a themed wedding and/or refining your wedding style that you want to create as this will help you to choose vendors who fit a certain vibe.

Finally, remember to consider your budget when researching wedding costs—in fact, keep regularly checking in on the figures to ensure you’re staying within budget.

Create your wedding website

Perhaps you are planning on sending out traditional paper invitations—a lovely idea! We offer a free wedding website with RSVP set up where everything you could possibly need to plan or arrange around your invitations and guest list can be in one place! Take advantage of the personalised wedding planning checklist so you can even plan your wedding on the go! Who needs a wedding planner anyway?

We recommend creating your wedding website around six months before the big day. Curate your guest lists, make your own personalised save the dates, follow up with beautiful curated digital wedding invitations (including RSVPs), and keep everything here safely in one place.

Don’t forget to customise your wedding website with the following key information: your wedding date, location, and a rundown of the days itself. You can also include accommodation information and an FAQ page to avoid the same questions being asked over and over again. It's always a nice touch to introduce your wedding party members as well; a few photos of your bridal party and groomsmen will be welcomed by those guests who are perhaps attending alone or if some guests want to know some of the key members ahead of the day. Don’t forget to add a bit of personalised fun, perhaps with some photos of your engagement story, too. This can be such a fun detail that your guests will LOVE to hear about.

Basically, having a wedding website will make the whole process of planning your big day as stress-free as possible, which is exactly what engaged couples need during such an exciting (and admin-heavy) time of their lives!

As we said in the intro, there is so much more to say about wedding planning, from choosing seating plans to whether you really need to send save-the-dates. The more important thing to remember is to stay level-headed and embrace making your wedding day as special to you both as possible. This is YOUR day, and it should be plotted and planned to fit your budget and creative ideas, not anyone else’s.