Your Wedding Planning Guide
A step by step road map to planning your perfect day!
Put together by us, for you!
1. What is important to you?
The first thing you need to do is stop and take a breath. Most couples find that planning a wedding can be very stressful. Especially if you're not on the same page. A great way to start your wedding planning journey is to incorporate it into a date night. Set some time aside to enjoy a nice meal together and start the planning on a positive foot.
Begin planning with a vision or mood board and see what you both love and don’t love. You'll find that at least one of you has a few very strong ideas that they will not budge on. Try to give and take a little, decide what is important to you both. A helpful approach can be an attitude of "if it's important to you, it's important to me."
2. Dream verses Budget
The budget is important with wedding planning, but it's always good to dream. The beginning of the wedding planning journey is a great time to talk about and prioritise your dreams.
It can be fun to dream your wildest wedding dreams before dialing it back to reality. Sticking to a budget can be tough when wedding planning, but you'll be glad you did when you can dump more cash into the house or travel fund!
You'll probably find that there are some things one or both of you have strong ideas about, and some that neither of you are too worried about. Don't be afraid to give tradition the finger and cut some corners. If it's not important to either of you, why bother?!
3. Enlist your Support system
Your bridal party are there for more than just a great Hens or Bucks night, they are there to help!
Many of us cannot afford to hire a wedding planner. The professional help with everything from creating your dream wedding while working to a generous budget is outside of many of our means. So that is why you have a bridal party!
Be sure to ask for help before you need it, they may have never done this before so don't expect them to read your mind. Delegate all the little jobs, you can even ask them to do the legwork around wedding quotes and researching vendors. Don't be afraid to ask, they signed up for this when they agreed to be in your wedding party!
4. Lists, Lists, lists!
Get to this one early! Sit down with all interested parties and write out a big, long, exhaustive list about what you need to get done before the big day. Try to think about every little detail. It can be a good idea to ask a few friends who've been through the process about what their pain points were. Nothing is too small to get down on paper.
It can help to break your wedding adventure into a few categories. Think about dividing your to-do lists in terms of Hens/ Bucks nights, wedding rehearsal and dinner, getting ready on the wedding day, the ceremony, the wedding photos, drinks/ cocktails and canapes and then the wedding reception. Don't forget recovery brekky's and the honeymoon!
4. Celebrate the Process
You've created your mood board, set your budget, spoken to friends and family and created a wedding team. Be prepared for the coming months of wedding planning to be stressful. But despite the promised stress, try to enjoy all the little things along the way. This is exciting stuff, you're planning your dream wedding with the love of your life! Take the time to consciously celebrate the process, the good, the bad, the incredibly stressful, it all goes together to make the big day magical.
5. Suit up!
Now for the fun stuff! You've set your budget, outlined what you want and how much you can spend on it. Now you get to go clothes shopping!
The bridal gown is traditionally a very big deal. It's an emotional process for everyone involved. It's not just the bride that is excited about this moment, but her mother and sisters or besties may all tear up when they see the right dress.
You'll probably find that the men's ensemble won't take you nearly as long as the dress shopping. While not nearly as emotional or time consuming, it's a good idea to not leave this until the last minute. Even just a bit of research into if you want to hire, and who you want to hire from is a good idea early on. While the men's attire is usually pretty easy, you need to give them time to get what you need in and tailor it appropriately.
6. Food time!
This is a big category so best to get onto it early. With food, you're thinking about everything from nibbles while the bridal parties are getting ready, through to the wedding dinner, wedding cake and then of course the recovery brunch. Talk to your venues or caterers early. Make sure the venue manager checks with regarding any dietary requirements for your guests or you!
Nibbles for the bridal party (both while they are getting ready and to keep them going through the wedding pics) is a great job to outsource. A family member will be happy to put together a little hamper to get you through the day!
7. Music
Music is such a big part of any celebration. Take some time finding a band or a dj that are up to giving you the party you've been dreaming of. Look for something that suits the wedding you have planned and that you can see yourself and your friends dancing to.
Some people cut this corner by organising a play list and some decent speakers and running the music from their computer. This will definitely save you wedding dollars, but make sure you have it well organised. Put one or two people in charge of the music, make sure they have a few well curated playlists and are ready for requests.
8. Make it yours
Now that you have a lot of the big things locked in for the day it's time to check back in with your mood board. Do this regularly throughout the process to make sure that you're on track for your dream wedding.
9. Details
If you haven't already, go back to those big, exhaustive lists you made early on in your wedding planning journey and reexamine them. Go through those babies with a fine tooth comb and only tick off a job once everything associated with it is organised and locked in.
10. Planning the Parties
So, this one isn't really on you but it's a good idea to check in and see how it's going. Get the names and contact details of anyone that you want invited to your hens or bucks parties to whoever is organising it early. Also check that they haven't gone rogue and organised something that is entirely un-you.
If you're planning to have a rehearsal dinner or a recovery brekky make sure the restaurant or venue is booked and that all of the relevant people know when and where they are needed.
Planning a hens or bachelorette party? Check out our blog for a few ideas!
11. Make a run sheet
This is an important one to get to any interested parties a week before the wedding. Make sure everyone knows where they have to be and when.
Also think about any contingency plans, ie hiring beautiful umbrellas for the photos is rain is forcast.
The more organised you can be with this one, the better. You don't want to be stressing about little things on the day.
Organising a good friend with a gift for getting things done to be on stand by is also a great contingency. No matter how well you've planned it out, something always gets forgotten. Having an errand boy or girl can negate any unnecessary stress.
12. Post Wedding Checklist
You're finally married! Now what?
- have your dress cleaned and/ or preserved
- send out thank you cards
- review your vendors
(wedding vendors rely on their online reviews and testimonials. If they did a good job, say thank you with a five star rating!) - change your name (if you want!)
We hope you find our step by step wedding planning guide helpful. Happy wedding planning from all of us at Forever Yours, Flowers. Be sure to let us know if there's something we can do to help!