So you're getting married, you've got the man or woman of your dreams and you've both agreed that you want to spend the rest of your lives together. Nothing can interrupt your happiness.
Now the hard part comes, you've actually got to plan the wedding, the biggest day of your life. Our wedding planning to-do list here should help you get things in order and organise what you're doing and when. It should be noted that this list should be used as a guide only, not everything will be relevant to you. Cross off things you know you wont be needing or doing and then you're left with a list to prioritise.
Engagement To-Do list
- Announce your engagement in the local newspaper and by sending all your friends and family announcement cards
- If you've not already received your ring (a gentleman should ALWAYS propose WITH a ring shouldn't he girls?) then go shopping to buy it
- Decide on your budget. This is important and should be decided well in advance by both you and your partner.
- Decide on the type of wedding you want to have. Will it be a traditional top hat and tails church wedding, or a Moroccan themed civil service.
- Decide when you want to get married - set the time and date.
- Book the reception venue. This might seem premature but venues are booked up many many months in advance. If you find one you like it's sensible to book it there and then.
Once the date has been set
- Now is the time to book the venue be it a church or civil ceremony. Confirm the reception venue too.
- Girls, start looking for wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses.
- Choose your colour scheme
- Men, pick a best man and girls will need to think about maid of honour
- Start looking for a wedding photographer. Good ones are worth their weight in gold and will book up quickly. Advice here is to identify the style of photos you want and once you've found them and assessed their availability, book them
- Get your invitations designed, printed and sent out.
- Decide whether you want a wedding car, for you and your partner and start looking for quotes
- Plan a rough guest list. Sometimes this is the biggest headache of all - do you invite the uncle you've seen twice in 10 years or risk alienating members of your family by leaving him out?
Right, start booking things
- Book the photographer if you've not already done so bearing in mind that the closer to your day you do this the less choice you'll have
- If your venue doesn't supply food you will need to start looking for a caterer and deciding on a wedding breakfast menu
- Book your wedding car(s) and any other transport you'll need for your guests
- By now we imagine you've decided on a shortlist for a honeymoon and now is the time to start making preliminary bookings - if this is an overseas trip then getting passports which are up to date is a must
- Book the priest or registrar who will be marrying you
- Men, you'll want to make sure you've got your suits for yourselves and your groomsmen ordered
- Find and decide upon a wedding florist and select your bridal bouquet, button holes for the men and flowers for the ceremony and reception
- If you are having a professional do your hair and makeup book a hairdresser and makeup artist
- Accommodation for the night of the wedding at the venue should be booked for the bride and groom and other places to stay organised for other guests
- If you're having a band at the reception audition and book now otherwise book a DJ for the evening do.
Nearly there, just a few things more…
- Decide on your wedding cake and order now
- Organise your wedding rings (it's a good idea to leave at least a month for the jeweller to supply these with extra time allowed for resizing)
- Work with the venue to finalise your seating plan for the reception and start making table plans for guests
- You and your partner should decide on the order of service and if you're planning on writing your own vowels, start now
- Decide upon and but the gifts for the bridesmaids, groomsmen and parents
- Make sure you have completed all required documentation as specified by the venue, church etc
The home straight
- Get your order of service printed up for all guests at the church/venue
- Stag do and Hen night should be organised by the best man and maid of honour respectively. We advise keeping this to a week before the wedding - no one wants a hangover on the happiest day of their life
- Reconfirm EVERYONE - the photographer, the venue, the car, the caterer, the flowers...you get the idea
- Finalise your seating plan
- Men, your wedding speeches should be well underway and near completion
A week to go
- Make sure all those involved in the ceremony have attended the wedding rehearsal
- Have your bags packed for the honeymoon along with all passports and currency
- Reconfirm the bridal suite
- Reconfirm your honeymoon flights
That's about it. It looks daunting and there is a lot to do, but if you break it down into manageable chunks items will be ticked off before you know it.
