The 8-Step Process to Planning A Wedding, Step 1: Where To Start?

Firstly, congratulations!

Over the next few posts, and starting with this one, I’m going to share with you a detailed 8-step process to planning a wedding, breaking this into a series of eight manageable chunks - followed by an Ultimate Wedding Planning Checklist.

I’m writing these posts for anybody involved in planning a wedding, taking you through each stage, intending to help with decisions, prioritise and action tasks so that you organise your dream day, that is well planned, within budget, on time and enjoyable to organise (I’ll try super hard with the last point).

This is an event planning and management blog, so I’ve decided to leave parts that don’t come under this to the experts - such as choosing the dress, clothing, hair and make up, gift lists and the rings.

I’ll be writing this as I go, so I’d be interested in hearing how you’re organising your wedding, thoughts about the posts, wedding stories, tips and if there are any types of things you’d like to see covered.

The thought of organising everything from scratch can be stressful, but doesn’t need to be, and I hope these posts help manage that and assist you with putting together the most incredible day. Ready?

STEP 1: Where To Start?
Once you’ve told both sets of parents, close family and friends about your news, it’s time to start building the foundations to your wedding day. This first post will help with this, and once everything here has been completed you’ll find everything else easier to organise.

Set The Date
I’ve put this as the first point, because once you’ve set the date you’ll have a deadline to work towards, you’ll be able to get accurate costs from suppliers and check the availability for the actual date rather than working hypothetically.

In some cases there may be aspects that you’ll need to consider first, such as suiting work commitments, if there is a particular venue you have in mind - it’s availability, and liaising with special guests, like parents, best friends who you’ll really want there and also anybody needing to travel far. This may mean that you’ll need to come back to this point, but start thinking about a date and get one in the diary as soon as you can.

When choosing a date ensure that you allow enough time for preparations and, if needed, time to save up. The only requirements for setting a date for the UK are that marriages have to take place between 8am - 6pm and can be any day of the year, except Christmas Day and Good Friday.

For a maximum turnout, I would suggest avoiding any popular times of the year when guests are likely to book holidays and checking the calendar for event dates in your area, such as festival dates, major sporting events and school holidays.

Just remember when choosing a date that you can’t please everybody.

Create A Wedding Folder
Start as you mean to go on by being organised from the beginning and create a Wedding File on your computer, which will include everything about your Wedding. I recommend getting a dropbox account (it’s free) which is a folder online, this means you and your partner will be able to access it from any computer. You can also download a copy of the folder onto your desktop, which means you’ll also have a copy saved to your computer, and it will automatically update when you switch on your computer and when you add or update documents.

Once you’ve set this up, every time you come across something useful, you can save it to your dropbox folder, like the documents I’m going to create for you!

Google Docs is another great tool for this, but my preference is definitely Dropbox.

I would also recommend creating a wedding folder in your email account and save any emails related to the wedding there. When dealing with suppliers, ask them to send quotes and confirm conversations via email and save them to your wedding folder, especially if you have negotiated a rate.

Put Together The Wedding Budget
It is impossible to start planning your wedding without knowing your budget, so you’ll need to get a provisional budget together asap.

The idea that the Bride’s Father pays for everything is old-fashioned, and these days it’s usually a family affair with the Bride and Groom contributing the majority, especially if both are working.

The first thing to do is find out how much everybody is willing to contribute towards the day. It may feel a bit embarrassing talking about money, especially so early on - but there is no point in contacting venues or suppliers that are out of your price range, and you won’t be able to settle on anything unless you know for sure how much you have to spend.

Some couples choose to go it alone to avoid family arguments about who should be invited to the day - e.g. it’s harder to say no about inviting your Dad’s Brother who you haven’t seen for 10 years, if your Father is paying for everything.

Once you have an idea of how much everybody is going to contribute, create a spreadsheet with your budget, compile a list of expenses and keep track of any financial activities here, so you can see how much you’ve spent and what is left to play with. Some couples choose to open a separate wedding bank account.

If you have no idea how much things cost I would firstly recommend allocating the budget by what’s most important to you and your partner, and then compare it to the average wedding budget to see if your budget is realistic:

The Average UK Wedding Budget in 2011
(Source: UKWeddingBelles)

Engagement Ring & Celebrations - £1,200
Stationery - £500
Stag & Hen Nights - £280
Insurance - £120
The Service - £520
Wedding Rings - £650
Flowers - £750
Reception Decor - £500
The Bride’s Dress - £1,500
Hair & Beauty - £180
The Groom’s Outfit - £200
Attendant’s Outfits - £480
Transport - £520
Photography - £950
Videography - £900
Reception (Venue, Food & Drinks) - £4,030
Entertainment - £750
Wedding Cake - £400
Gifts - £175
Honeymoon & First Night Hotel - £4,000
Total - £18,605

There may be significant differences, say for example you may prefer to spend more on entertainment, and less on food. Rather than just changing your spreadsheet, think about creative ways that you could save money on the food.

Don’t be afraid of going down the DIY route for parts of your wedding, one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to was all DIY - so please don’t see this as a bad thing.

Announce Your Engagement
You’ll want to let everybody know that you’re engaged, so you might want to get on the blower and tell people about it, or alternatively organise an engagement party, dinner or drinks to celebrate that you are getting married. You may also wish to announce your engagement in the local papers.

Next Step:
In the next post we’ll take a look at putting together the guest list, roles in the wedding and sending out a save the date card: Step 2: People Involved in a Wedding

In the meantime, do you have any suggestions, insights, recommendations or great places to visit? Please share.