Wedding Planning Checklist

Jun 15, 2009

Planning a wedding is easier, more exciting and fun than you might think. If you desire stress free wedding planning, you will need organization, plenty of time, and patience. Here is a brief outline on the way to plan your wedding.

Congratulations on your engagement! Once you've come down from cloud nine, go out and buy yourselves a wedding planning organizer. This is the most important item in your wedding planning tools! It can be used to write down your ideas, vendor recommendations and the other important things you need to plan your wedding.

Once you've announced your engagement, go out and shop for your wedding rings. Make sure that announcing your engagement and purchasing the rings (this can be done in reverse) takes place within two to three weeks. Why? Because you'll want to submit a formal engagement announcement to the paper, specifying a date, if possible, otherwise the date must be set when booking your civil or religious ceremony and you then submit a formal wedding announcement.

The top error couples make when planning their wedding is not realizing the amount of time they will need. Most vendors, reception halls and churches can be already booked a year or more in advance! An informal wedding requires three to six months to plan and book; a semiformal wedding six months to a year and a formal/large wedding 12 to 18 months. The early bird gets the worm: booking early means you'll have the vendors and caterers of your choice.

Money doesn't promise that you will be happy, being in harmony on the matter of money probably will. Make decisions on who is paying for what items, and if either of your parents are helping out financially or not. Remember whoever pays has the say about what is done and who is invited, so be very clear and specific with each other when it comes to money

The next step on how to plan a wedding involves coming up with a budget you can live with. All other how wedding planning decisions flow from this one crucial element. Finding the right balance between your budget and your dreams will determine the size and style of your wedding. The size of your wedding budget will determine the number of your guest list. Expenses for a wedding are never minor. You can look ahead to paying 45 to 50% of your total budget for the reception.