Wedding planning is on the horizon!

When do you think your wedding planning start? It’s when your boyfriend has finally decided to pop the big question.

After you said ‘YES!, stopped crying, and started breathing at a normal pace again,

it’s time to let all your family and friends know that YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED!

How to let family and friends know that you’re engaged and you need to start wedding planning.

Using social networks to spread the news is far from being a wise choice, especially when it comes to family and close friends.

You’d want to feel the genuine emotion in their voices as they congratulate you for the engagement.

So make sure you CALL them instead.

What’s more, if you already know who your bridesmaids will be, make sure to call them as well.

This will make them feel appreciated and loved.

Now it’s time to think of the wedding planning. Once the engagement congratulation part is over and you have already showed off your splendid engagement ring, people will try to find out when the actual wedding will be.

So try to think of a realistic timeframe, such as ‘late summer, 2017’.

Wedding planning starts with defining your available resources.

Your engagement has become official and you already have an idea on when the actual wedding will be. Now you need to think about what type of wedding you want: small, large, luxurious, modest, and so on. So the first step is to talk money. Start with your fiancé and continue with both sets of parents. By knowing exactly the budget you will be juggling with, you will be able to determine how far you can go with dreaming of a perfect wedding. This topic is always delicate, but it’s something that has to be dealt with. The sooner, the better.

For extra tips and ideas on how to plan your dream wedding, there are lots of available information sources: specialized magazines and websites, budget calculators, wedding planners, helpful friends, etc.

The guest list

Now that you have a rough idea of the available budget, it’s time to think of a guest list. It’s crucial to be realistic. Though it’s less tasty and pleasant than choosing your wedding cake, it has to be done. And both parts will have a word to say. So maybe it’s wise to work on a collaborative system that will allow you to divide the list into three: must-invite, would-love-to-invite, and if-there’s-available-room. A system like that will allow you to make cuts at a later stage.

The venue

Now that you have worked on your budget and guest list, it’s time to focus on booking your venue. If you want to have a chance to book your dream venue, time is crucial. So begin your search as soon as possible and once you find it, BOOK IT! Most venues sell out 6 months up to 1 year in advance.

Don’t forget vendors

Wedding and engagement photographers, DJs or live bands, florists, the catering service, the wedding planner, and whatever else you think might take you one step closer to the wedding of your dreams… they all are determining factors for a wedding’s success. If you want it all to run as smooth as possible, make sure to book your vendors in advance and negotiate with them every single detail.

Send out save-the-dates

Most brides decide to send out save-the-dates up to 8 months before the wedding. And there’s a good reason for it: some of your guests will have to book a flight and a hotel room in order to attend the wedding. So offering them the possibility to book their flight and hotel in advance might save them a lot of money and stress.

Most brides and grooms will agree that wedding planning may turn into a stressful, overwhelming situation. So make sure you take a well-deserved rest as well. At the end of the day, it should be the happiest day of your life, with you and your groom as the main characters of this happy-ending story. Don’t let anything spoil it!