Wedding Planning

I write this as a 30-something woman who, after being with her husband-to-be for 12 years before he proposed, thought wedding planning would be so straightforward. (Because let’s face it, I’d had plenty of time to imagine and dream of my wedding day and what I wanted)

And okay, as a first-timer, I wasn’t expecting to be a mastermind at all-things wedding, but I definitely felt like a novice in lots of ways. So I thought I’d bring you on my journey in the hope that it may help in the slightest way for my fellow wedding virgins.

Making a Start

So the engagement ring is still shiny and new, and you’re raring to start planning your big day. So where to start?

Before you even start venue hunting and organising suppliers… you need to both decide on what you want from your big day. Is it small and intimate? A big white wedding? And what you want your wedding to be – rustic barn? Beach location? A fancy hotel or Manor house, maybe? 

And numbers.

I’m not saying you have to have to have your final guest list confirmed, but having a rough idea of the number of guests you want in the day/night will help on the venue search (and also when getting quotations for catering!)

Budget Plan

With a mortgage, two little ones and returning from maternity leave in the months leading up to our wedding, meant we really had to be careful with our wedding spend! And for us, setting up a spreadsheet to work out our budget and potential spend was a must!!

Now, this isn’t the most glamorous part of the wedding planning process. However, if you have a financial limit in mind, this part is crucial for allocating funds! From the bigger spends like the venue, suppliers and goods – but even the small things like hair, makeup, favours, place-names, signs (welcome, table plans), confetti, gifts, etc – because it can all mount up pretty quickly!

Now I had no clue on how much things would cost!  I did know that costs always seem to get magnified whenever the ‘W’ word is mentioned, but it would appear that post-pandemic, costs for a UK wedding have shot up (almost as high as my heart rate when I learned the true costs of some things!!)

Some venues will have packages that include certain services, like food, dj, drinks, etc, whilst some may purely be venue hire with the rest down for you to organise and supply.

And if, like me, you have NO idea how much to budget or what things may need to be costed up, I found speaking to family/friends helped (although be mindful that costs have significantly increased post-pandemic). Or you can download my wedding budget planner by clicking here.

I also looked to save money whenever I could and did some bits myself, such as doing my own website invites (to be covered in separate blog), having a wedding website (to help with organising wedding replies and RSVPs), designing, printing and framing my own table numbers (with guest photo upload QR).

Research, research, research!

You get one day to celebrate, so you want your choice of suppliers to reflect on what you want and your style.

When it comes to decor, flowers, hair, makeup, colourscheme, entertainment, photography & videography, the power of the Internet and social media is a godsend. Create Pintrest boards to capture the themes, colour schemes, and aesthetics you’d like.

I got recommendations from friends, family & social media followers for photographers and videographers, I saved a post from each into a folder on Instagram and then reviewed each one in turn deciding if the lighting, colour scheme, type of end product fitted with what I wanted. I unsaved posts for those that didn’t fit the bill, and from my remaining selection, I contacted each one for a quote. (The quotes formed part of the second selection process!)

And when it came to entertainment, we had a Teams call with our potential preferred provider to allow them to understand what we wanted and for us to decide what we really wanted. The more your supplier can understand you and your vision, the easier it is to establish whether they are the right supplier for your big day.

Investing time, thought, and effort right from the beginning can really save stress and headaches much later on in the wedding planning process.

You want to be able to enjoy it all, and I hope you do darling bride-to-be! 🤍