According to a survey conducted by Zola, 71% of couples find wedding planning to be nerve-wracking and stressful. Are you and your partner part of this 71%? Hoping to find some help with the wedding planning process?
From finding the perfect dress and tux to hiring a florist, DJ, and photographer/videographer, there are countless items to consider. Since stress can lead to fatigue, it’s important to manage stress so you’re feeling your best on your big day!
Luckily, you’ve come to the right place! Here are 6 wedding planning tips for creating the perfect big day.
1. Get Started as Early as Possible
There is a great deal involved in planning a wedding. Not only do you need to find and book a venue but you also need to set up food accommodations, come up with decor ideas, and much, much more. It’s an extremely intensive process that requires both time and effort.
It’s for this reason that, when planning a wedding, you should get started as early as possible. This is not something that you want to procrastinate on.
By starting early, you can divide the planning process into smaller portions. This way, there’s nothing too overwhelming, and you can keep your head on straight, all the while ensuring that you touch every base.
2. Create a Budget
Though it’s possible to plan a cheap wedding, most weddings are on the expensive side. In fact, the average wedding costs somewhere between $20,000 and $35,000, depending on the state you’re in. That’s the cost of a brand new car.
For this reason, when planning a wedding, it’s vital that you create a budget. If you don’t, you could find yourself spending money that you don’t actually have. There’s no sense in going into debt over a wedding, especially when there are so many big expenses that you’ll have to confront in the future.
Our advice is to create a spreadsheet. Use different tabs within the spreadsheet to cover different expense categories. For instance, use one tab for food, one tab for transportation, one tab for alcohol, and so on.
Keeping things organized will serve you well when it comes to making big financial decisions.
3. Work Out the Guest List Quickly
Working out a wedding guest list is never fun. Unfortunately, most venues can only hold specific numbers of guests, and most budgets can only accommodate specific numbers of guests. As such, honing the guest list is a necessity.
We recommend narrowing your guest list down as soon as possible. This way, you’ll have a good idea of how many people are coming and will be able to find a venue that holds you all. If you wait too long, you might not be able to find a suitable venue, and might have to make undesirable cuts to the list.
4. Prioritize the Food
Weddings are, at their core, big parties. What does every big party have in common? FOOD!
The food is arguably the most important aspect of your wedding. After all, people love to eat. And if your food is to their liking, they’re almost sure to give your wedding a rave review, regardless of whether or not everything else is up to par.
First, make sure that you order enough food. It’s better to get too much than to get too little. You can always save leftovers.
Aside from that, you need to think carefully about what you’ll serve. You don’t want to get too exotic, as some guests might not like what’s being served. All the same, you don’t want to go too bland either.
Create a list of foods that you like and assess their popularity. Then, narrow these foods down until you have 2 or 3 of them. Come up with some decent sides and you’ll be good to go.
Make sure to choose a reputable caterer as well, a company that’s experienced with weddings and that is known to serve tasty foods.
5. Don’t Go It Alone
Your wedding is your big day. As such, you want it to be to your exact liking. This is understandable. However, it can lead to a very common problem: going it alone during the planning process.
In an effort to maintain control over the process, you could shut out others and try to put everything together yourself. We highly recommend against doing this. Instead, you should take advantage of those who are willing to help.
Devise a team of people who are interested in planning the wedding with you. This could be your parents, your future parents-in-law, your siblings, your future siblings-in-law, friends, or otherwise. Build a team and then delegate different tasks to different people.
Doing this will reduce the stress load substantially. You’ll get to enjoy the experience more, and you’ll likely plan a better wedding because of it.
6. Use Professional Services
Our last tip is to use professional wedding planning services. Yes, this is more expensive than just planning the wedding on your own. However, it offers a number of benefits, including professional know-how, reduced work for you, and a more pleasant experience overall.
There are all types of wedding planners out there. You could use the services of a wedding planner in your town or you could even use destination wedding planning services.
There are even planners who specialize in specific themes. For instance, you could find a wedding planner with experience in barn-based weddings. Or you can find a planner with experience in beach-based weddings.
Give it some consideration and determine whether it’s right for you. You don’t have to let your planner dominate the process. If you wish, you can just use them to help guide you through the process.
Use These Wedding Planning Tips to Your Advantage
Planning a wedding is far from easy. However, by using these wedding planning tips, you can greatly simplify the process, making for the most enjoyable experience possible.
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