Wedding Checklist – Wedding Planning Guide

Regardless of how many months you have, the wedding planning process can be a distressing one. Coordinating all the various components needed in making the wedding a success can be demanding, however with a full-proof wedding list at hand the planning process becomes much easier!

Here is a list of 10 important things you should include on your wedding checklist.

Decide your Budget

First things first, you’ll need to workout a budget for the wedding.

What type of wedding you would like to have? Whether it is a simple wedding with few people or a grand wedding with hundreds of guests.

Having a concrete budget in place helps guide a number of planning elements which, in turn, helps you to stay within the budget. The last thing you would want is to overrun your budget before procuring all the must-haves.

In most weddings, there is a trend of spending on all the possible luxuries.

This will lead to overrun your budget and in the end, will give anxiety instead of a positive wedding feeling.

Weddings must be a beautiful memory and not something that break your financial stability.

Compile a Guest List

Creating a guest list is quite important because it somewhat goes hand in hand with the budgeting for the wedding. It is also important to send out wedding invitations as early as possible, particularly in case of the destination weddings.

When compiling a guest list it is important to also figure out whether you are inviting the whole family or if you would rather limit the number of guests attending.

Your Wedding Team

Whom do you want to become part of your wedding team? This is an important decision to make ahead of time so that you may formally extend these invitations. This also applies both for the groomsmen and bridesmaid, as well as in deciding the Maid of Honor’s dress and Best Man’s suit.

The selection of a Maid of Honor and Best man is particularly important, because they will essentially act as your right hand throughout the wedding planning process.

Wedding Venue Selection

The venue is one of the equally important aspects of planning a wedding, because it directly affects a number of other elements. The venue goes in hand with choosing a date for the wedding, which in turn affects the budget as well as the selection of wedding vendors.

If you settle for a destination wedding, this means that certain expenditure such as flight costs and accommodation have to be factored into your wedding budget. Choosing a garden venue for a winter wedding means that extra costs have to be incurred such as the setting up of wedding tents or canopies. Likewise, choosing a popular wedding venue during a high peak season could attract higher venue rental costs.

Hire a Wedding Planner

Weddings are happy events and the road leading to the actual day of the wedding should be a happy one. The planning process can be a stressful one, particularly when it comes to coordinating different wedding planning elements. Hiring a planner will take the bulk of the stress away from the planning process and allow you to truly enjoy your wedding.

One of the most central roles planners play is to help actualize your dream into reality. After all, planners have a list of all the vendors you’ll need to provide the specialties you require for your wedding.

Wedding Invitation Selection

Everything from the color of your invite to its design and content matters, and so it’s the best time to finalize the look and feel of your wedding invite. You can keep it as subtle as you want or you can get it designed in a way that reflects the theme of your wedding. Make sure you’ve done enough research in the previous months so that you make the best decision at this point of time.

Hire Caterers and Photographer

Once you have a planner on board, getting the services of the different vendors you need for your wedding will be much easier. Planners do come with their list of professional and reliable vendors and they can always recommend the best in the industry for you.

Amongst the most important vendors to hire early enough for your wedding are caterers and a photographer.

Get the wedding ornaments

Getting your wedding ornaments is a special part of the wedding planning process and one that needs a lot of attention. The rings should be ordered on time, especially in the case of personalized rings.

In different communities, the type of ornaments needed varies. Some you may not find a perfect fit. So make sure you purchase all the ornaments in advance and made necessary customizations beforehand.

Get the Wedding Dresses

What you wear on your wedding day should be special; after all it is a very special day and you need to dress not to merely impress, but to be remembered. That is why ample time should be given to find the right wedding dresses.

If you are having your dresses custom made, it is important to place the order as soon as possible. Follow up on the progress is also important to make sure that the special outfits are ready in time for the special day.

Finalize Menu & Flowers

The reception is thought to be the icing on the cake and everything that you need for a successful reception should be procured on time. This includes settling on a wedding menu, as soon as you have finalized your guest list.

Flowers are amongst the last items that are purchased for a wedding, and it is easy to forget about them entirely when dealing with other demanding wedding planning needs. A wedding wouldn’t be a wedding without flowers and getting flowers for your wedding requires a slot on your checklist.

Plan for a Wedding Rehearsal

A full wedding dress rehearsal will help you run through your wedding day schedule and give everyone a chance to understand his or her specific roles. Wedding rehearsals also help to break the ice by getting fears out of the way and rectifying anything that might not be working.

Wedding rehearsals are often set for the day before the actual wedding and it makes sense to have the key vendors to attend the rehearsal.

With these important things on your wedding checklist you can rest assured that every important wedding planning activity will be attended to.

Most importantly, the planning process will flow seamlessly with a detailed and comprehensive checklist to consult with!