1. Set A Budget For The Wedding

The first and most important step is to set your budget when it comes to planning a wedding. This might not be the most exciting part of this process, but it is a critical task you need to complete first since it will determine how much you will have to spend on everything needed to make your wedding a success. You won’t want to fall into the trap of falling head over heels for a dress, vendor, or venue only to find out that it is way out of your budget. So meet up with your parents or any other person that is contributing to your big day so that you can arrive at a total figure. Don’t forget to include the costs of sound hire for conferences in your budget. From here you can divide this amount up between the services and the vendor accordingly.

2. Download A Good Wedding-Planner App

You will get a lot more done when you can plan your big day while you are on-the-go, instead of spending hours sitting at a computer. The WeddingWire app gives you access to planning tools, and where to source contacts for venues and other service providers.

3. Gather Inspiration

The fun part of planning your wedding is to get inspired. Start thinking about the way you would like your wedding day to feel and look. Are you interested in a formal and super-classic vibe? Or maybe you are more interested in a more rustic and relaxed wedding style? The choice is totally up to you, but you can start getting a few great ideas from Instagram, and Pinterest, and searching for the most current wedding trends to give you a few ideas on décor, wedding colours, and so much more. We suggest that you start this process as soon as you can, and step up your game once you have set the date and chosen a venue.

4. Work Out Your Guest List

While you won’t have a complete list of guests right from the start when you plan your wedding, working out an estimated count from the start is very important. There is a significant difference between 50 people and 300 people, especially when it comes to choosing a venue. So well before you even start looking for a venue, work out how many people you plan to host.

5. Choose Your Wedding Party

Now that you have a guest list in place, the next step involves choosing who you want to stand by your side on the day, which is known as your “wedding party”. This means choosing your groomsmen, bridesmaids, bridesmen, or grooms ladies (or any other important person you want to include in your bridal party) and then asking each person if they are prepared to accept these important roles.

6. Narrow Your Dates Down

You cannot set an official date until the venue is booked. But, we do suggest choosing a couple of potential dates for your wedding before you begin looking at different venues. The first step is choosing a season for your wedding date. Perhaps a weekend wedding in the evening is an absolute must (convenient, yet potentially more competitive and expensive) or maybe you are willing to host your wedding on a less-in-demand or different day. Look at a calendar and make sure you have accounted for family conflicts, holidays, work schedules, etc. so that you can start narrowing the dates down. Having a few potential dates that work for you can be extremely helpful when it comes to the process of choosing a venue.

7. Choose The Venue

Once you have your budget, a guest count (estimate), and potential dates for your wedding, you have the information that is needed to book a venue, which is a vital part involved in planning your wedding.

8. Start A Wedding Registry

After you have announced your engagement, it is very common that your family members will start asking “Where are you registered?”. When planning a step-by-step wedding, you should think about creating the registry for your wedding as early as you can. Your friends and loved ones might want to buy engagement gifts and then you can make additions or changes to the registry as you go.

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