With January half over, the New Year is well and truly upon us. So many couples are now busy planning their weddings. Some are for 2012, some 2013, last week I spoke to a bride planing her wedding for May 2014! A friend asked me recently what tips I would recommend to couples planning their wedding. In no particular order, here goes…
Chat about what is important to you both about your wedding, shared expectations about what your wedding day is to be makes life a lot simpler.
Surround yourself by experts. Your wedding day is a very special day in your life, perhaps one of the most significant in your lives together. Surrounding yourself by experts who know what they are doing and who you can trust will help make your wedding day run really smooth.
Get in early. Wedding ceremony and reception venues, and wedding photographers can book out long in advance so get in early. How early? As soon as you know your date, start planning and reserve the big things. As an example, If you have your heart set on a particular photographer, remember they can only photograph one couples wedding per day.
If you must set a wedding budget, do so after doing some exploratory research first. Budget is such a personal issue and is often priority based. For some couples, the food at the reception is important, for others, the number of guests coming is the priority, some make the honeymoon the priority. For couples wanting a lasting memory of their day, photography is extremely important. Everyone’s budget for wedding day items is so individual. Some couples “guesstimate” amounts needed before consulting industry professionals. Before deciding how much to actually allocate to wedding day items, do some research to find out realistic prices.
Delegate. On your wedding, day, delegate organisational, delivery, drop off tasks to others, this removes stress and frees you up to enjoy your wedding day.
In the week before the wedding, reserve some “non-wedding talk” time together. Go to the movies, go out to dinner, invest a few hours to get a break from all things wedding.
Take a decent break from work for your wedding. When was the last time you had 4 continuous weeks holiday? We all say it is only in the third week that we really start to relax, if it is at all possible with your work commitments, make your time off work for your wedding a good break.
Make time to see your wedding photos before you go back to work, you will be so excited to see your wedding photos. If you have commissioned a professional wedding photographer to photograph your wedding, your images are going to be amazing. We are truly blessed in this country, the standard of professional wedding photography in Australia is so incredibly high. Professional wedding photographers are typically members of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP), the AIPP has rigorous standards members must meet to be a certified photographer. Designing your wedding album with your wedding photographer at the end of your honeymoon completes the adventure that is your wedding.
Enjoy the ride, planing your wedding is a unique moment in your life, yes there will be tasky things to do, decisions to make, it is also very exciting making plans and working together.