Wow, you’re engaged, congratulations to you both!

At times, planning your wedding may seem like you have too many balls up in the air, big decisions to make followed by little details to attend to. A little wedding planning can help to bring all the planets into alignment to make your dream wedding an unforgettable event.

When getting started, chat together about what’s important to you both for your wedding day; agreement and understanding on this helps set a clear course of action.

Start with the big things first like ceremony, reception venues and photographer. Only one couple can be married at 3pm on the 15th October in St John’s Cathedral. If this is your dream, get in early as venues and people book out quickly. It is a great idea to make a start on this not long after you are engaged.

Consider the following wedding day service providers:

Your Favourite Church in the Brisbane CBD

Brisbane has some beautiful churches available for your wedding, each with a unique history and showcasing a different style of architecture. Popular city churches for weddings include St Stephen’s Cathedral, Albert Street Uniting Church, St John’s Cathedral, St Mary’s at Kangaroo Point and All Saints on Wickham Terrace. On any given Saturday, churches often have  a few weddings scheduled so it is important to be on time. Ceremony times may be 1.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm with 3pm the most popular.

Wedding Reception Venues

Major hotels offer brides and grooms a complete package including a venue for a civil ceremony, reception and if needed, accommodation for guests. Many popular wedding reception venues like Hillstone St Lucia, The Stamford Plaza Hotel, Brisbane, the Marriott Hotel and Sirromet have multiple function rooms and a fabulous team on the day to cater for you. Some venues have rooms for larger numbers, cosy rooms for smaller numbers.  Some wedding reception venues can often cater for multiple receptions and events on the one evening.

Restaurant Receptions

Australia has so many wonderful restaurants and talented chefs. Increasingly, many couples want their wedding reception to be something intimate, more akin to a dinner with friends enjoying fine food and wine. Restaurants like Moda, Songbirds and Spicers Clovelly Estate have responded with innovative menus offering flexibility for couples wanting this type of experience. Restaurants typically cater for just the one wedding on any given evening.

Bridal Designers

Going dress shopping with the girls is something that makes planning a wedding suddenly seem very real for just about any bride. Designers like Darb, Wendy Makin or MXM Couture are able to offer you helpful advice on what design is best for you based on what you like, your figure, the look you want, and ultimately your budget. After deciding on a design, a series of fittings quickly becomes the the week of the wedding and time to collect your gown and hang it away form prying eyes! While their is a natural production capacity, dress designers have many of their designs being worn by brides all over town on any given Saturday.

Bridal Florists

When thinking of what flowers to have at your wedding, check with your florist what flowers will be in season on your wedding day. Florists like Always Fabulous Flowers who specialise in weddings do an amazing job making sure they source and deliver the best flowers for you on your wedding day. While limited by a natural capacity, florists are able to deliver their bouquets to multiple bridal parties on any given Saturday.

Bridal Hair and Make-Up Artists

Wedding days are hectic for makeup artists and hairdressers with multiple faces and “dos” to do! Wedding day preparations start early with hairdressers and make-up artists often leaving home while it is still dark. Most hair dressers and makeup artists travel to where the bride is getting ready to make things easier for the bride on her wedding day. The Powder Room have a large team of hairdressers and make-up artists out and about on wedding days.

On arrival, hairdressers and makeup artists put into action their preparation plan. Brides will have had a pre-wedding trial so colours, styles and looks are all sorted. Most experienced hair and makeup artists check with the bride what time all is to be complete to allow time for pre-wedding photos to be taken by the photographer. After all is complete, hairdressers and make-up artists leave in time to get to their next wedding.

Marriage Celebrants

Your celebrant is a very important person on the wedding day, they are the one who will marry you. Prior to the wedding, your celebrant will have advised you on all the paperwork needed to make your wedding official, helped you select your marriage vows and structured the ceremony for you. Many couples select a celebrant whose personality they relate to and feel comfortable with. Lynette Maguire is heaps of fun, Merlin Coughlan performs beautiful ceremonies on the Sunshine Coast. On your wedding day, your celebrant typically arrives about 20-30 minutes before the ceremony to ensure preparations are complete and all is ready to go. Allow about 30 minutes for a civil ceremony, after which it is time for congratulations. Most civil celebrants will wish you all the best and bid you farewell at this point, another wedding awaits.

Wedding Photographers

Couples planning a wedding in Australia are so incredibly blessed. The standard of professional wedding photography in this country is so incredibly high. Did you know the Australian wedding photography industry boasts 4 of the top 10 wedding photographers in the world for 2011. Congratulations to Marcus Bell, Rocco Ancora, Yervant and Jonas Petersen. One of this countries best kept secrets is the high regard the international community has for Australian wedding photographers.  Perhaps Aussie photographers just think and see differently to our international colleagues. A contributing factor could be the way we network, learn from and inspire each other, often through events organised by the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP). Next week is the annual Canon Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPA’s), a major event where professional photographers come together, enter prints for judging and hopefully win awards. The competition is fierce, new ideas are shared, everyone comes away inspired by their peers.

Wedding photographers usually photograph all the action on a wedding day from bride and groom preparations in the morning to the reception in the evening. Typically, only one couple’s wedding can be photographed by a photographer on any given day as there is so much time spent with the bride and groom, usually more than any other wedding service provider.

Popular TV shows like Masterchef Australia have showcased the difference between amateur and professional chefs. Just as not all chefs are the same, neither are wedding photographers. Each photographer has their own photography style, personality, manner, experience and of course packages and prices.

I was asked recently by a guest at a wedding whose daughter is getting married next year when they should book their photographer. My suggestion was to start exploring options as soon as possible; when they know who they want to be their photographer, make a booking to ensure they will get the photographer they want. After all, only one couple’s wedding can be photographed by a photographer on any given day.

Have you ever wondered about the art of wedding photography? Click here to find out.