If you recently got engaged, it is likely that your initial excitement is now mixed with a bit of trepidation about how to plan your upcoming wedding. No worries! That is perfectly normal. The wedding planning process can be stressful, but it will be much less so with a bit of proper preparation.

While many couples choose to hire a wedding planner, if you choose not to, organization is the key to success!

The Big Picture

Once you tell all your friends and family about your engagement, you will likely be overwhelmed with questions about the date, the venue, and the color of the wedding party’s attire. While you may be thinking about these things yourself, it is important to step back and think of the big picture. 

What will your budget look like? What time of year do you want your wedding to take place and do you want a large, formal celebration or a small intimate affair? Establishing each of your priorities and working to accommodate them will make for an unforgettable wedding day!

Talk together, as a couple, with each of you describing what the perfect wedding day looks like. Is it 300 of your closest friends gathered outdoors under the stars with a live band playing country music? Or is it 50 people spending a weekend together swimming, hiking, and sitting around a bonfire at night - with your ceremony taking place on a beach at noon? 

Maybe your ideal wedding is a candlelit ceremony in a place where you can see the snowflakes gently falling on the winter landscape,  followed by a gourmet dinner and a night of dancing along with your favorite DJ. No matter what, now is the time to sit down together and come up with a budget, and a shared vision. 

Take Advantage of Modern Technology

The ultimate wedding planning survival kit should include a couple of things your grandmother never even heard of. For instance, downloading a comprehensive wedding planning app can help you keep track of all the details that might otherwise be lost on sticky notes and scratch paper. Consider personalized planning tools from trusted sources like The Knot, or if you are the super organized type, you can set up your own using any number of online templates. 

Setting Your Wedding Budget

This is the number one task on your to-do list, and along with setting your budget, you will also need to decide on the approximate size of your guest list, since these go hand in hand. With the average cost of a wedding reaching $28,000 in 2021, this is an important consideration for most couples. Now is also a good time to sit down with family members to figure out if anyone is going to contribute financially and at what level. 

Choosing a Venue

Since the largest portion of your budget, usually about 30%, will be the cost of your venue, this should likely be your first consideration. Whether you are looking at wedding venues in Lake Geneva, WI or planning a destination wedding, choosing your venue will allow you to set a date and book your other vendors. 

With this in mind, if you have a particular photographer, DJ or makeup artist you just do not want to get married without, now is the time to cross check dates to make sure they are going to be available. Wedding vendors are often booked 1 - 2 years in advance, especially when they are good at what they do!

More to Consider