How to plan a wedding From Scratch
Steps to planning the perfect wedding
Budget
The most fundamental and important step to take in planning your wedding is coming up with a budget. Your Budget is what will keep things on track during your search for vendors. Budgeting also narrows down your search so you won't find yourself fixated on the wrong things. Staying on budget for something as huge as your wedding will help you in your future financial planning as weddings are an extremely important milestone in life and couples can tend to get blinded by all of the fancy upgrades and before you know it, your 5,000-10,000 over budget.
Secure your Venue
Securing your venue is one of the first steps to pulling this heist off after determining your budget and selecting your desired time frame. Face it, you can't have a wedding with no place for your guests to fellowship.
Venue searching can be a very fun yet time consuming task so start with narrowing down the location you would like have your wedding, next you want to do your research on the different venues in that area. You want to search more than just the internet to find these places as some of the best nooks are not always on the net, try different magazines not limiting yourself to just bridal mag's. Try different travel magazines and and travel sights to find those sometimes looked over hidden treasures. Asking your wedding planner is another great way to secure your venue fast, as your planner likely has lots of experience with working with certain venues time and time again and will be able to quickly relay all of the pros and cons of that particular venue as well as look at your must-have and deal breaker list to help you better decipher where to steer.
When searching for your venue, already have your specifics handy, your must haves and your deal breakers. (Do you want to have your own caterer/DJ/Band etc..) or do you want those things provide for you like an all inclusive one stop shop type of situation.
Hire a Wedding planner
Planners can be your saving grace especially if you are the first in your crew plan a wedding. Planners have connections with venues, D.J's, florist, caterers, photographers, Beauty professionals/Glam squads and more. Planners help to keep things on schedule the day of the wedding down to the T, as in what time pictures are where you should stand what time to walk, how many times to chew your food... I'm kidding, but you get my drift. They even follow up with all of your vendors and make all requested changes on your behalf so that you can sit pretty sipping on a Mojito!
Get started on your Guest list
The process starting your guest list becomes a battle of "The Have and the Have Not's" Choosing a formal guest list can be a bit draining especially if you know a lot of people. Make a list with 2 columns on one side write down your close family and on the other side your family/friend by default. As sad as this may seem it is undeniably true, everyone in your Rolodex cannot be apart of your special day so it's up to you to decide who are your have and have not's.
How to break the news to those you opt out of your list: We are happy you have been apart of our lives and would have loved for you to attend our wedding but due to our limited budget we are set with a limited seating chart.
Extending an offer to the non attendees for your other wedding activities might be noble of you.
Select your Vendors
Check with your wedding planner to get a list of their preferred vendors such as photographer,florist, Beauty squad, videographer etc.. Keep your options open to doing your own research so that you can find the perfect vendors that resonate with your personality ,understand your vision and fit within your price point. You also want to make sure you thoroughly read your contracts to see if you're allowed to make changes, clauses on changing your date or cancellations.
Decide on your Wedding Theme.