You just got engaged! The feeling of being on “cloud nine” is often quickly replaced by feelings of anxiety at the prospect of wedding planning. Wait! Take time to absorb the wonderful feeling of being engaged. Once you have collected yourself and your thoughts the first step should be a pre-planning session with the one you love. Establish yourselves as a team, making sure that you are on the same page with regard to your wedding plans. Planning your fundamentals together will allow you to get a head start over all the other input you will receive from family and friends. Here is a checklist of wedding basics to work out together.
- Season. Determine the season in which the wedding will take place-spring, summer, winter, or fall? Here in the Phoenix-area, spring and fall are the peak wedding months, but there are often financial benefits with a summer-off-peak wedding.
- Date. Discuss the approximate wedding date, which weekend are you hoping for?
- Ambience. Talk about the feeling you want your wedding to have. Indoors or out? Ball gown with full train or wispy sundress? Six-course sit-down meal or informal afternoon tea party or champagne and gourmet desserts only?
- Style. All aspects of your wedding will come from your vision of style so take time to flesh out your collective picture.
- Number of guests. Decide approximately how many you’ll invite to the wedding. Having a firm number in mind will be helpful as family members express opinions about who must be invited.
- Venue. Come up with ideas for the kind of location that will comfortably suit your guest list, fit within your budget, and satisfy your dreams.
- Budget. Come up with a general idea of the wedding budget (as in low, average, or high) and settle on how much you’ll be able to contribute to the wedding fund. The more financial responsibility you take with your own wedding, the greater say you will have in the decisions.
- Result. Brainstorm what you want the end result to look like by creating lists, worksheets and even sketches of your ideas.
Now that you have decided, as partners, what the basic shape of your wedding will be, you have taken a giant leap toward having a wedding that reflects the true wishes of both of you. Make several copies of your master plan and set up meetings with both families so that everyone will know the basics of the wedding you have in mind.
As a wedding planner, I love the way that each wedding is different, reflecting the personalities of each bridal couple and their own vision for their wedding day!
