Wedding Planner's Checklist To Help You Plan The Best Wedding
As soon as you hear the wedding bells ringing, you should start planning for the event. But wedding planning is no mean feat. It brings with it a variety of challenges and countless sleepless nights. To avoid the pre-wedding jitters, exacerbated by all the planning and preparations, it is better to stay as organized as possible.
When you plan out everything in advance, using actual planners and checklists, it will give you plenty of time to enjoy the actual wedding event itself.
So, continue reading to find out how you can manage everything from the vendors to wedding dresses, all the while maintaining perfect sanity.
Set Your Wedding Budget
One of the first things that you need to figure out before any wedding planning can officially begin is the budget allocated for the wedding.
So, sit with your partner and hammer out the budget details by identifying essentials and non-essentials of the wedding.
After you’ve consulted both with your parents and partner, you should arrive at a figure for the wedding. That will be your budget, and you should try your level best to stay well within range.
Get Your Wedding Bands
Amid the wedding planning commotion, one thing that often gets overlooked is booking the wedding bands. Many couples keep postponing booking the band till the very last minute. Maybe, you are not into wedding bands, but still, you would do much better if you start looking for DJs well in advance as well.
Something that doesn’t get often as overlooked as wedding bands is jewelry. Ah, yes, how can you miss buying your significant other the best jewelry that will accentuate her beauty. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, why not make the effort and buy meaningful Valentine's jewelry for her here right now.
Get Organized
Organization is key to perfect wedding planning, but staying organized during the peak wedding planning days is no walk in the park. There is always so much to do within so little time.
According to an estimate, about 56% of couples report elevated anxiety due to wedding planning. So, it is better to get organized in the initial stages of the planning. For this purpose, you can use various tools, like online apps, physical notebooks, and wedding planning journals. Moreover, you can use Google Docs, Word, Excel, etc.
Create a Master Checklist
Checklists are productive. They help keep the arrangements from unraveling right in front of your eyes, and they help you take a glance at what’s done and what is next in line in a long series of tasks. When you have a master checklist, you can stay on track and make your appointments on time.
Moreover, checklists also keep you from feeling overwhelmed with tasks piling over all around you. So, while you will be making hundreds of mini checklists over the course of planning a wedding, creating one master checklist will streamline a lot of things.
You can include different important events into this checklist, such as putting on and trying out different dresses, food tastings, and making venue-related decisions, etc.
Select a Theme
Themed weddings are all the rage these days. While it is not mandatory, it ends up tying up the various elements of the wedding experience nicely together. Wedding themes help you feel like you're part of a fairytale world and marrying the prince/princess of your dreams.
There are thousands of wedding themes to choose from. For instance, you can choose the ‘Roaring 20s’ or ‘Uber-chic’ theme and design your entire wedding around them.
Prepare Your Guest List
Something that takes a lot of consultations and discussions is when you have to prepare a guest list for the wedding. You have to keep your venue and budget in mind, while you make sure you don’t leave anyone important out of that guest list.
In order to make a comprehensive guest list, discuss it with your partner and identify guests that have to be there, no matter what, like yours and your spouse’s parents, siblings, close friends, and special guests.
Once the mandatory attendees list has been taken care of, you can move onto creating a second list that will include all the other people in your life.
Research Your Venue Options
Weddings are a one-day affair, but the perfect venue can make it into an experience worth remembering for a lifetime. You should research wedding venues online and choose options to be explored further in person.
When you're visiting venues, try to gather all the essential details, like minimum guest capacity, the minimum booking prices, packages and deals on renting, and certainly their catering service and menus etc. Moreover, always visit several venues and see their packages before finalizing one.
Read Every Contract
What's the most boring part of wedding planning, you ask? Reading contracts from wedding vendors. Most people, like the character Ross from Friends, would fall asleep at the sight of eighteen pages, front and back, wedding contracts. However, take a lesson from Ross and NEVER miss reading the contract because his marriage didn’t last.
Before signing any contracts, you must read and review all the points mentioned. It helps to clear any confusion in the present so as to avoid any complications in the future.
You should make sure all the services you're paying for are mentioned in the contract. It will help you as well as the vendors stay on the same page regarding your wedding expectations and avoid both of you any inconveniences.
Shop for Wedding Attires
Choosing your wedding dress will make you bounce up and down with elation because it is the most fun part of wedding preparation for almost everyone. Don’t shoot for unrealistic expectations when choosing a dress, and you’ll be just fine. A bridesmaid can help you choose the best wedding outfit.
Instead of panicking and stressing over the perfect dress, make sure you keep the big picture in perspective, which is that you’re getting married to the love of your life.
Build a Registry
The best part about getting married is the gifts you will get for your wedding day (okay, maybe the second-best). However, you should always register for gifts if you don't want to get six different gravy boats.
You should discuss with your partner the gifts you both want and create a wish list of potential gifts. Your registry information should be displayed on your wedding website, so your friends and family can see what you want and gift you accordingly.
Don't Forget the Rehearsal Dinner Details
The most important pre-wedding festivity is that of the rehearsal dinner. It may be planned by a close friend, your maid of honor, or a close family member. However, you still have to be a part of the planning process to make sure everything goes smoothly.
A rehearsal dinner also requires a venue, menu, guest list, and maybe some music. So, get together with the person planning the rehearsal dinner and decide everything accordingly.
Write Your Vows
While all the rom-com films may have you believe the best vows are written at the last moment on toilet paper ripped from a hotel bathroom, it is rarely the case in real life. Your vows should be intimate, heartfelt, and thoughtful.
And you cannot channel all those emotions on spur of the moment. So, craft your wedding vows way in advance of the actual wedding day, take your time with it, and read them aloud to a few close friends to get feedback.
In essence, the words of love and affection should be honed to induce tears in the eyes of the people in attendance, and make them warm up on the inside with feelings of love while listening to your written vows. Reflect on your relationship with your partner and jot down a heartfelt declaration of nuptial pledges.
Take Some Time Off—Together
Once the entire wedding celebrations are over, it's time for you and your partner to relax and enjoy each other's company. You can plan a pre-honeymoon before the wedding on a weekend to kick back and relax (or Netflix and chill?).
So, we hope this wedding planner's guide will help you plan the perfect wedding without losing your mind in the process.
