Planning your wedding? Make sure to tick these three things off your checklist before you make any firm decisions

Fix your budget

This is a key but often a hard thing to do for your big day. There’s nothing worse than falling in love with a wedding cake design and then realising you can’t afford it. According to one report weddings in 2022 will cost an average of £20,493! The sooner you embrace the reality that all wedding services and products are costly the better.
Don’t panic if this is out of reach because you can determine your own realistic budget and learn where you can save by using the expertise of a wedding planner. They do all the hard work in assessing your needs and what you can afford in today’s climate
Alternatively, do your own research by attending lots of wedding fayres, chatting with recently married friends and using online resources like Pinterest. This can be really fun if well planned

Select Your Guest List

Do this early as it will set the stage for other key items like the number of tiers in your wedding cake, which venue you pick and even the entertainment hire. Its better to make this choice between yourselves before involving family members. The fewer outside opinions you consider when it comes to guest lists the better unless they’re paying for everyone that is. Remember, this is your wedding and it should reflect you as a couple

Start with immediate family members, then close family members. Next, select close friends you wouldn’t dream of getting married without, as well as couples whose weddings you have attended in the last year. Adding extended family and children is entirely up to you, however, consider that they can really bulk out the guest list. Also if you invite one aunt it would be considered courteous to invite all aunts and uncles

The bottom line is you need to make a firm decision about where you will cut off family invitations. If you are a softy like me and you try to make everyone happy you’ll just end up upsetting the family. Once this is done spilt up the extra spots equally between your parents so they can feel free to use them as they please, but ask that they at least invite someone you know. I really disliked having first introductions on one of the most important days of my life, wouldn’t you?

Pick Your Location

Now that you know the above two items you can start work on researching locations/venues. For my second wedding, I righted one wrong and I opted not to give in to family traditions or societal pressure when making this choice. It was the best thing I did! I wholeheartedly believe that a venue should emulate your vibe, your values and dreams as a couple. Most venues offer two showcases per year so attend them both. You’ll get to see the venues dressed for different seasonal weddings and they often feature trusted vendors and give you a lovely goody bag of samples and useful information

Explore everything that peaks your fancy e.g. Exclusive hire venues, Hotel venues. Also don’t disregard Marquee or wedding at-home options, restaurant or pub weddings. Another factor which affects your choice of venue it’s availability. In this industry picking your venue is code for setting your wedding date. Under normal circumstances I like many wedding suppliers advise clients to make contact 12 to 18 months ahead. Since the COVID-19 crisis, however, I have noticed bookings coming in 24 months in advance. The bottom line is don’t delay getting the most memorable items secured i.e. your venue, gown/suits, wedding cake, florist and photographer

These above choices will lay the foundation for the rest of the decisions you make throughout this season of planning
Make these choices and stick to them as they are the starting point and you will refer back to them again, and again

See my list of suppliers I have grown to trust over the years here