A Quick Guide to Planning Your Wedding Day

So, your partner has popped the question, and it’s finally time to start planning the wedding. Engagements and wedding planning can be exciting, but it’s essential to be prepared, so the excitement doesn’t instantly turn to stress. This brings us to the point of this blog - we wanted to give you a list of things to consider as you look towards planning your wedding day.

The first step in planning a wedding is budgeting. One of the most stressful parts of planning a wedding is keeping everything on budget and still getting everything you want for your dream wedding. But there are always options to make anything come to life for you. Once you and your partner have outlined a budget, it’ll give you the freedom to know how much you have to spend on each aspect and find the appropriate vendors or items that fit into that.

Next up, you’ll want to take some time to go on an inspiration spree - use platforms like Pinterest or Instagram, read blogs, watch YouTube videos, and find things you like. Keep your eyes open for details, types of venues, gowns, or anything else wedding-related that you want. We’d suggest keeping a folder on your phone or computer with all the things you find and like so you can have it all in one place to look through. It’ll help when it comes time to make decisions. As you start searching through the weddings of other brides, you’ll begin to find small details you’ll like, such as color schemes, table settings, or flowers, and it’ll all help you start to define the theme of your wedding if you haven’t already got one in mind.

Once you’re starting to pull together ideas for the event itself, you’ll want to start locking in the specifics on people and dates; it’ll help when finding venues, dresses, or anything else you’ll need. Start by drafting up a wedding guest list and discussing with your partner what people you’ll both want at the wedding. One great way to narrow this down fast is to have you and your partner write your list, cross-reference them and create two groups - the ones you agree on and the ones you’ll have to discuss. It’ll save a ton of time. You’ll also need to lock in who you and your partner want as bridesmaids and groomsmen. When doing this, you’ll need to start locking in approximate dates for your wedding so that you can have all the information for potential vendors, friends, or family that you’ll be wanting on your wedding day.

Now that you’ve got a date in mind and figured out who your guest list will be, next up is locking in a venue. Do your research. Check into reviews or what other brides have said, then get in touch with the people at the venue. Be sure you read through the entire contract before signing on for a venue, and be sure to see the place in person as soon as you’re able to so that you get what you’re after in a venue.

Once the venues are locked in, it’s time to start locking in other vendors; florists, makeup artists, dressmakers, or stores to buy a wedding gown from, a DJ, and anything else you’ll want on your big day.

Next up is sending out your ‘Save The Date’ invites to all the guests you and your partner will have locked down earlier. Doing this will give each of your guests a reasonable amount of time to be sure they can attend your wedding day (or let you know if they can’t go well in advance before the official invites going out!)

Now that you’ve got all of those details ironed out, it’s time to lock in your gown. Will you buy an off-the-rack dress from a bridal store/online, or will you go to a designer for a custom wedding gown? There are a lot of options these days. Once you figure out which one works well for you, find your dream dress and start counting down the days! Reminder: If you’re buying a gown off the rack, ensure you’ve got plenty of time to get alterations done so that the dress fits perfectly. You’ll also want to make sure you’ve found a seamstress or company that can carry out the alterations for you and check to see what their time frame is. For example, at Euphorie Studios, we require a minimum of two weeks before the wedding to be sure that we can carry out all alterations to the highest possible standard and get everything perfect for you but be sure to ask your seamstress. Their times may differ. You’ll also want to lock in suits and bridesmaid dresses too and any other wedding day attire that you’ve got in mind.

Next up is going to require a bit more planning and execution on your end. This is when you’ll plan your honeymoon and figure out all of the details for your rehearsal dinner. For dinner, it’ll generally take place the night before the wedding and will always require some extra planning. You’ll want to figure out who will be paying for the rehearsal dinner and who’s planning it too. You will need to book in a venue and, to be on the safe side, have all these details locked in around 5-6 months before your actual wedding day/rehearsal dinner night. In terms of your honeymoon, this one is a lot more fun. Talk to your partner about a location and make a decision together. Allocate a budget for it and then look into travel costs and accommodation so you can have it all planned out well in advance to avoid any wedding day stresses that you don’t need to deal with.

An additional thing you’ll need to check up on around this time is any potential extra pre-wedding events you might need to attend that you may not have to plan yourself. 

As you head closer towards your big day, this is the time for the final stretch of planning and execution. You’ll want to send out your official wedding invites about 2-3 months before your wedding day. You’ll also want to buy the wedding rings for you and your partner and obtain a marriage license. This will also be when you finalize all the details with your vendors, like seating plans and locking down everything to go ahead for your wedding day. Finally, make sure all the vendors you plan to use for your wedding have been paid and have any information they’ll need for your day.

Then, it’s the final crucial step…get married!