Our Top Tips to Plan Your Wedding Smoothly

Just engaged? Congratulations!Your first instinct might be to jump right into planning, but  consider taking a moment to bask in just being engaged! There’s a lot to think about when it comes to wedding planning and the joy of engagement should not be overshadowed by the details of the wedding (just yet)!Before you start working on guests lists, venues, and other vendors, here are our tips to start the planning process smoothly.

Tip 1: Figure out the feel you want to have on your wedding day

When sitting down with one of our couples, my first few questions are:

  • “How do you want to feel on your wedding day?”

  • “How do they want their guests to feel?”

All other aspects of the planning for your wedding day should comefrom these two answers. It can help you determine what is most important to you about your wedding day. In a sea of decision making and zillions of options, understanding this key aspect can help you make decisions around your special day. .Once you have a picture of what you’d like your day to feel like, you can share it with your future vendors - photographer, caterer, wedding planner, etc. to give them guidance on what you’re looking for.

Tip 2: Determine the general size you want to have your wedding

Weddings can vary greatly in size, which also plays a large part in the feeling you want your guests to have.Once you’ve decided on the general size of your wedding, this will help you wrap your head around an appropriate venue and budget.[ VIEW AN ELEGANT & ART-INSPIRED WEDDING WE’VE WORKED ON ]

Tip 3: Determine and set your budget

Speaking of budget, determining and setting your budget is another top tip I can’t emphasize enough! This can be one of the most stressful things to deal with and determining a budget early on will give you an idea of what to keep and what to cut.   I promise you that nearly everything is going to be more expensive than you anticipated!Consider adding 10-15% of a budget line item so that you can wrap your head around potential costs  Then you’ll be pleasantly surprised when  something turns out to be less than you anticipated, as opposed to more expensive.

Tip 4: Set aside time to plan your wedding

In addition to things likely being more expensive than you think it will be, planning your wedding can also take way more time than you anticipate! Many of our past couples have shared with us they didn’t expect wedding planning to be so time-consuming, and for so many vendors and venues to only be available during business hours, making it tough work and plan your wedding.To make sure you set aside time to plan your wedding, set aside an evening a week, or a few hours to dedicate to the wedding planning. If you can set aside a few hours a day dedicated to wedding planning, it will help to know that there’s time to get that work done.

Tip 5: Figure out roles with your partner for smooth wedding planning

Sure, this can seem kind of corporate and make planning your wedding seem like a job, but we’ve seen it help our couples tremendously! By determining who is doing what work, it can help you get organized and limit other stressful moments that can arise during the planning process.For example, you can divide roles by who will handle contact with the vendors, who will focus on the guest list and seating chart, or if you decide to work with a wedding planner, what they will focus on and what you and your partner will.

So There You Have It

Those are our tips to get started planning your wedding! To recap, these are our top tips for a smooth wedding planning process:

  1. Figure out the feel you want on your wedding day

  2. Determine the general size you want to have your wedding

  3. Determine and set your budget

  4. Set aside time to play your wedding

  5. Figure out roles with your partner

  6. Bonus: Work with a wedding coordinator to help you manage your big day!

Engagement celebrations should always come first, because it’s an exciting time! Once you’re ready to sit down and start wedding planning, these are our 5 top tips to planning your wedding to get a head start.Next month we’ll have a post about tips for booking your wedding vendors and how to plan your wedding timeline! Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when our next post is live!

Overwhelmed with the wedding planning process? We’d love to help! Find out more about working with Daydreams on your wedding to learn how we can help you plan your dream wedding with your favorite people!