If you’re here because you just got engaged, Congratulations! We’re so excited for you! We know you and your partner want to bask in the warm glow of forever love, but soon you’ll be ready to get to work creating your dream wedding. If you’ve never planned a wedding before, you’ll quickly find there’s a lot of details to tend to, and not necessarily in any particular order. Here, the professionals at Walter Knoll Weddings hope to guide you through where to start, what to prioritize and what to save until closer to the wedding date itself. Take a deep breath, pull out that cute wedding organizer, and let’s get started!
Start Here
Once you’ve created a wedding budget and basic timeline (both essential before planning anything else), a great place to start will be choosing a date and a venue for your wedding and reception. Without these two key pieces in place, it will be difficult to nail down any other details. So much depends on when vendors will need to arrive, and where they’ll be bringing their products and services. Every photographer, caterer and DJ will first ask you “What’s the date?” to check availability, then “Where will it be held?” to make sure it’s within their general area. When you can answer these two questions clearly, you’re ready to move forward with many other wedding details.
Some Things to Prioritize
Be sure you know your budget before setting any details in stone. This will very much help you stay organized and plan ahead. Any vendor that needs to be secured early, especially with a down payment, should be prioritized. After that, set appointments early for anything the week of the wedding, like manicures, salon visits and tuxedo fittings. Decide which other aspects of your wedding will be most important to you and your fiancé, and prioritize these things next. This should include any specialty items or unique true-to-you touches that will make your wedding “yours.” For example, if you need to have cupcakes served from that little bakery he took you on your first date, be sure to call them early and make plans from the start. If, however, dessert is not a super-specific element of your big day, then a cake or other desserts can be secured closer to the wedding date itself.
Things that Can Wait
Since you can’t do everything first, there will be some aspects of your wedding that can wait until later in the planning stages before being addressed. Clothing accessories, decorations, specific menu items and the cake can all be chosen a few months before the wedding. The type of music you’d like, the flowers you’ll need and the specific photos you’ll need taken can all be discussed with the vendors at a later date as long as you’ve already secured their services. Usually, they’ll let you know when their deadlines are, making some of the latter planning more straightforward. Save your plans for decorating and styling your wedding for later, as well. Truly these things won’t actually happen until the day before or the day of, so you have plenty of time to gather your decorations and enlist some help making your beautiful day a reality.
Remember that this day will be magical because it’s YOUR day! Don’t let the wedding planning ruin your excitement over Happily Ever After. Be ready to roll with the punches, embrace the experience and work together with your partner. At Walter Knoll Weddings, we hope your wedding planning is so much fun, you won’t walk- you’ll run down the aisle to marry this special person! Talk to us about what we can do to help you get organized and plan the perfect day for you.