You may or not may not know that planning a wedding involves dozens of decisions. If you are just beginning to plan your wedding, you will soon find out just how much goes into pulling off a full wedding celebration. Fortunately, you can find a wedding planning checklist in any number of wedding planning books or on wedding planning websites. These lists have weddings broken down into very specific items with a wedding checklist timeline that you can go through and check off as you complete them.
This article takes a broader few. Many of the items on the checklist won’t be of interest to you. But there are certain major areas that affect most weddings. Here we are giving you the big picture to help you see the main contours of planning your wedding. Once you have the main areas in sight, you can drill down into more specifics.
We hope your won’t feel overwhelmed. That’s not the purpose – but rather to you give a sense of having control and knowing what it is you need to get done.
First, decide what kind of premarital preparation you will do. This one is at the top of the list because most wedding checklists leave it off altogether. While not strictly speaking part of the wedding, it is included since in all the wedding preparations, it is easily overlooked. Your church or minister may provide premarital preparation courses, or you can check for marriage preparation online resources. This may be the best wedding idea you hear.
Second, you will decide on the date for your wedding. It is best to not get tied too much to one date however. As you begin to search for a wedding venue and work out the other details of the wedding, you may find that your first choice of dates isn’t going to work. Certain dates are very popular and if you want one of those, you’ll have to act especially fast. Many couple wanted to marry on 7-7-07, and now 10-10-10. Your wedding date might not be that popular, but spring and fall dates are.
Third, find your wedding officiant or minister. Again, this is listed early the process because of the tendency that couples have of waiting till the last minute to find their wedding minster. Yet, the officiant is one of the essentials for having a wedding! The wedding officiate can make or break your ceremony, so you want someone that you are comfortable with and who knows weddings and can help you create the romantic ceremony you want. There are even wedding ministers who do weddings full-time.
Four, secure your wedding venue. It may be a church, a hotel, a historic venue, a garden or any number of places – but you need to book your wedding ceremony and reception location at the start. Afterall, you have to have a place for your wedding, and the place you choose can affect many other decisions about your wedding.
Five, decide on your guest list. This goes right along with number four, because the number of guests you have will affect the size, type and location of your wedding site and reception site(s). Later you can work on reducing or increasing some your wedding guest list, and of course will need to get those invitations out. But you need a basic idea of numbers and who will be coming and from where.
Six, the food! That’s something the groom and every guest will be interested in. Next to the wedding dress, or maybe even before it for many, people remember how good (or not good) the food at the wedding reception was. Make sure you choose good catering services. This may be provided in-house at your wedding location, or you may need to or prefer to bring in an outside wedding caterer. We’ll go ahead and mention here too the wedding cake, which maybe should be a separate item on the checklist. Cakes taste much better than they used to, but they can cost an arm and a leg too. So start tasting and shopping.
Seven, the wedding and recepton music adds a lot the celebration, so choose it well. Will you have live music or have a DJ? Arguments can be made either way for which is best. You may have both. It can depend on the venue, or your budget. Just know that this is another important part of having a great wedding plan.
Eight, you need to make some decision about wedding flowers. Again, the venue can affect what you need. Outdoor weddings tend to need less flower decorations than an indoor wedding. But there is the reception too where you may want reception table flower decorations at every table. If you work with an all inclusive wedding venue, this could all be taken care of for you.
Nine, start studying up on wedding rings. It’s not likely that anyone would ever forget to get the rings – though they are sometimes forgotten at the wedding ceremony! Shopping for the wedding bands is one of the fun parts of wedding preparations for most couples.
Ten, you have some bridal party choices to make. Who will they be and how many? It can get tricky. You want to include the important people in your life, not hurt anyone’s feelings and still stay within the financial scope of your wedding plan. Following tradition, you will also want to give them on the day of your wedding some kind of bridal party gift.
Eleven, search out the right wedding photographer. Photographers have different styles and price ranges so you will need to find the right match. Be sure to check references and see as much of their work as you can.
There it is. Eleven parts for your wedding planning checklist. And that’s not all. We didn’t even mention getting the wedding dress and tuxes, or planning the honeymoon – but we figure you were on that already. You might also need a wedding car or other wedding services not mentioned. Every wedding is different and its needs are different. Your work is cut out for you, but pace yourself and try to enjoy the process. When it all comes together, you will have a ceremony and wedding day to remember.
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