So where do you start? Well, planning a wedding is very much like running a project. So, you’ve never run a project before. Relax, we have, just read on and follow the instructions that suits you!
Sit down and make a preliminary plan.
The first two things you must do are set a date and figure out how much money you can spend.
A wedding takes time to plan. Don’t be too anxious about having the wedding right away. If you have plenty of time to plan it often makes for a better wedding. Now I don’t mean that you should plan several years ahead. That is usually too much time, which isn’t good either. Something from about 6 up to 18 months is plenty of time to get everything in place. The time you need depends on what kind of wedding you want. A small informal wedding needs less time to plan than a large formal one.
First of all think thorougly about this: How much money are we willing to spend? You should NEVER and I cannot stress this enough, put yourself in debt because of a wedding. That is no good start of your life as a married couple. Have you any savings? Are your parents willing to help out some? If not how much can you save each month from now until your wedding day. Be realistic. You need to take care of your basics needs, but most of us have a lot of little everyday luxuries that we can be without. It is usually easier to be without these things when you have an important goal to save up for. Maybe you don’t need that extra pair of shoes, or jeans don’t fix your hair, nails, or whatever that often. And maybe you can put down on snacking those wonderful chocolate treats this will not only save you money it will make you look better for your special day. There are amazingly many everyday things that you can cut down on to save money.
OK, you have a date and budget. What then? You need to make a detailed time plan and a detailed budget. But before that I suggest you take some time for a little brainstorming. Have a pen and a piece of paper (our use your computer) and put down everything that you think is the make up of a perfect wedding. No restraints here. Don’t be critical or realistic just write down everything that comes to your mind. Then, when you’re all out of ideas it is time to be realistic. Go through your list and choose one to three items that matters the most to you. Let those items be the focus of your wedding. Use them to decide whatkind of wedding you want.
Now you should decide what kind of a wedding you want: Large or small, traditional or unconventional, formal or informal, should you have a theme...? Use the item(s) you choose from your brainstorming session to guide you. Remember what is important for you. To have a wonderfully luxurious wedding doesn’t mean to have it all. The old saying less is more is something to always keep in mind. Here are some useful questions to ask your self:
Before going on to make more detailed plans it is a good thing to figure out if there are any people who can help you out. Can you do all this on your own, do you have friends and family that can help you out, and/or do you need hire a professional wedding planner? A wedding planner costs a lot of money, but they know a lot of helpful things, they know how to make deals with vendors and they have a lot of connections in the wedding industry.
Now it is time to move on to make detailed plans. You need to make a detailed count down checklist or what I from now on will refer to as the detailed time plan, and a detailed budget. Go on and use the templates on this site for a Time Plan and a Budget. Or surf the web to find templates that suits you better.
If you want more specific money saving tips choose any of the links to the left.