New Year! New Wedding Plan!

Photo by SimonHudspeth.co.uk

2010 is upon us, here at Eng­lish Wed­dings we want to help kick-start your wed­ding plans! Check out the advice below from The Wed­ding Genie for a great New Year plan.  No infor­ma­tion over­load for you won­der­ing what to do next or stress­ing about how to start! Wed­ding plan­ning is easy if you break it down into bite sized chunks. 

Fol­low these top tips for wed­ding plan­ning utopia

• Pri­ori­tise  
• Set the Bud­get
• Set the Date
• Deter­mine Your Guest list
• Choose your Venue & Style 

For­get about all the lit­tle details, (for the moment) I promise if you use our tips you will have plenty of time for all the unique lit­tle touches to make your wed­ding day stand out, and to cel­e­brate your style and per­son­al­ity. Con­cen­trate on these key ele­ments first then you can con­sider the details later. 

Let’s Talk Priorities

Make a date with your fiancé, pour a cou­ple of chilled glasses of wine and curl up on the sofa.  Decide what you really must have for your wed­ding no mat­ter what and then make a list.  The dress, venue and flow­ers may be really impor­tant for you and per­haps pho­tog­ra­phy is some­thing your fiancé is pas­sion­ate about. Talk now, your views may be dif­fer­ent and it’s an excel­lent time to lis­ten to each other so you end up with the wed­ding day that is truly per­fect for you both. 
Set­ting your pri­or­i­ties is key to suc­cess­ful wed­ding plan­ning. Do this right and every­thing else will fall into place. 

Your Wed­ding Budget

Now you have a clear idea of your pri­or­i­ties you can think about your bud­get!! I know you groan I want to think about dresses, venues and food! Well stop! Decide how much you want to spend and then appor­tion the bud­get accord­ing to your PRORITIES. That way you will be sure you spend your money on what you really want and not the inci­den­tals that add up and are not nec­es­sary. Start a sim­ple spread­sheet, or down­load one of the free wed­ding bud­get cal­cu­la­tors on many wed­ding plan­ning web­sites. Keep it updated and check your run­ning total.  

I guar­an­tee you, if you don’t set a bud­get right at the begin­ning you will start to run up your own national debt! Get­ting mar­ried is about declar­ing your love for each other and not about see­ing who can max the credit card first! Just being cre­ative and think­ing things through will ensure your wed­ding day is totally spec­tac­u­lar. You can wake up the day after know­ing you had the best day of your life and you won’t be pay­ing for it for the next five years. 

Set The Date and Choose your Style

Do you want a win­ter won­der­land wed­ding, a spring­time treat, Eng­lish tea party or BBQ? What­ever you choose the date must coin­cide with the style you have in mind. It’s also a good idea to think of your hon­ey­moon des­ti­na­tion, this may impact the time of year you travel. 

Guest List

Who do you really want to spend your day with? Friends and fam­ily make your wed­ding spe­cial so be sure to check their avail­abil­ity. The amount of guests will also affect your budget. 

The Venue

Now you have an idea of your guest list, bud­get and of course your pri­or­i­ties you can book your venue. Do this early, espe­cially if you have your heart set on some­where pop­u­lar.  If you want a civil cer­e­mony, check to see if the venue is licenced to marry you.  Wow if you work your way through these pri­or­i­ties your wed­ding plan­ning will be off to a fly­ing start. No con­fu­sion for you just a clear way for­ward. Just keep remembering! 

The Rules!!

•  Set your pri­or­i­ties. Write them down and keep close to hand.
•  Hav­ing a clear idea of what kind of day you both want from the start will help you focus and stay on bud­get.
• Remem­ber it’s your wed­ding and you can have what you want!
• Don’t sweat the small details yet.
• Tackle plan­ning in bite sized chunks. 

Many thanks to Julie from The Wed­ding Genie for writ­ing this arti­cle for the Eng­lish Wed­ding blog. I love Julie — she’s straight talk­ing, friendly and her knowl­edge of the wed­ding indus­try is sec­ond to none. 

For more great wed­ding advice, please read Julie’s wed­ding plan­ning blog, sub­scribe to her newslet­ter or fol­low her on Twit­ter! 

Read Julie’s next arti­cle: Choos­ing Sup­pli­ers and Mak­ing Your Wed­ding Day Special

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