Share Now:
How To Plan a Wedding?
If you know how to plan a wedding, you will enjoy even more at weddings you go as a guest. To become a professional wedding planner, you may need more information and experience, but you can plan your own wedding and your friends’ weddings.
In addition, having the right answers to how to plan a wedding also makes it easier for you to organize other types of family events.
First advice on how to plan a wedding
Allow plenty of time for wedding planning so that you can be sure to have the arrangements that you would like. Halls, caterers, and florists are usually booked up a long time in advance so you may need to make arrangements with them up to a year before the wedding date.
Now, looking at the various aspects of how to plan a wedding, let’s move on to the relevant information.
How To Plan a Wedding: Coordinating Plans
- Organizing tasks: Write out a countdown list that states the nature and time of each task to be done so that all of the arrangements are made at the right time. Check off tasks as you complete them.
- Choosing guests: Make a provisional guest list with your partner. Allow roughly equal numbers of guests for each of your families.
- Ordering clothes: If you are having clothes made, allow sufficient time for fittings.
- Preparing maps: Draw simple maps showing how to reach the wedding venues. Include a map with each invitation.
How To Plan a Wedding: Arranging a Ceremony
- Planning a religious service: Reserve the church or temple and official well in advance. If there are other weddings on that day, contact the families involved to ask if you can share flowers and decorations.
- Choosing a site: You can have a religious ceremony in places other than a church or synagogue. For example, you may wish to use a historic house or a garden.
- Planning a secular service: You can use an official form of ceremony or write a service yourself. Arrange to have an official witness or a registrar present to certify the marriage.
How To Plan a Wedding: Working Out Expenses
One of the important points of how to plan a wedding is the calculation of the cost of the wedding. A wedding planning that is unclear on budget can cause bad surprises.
- Planning a budget: Find out the cost of every element in advance, down to minor items such as stationery. Choose a range of options for each, and compare prices and quality.
- Controlling food costs: If you intend to use a caterer, take care to keep track of the costs. Ask a caterer for a written estimate specifying what is included in the price.
- Trimming costs: If you have a limited budget, look for ways in which to reduce costs. For example, ask family or friends to help with preparing food, grow your own plants for displays, or design and print stationery on a computer.
How To Plan a Wedding: Planning a Reception
Another important aspect of how to plan a wedding is the planning of the reception. Buffet, finger foods, drinks, presents, invitations, ceremony site, etc should be included in the wedding plan.
- Choosing a site: Try to choose a reception place that is not far from the ceremony site so that guests will not have to travel a long way.
- Selecting food: Decide how-formal the reception will be so that you know whether to plan finger food, a buffet, or full service with waiters.
- Ordering drinks: Ask for more than you think you need. Suppliers will often take back any unopened bottles.
- Listing presents: Ask a friend or relative to mark the name of the giver on the label of each wedding present so that you will be able to write thank-you letters after the wedding.
Traditional Tip
Making a gift for guests Prepare small cloth hags of Jordan almonds or potpourri as “favors” for the guests at a wedding. Give out the favors after the wedding meal.
Whatever your wedding plans, be sure to include the following main elements. Things to Remember:
- Participants.
- Marriage certificate.
- Official.
- Guests.
- Presents.
- Ceremony site.
- Reception site.
- Catering, music, flowers.
- Accommodations for wedding couple and guests.
- Honeymoon: insurance, travel, and accommodations.
- Clothing, hair styling, makeup.
- Transportation.
- Photography.
Counting Down the Days to a Wedding
As soon as you have fixed a wedding date, start to book major elements such as the place for the ceremony, and notify anyone whom you would like to assist with the wedding. The Chart below gives numbers of days before a wedding and suggests arrangements make at these times.
Perhaps the most important aspect of “how to plan a wedding” is to start planning early. Well, how early? If you know “how to plan a wedding”, you should know that there are some things to do at least 6 months before the wedding.
180 Days Before
- Documents: Arrange marriage license.
- Attendants: Select and notify people.
- Guests: Draw up list.
- Ceremony: Choose place, service, and official.
- Reception: Reserve place/entertainment.
- Catering: Reserve chefs and serving staff.
- Transportation: Make arrangements for all participants.
- Clothing: Order clothes and order rings.
- Wedding night: Book hotel.
- Honeymoon: Book hotel and travel.
- Stationery: Order wedding invitations.
90 Days Before
- Guests: Send invitations.
- Presents: Register for presents at stores.
- Catering: Plan menu with caterers. Order drinks and wedding cake.
- Clothing: Advise guests to order formal dress.
- Flowers: Ask florists for quotations for displays.
- Honeymoon: Make any further arrangements.
30 Days Before
- Guests: Call if they have not replied to invitations.
- Accommodation: Book hotel rooms for guests.
- Bride: Book hairdresser and makeup stylist.
- Reservations: Reconfirm details with any places with whom you have made reservations.
14 Days Before
- Clothing: Arrange fittings for wedding outfits. See that all participants have required accessories.
- Reception: For a formal meal, draw up a seating plan.
7 Days Before
- Ceremony: Reserve rehearsal time with people involved in ceremony.
- Presents: Organize collection of presents on the wedding clay.
1 Day Before
- Car rental: Confirm collection times for next day.
- Evening: Have a light supper. Go to bed early.
Arranging Family Celebrations
While family events such as anniversaries efficiently. Make a plan, and organize helpers, do not usually require as much work as Provide foods and entertainment to suit all of a wedding, it is still important to organize them the guests, bearing in mind different age groups.
Organizing an Event
- Planning a formal event: For a formal occasion such as a baptism, make a detailed plan including guests to be invited, site, food, and other details.
- Involving children: If a child is to be the center of a formal event, explain to him or her what the occasion entails.
Creating a Theme
Choosing a color: For a special anniversary, choose decorations in an appropriate color. For a golden wedding anniversary, spray bare twigs gold and arrange them in a vase to make an attractive display.
Making Preparations
If you are organizing an intimate family occasion, it is best to create a relaxed atmosphere where everyone can easily mingle and enjoy themselves, rather than making complex plans.
- Guests: If you are holding a family event at home, do not invite so many people that your home will be uncomfortably crowded.
- Food: When doing your own cooking, make some dishes beforehand and freeze them. Buy some ready-made dishes as well, so that you do not need to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
Tip: For more information on the “wedding planning” and “how to plan a wedding”, which we have handled in general terms here, click on the “tags” below.
