When it comes to planning the wedding, there are some things that you can do on your own, but nowadays there are agencies/planners that can take care about pretty much everything.
In my case, I contracted an agency especially for the reception decorations, flowers and table decor to be more precise. I took care on my own about party favors, menus and invitations, mostly because I had the knowledge to do that. Considering the fact that in my case I could take care of every single detail, I still worked with an agency because I simply didn’t have the time to do everything, and more important I thought about by own health. You can save money by doing it on your own, but trust me when I tell you these are money well spend to let others handle the planning. If your budget allows it, I recommend you to hire a wedding planner from the beginning, as she/he will find you the best deals, including your wedding dress and accessories, music, photographer etc.
No matter what you will decide to do, you will still have to go through a wedding check list, so I made one for you right here:
- Make a wedding budget.
- Pick a day for the wedding party
- Civil ceremony: decide date, place and consider the specific law requirements in your country.
- Make the guest list
- Hire a planner, if you want to.
- Find the place for the ceremony and the one for the party.
- Hire a photographer and a videographer
- Hire a band, a DJ or both.
- Announce the date and organize an engagement party, if you wish.
- Decide your bridesmaids and groomsmen.
- Purchase your dress, his tuxedo and accessories.
- Wedding rings
- Choose the song of your first dance and start taking dance lessons. For us it was the song from “Beauty and the Beast” as we are Disney fans.
- Take care of floral arrangements, party décor, and bouquets.
- Rent a special car (old style car, a limo) for the day, if you want one.
- Decide on your party favors.
- Select, purchase and send invitations. Create Facebook event 🙂
- Decide your bridesmaids style dresses, colors, flower bouquets; same for the groomsmen.
- Hair and make-up.
- 1 month before the wedding, give everyone invited a call to make sure you have a final answer to your invitation.
- Make a final list with your wedding guests and book hotel rooms for the ones coming from out of town.
- Decide on your cake and make sure it will get there on time.
- Plan your honeymoon.
- Print menu cards.
- Make a schedule of the wedding day, from morning till the end of the party to make sure everything is in place. Make a detailed schedule of the party itself, and give it to your wedding planner or the manager of the restaurant/reception place. Don’t forget to include the time of your first dance, if there should be any special arrangements for that, the exact hours when the food should be served, if there are other special moments or traditions you want to include. Write everything down and talk with the people in charge. Delegate some of the tasks to your family or friends to make sure everything runs smoothly so you can enjoy your day and not get crazy checking everything on your own.
- Schedule a wedding menu tasting. If there is something you dislike, now is the moment to say it.
- Make a pre wedding photo-shoot.
- Deliver a list for your DJ/band and include the must-play songs of your party.
- Make the seating chart and send it to the hostess of the event, or if you don’t have one make sure your bridesmaids can handle this task.
- Print the place cards.
- Enjoy the bachelorette party!
- Walk around your home in your wedding shoes as much as you can. You will thank yourself for that on your wedding day.
- Give all your wedding professionals an emergency phone number to call on that day if you or your husband won’t be able to answer your phones.
Now relax! Everything has been planned and checked. Enjoy your day, as it quickly ends and let your worries aside. With all this planning, everything will go exactly as you wanted.
Photo source: my own wedding
Kisses,
Gia
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