You said “I do” to the love of your life and shared the exciting news with close friends and family. Now, the only thing standing between you and forever with your significant other is a wedding. Where do you start? How long does wedding planning take? If you’re here because you’re nervous, overwhelmed, and in need of answers, check out this list of tips for planning a wedding.
Handy Tips for Planning a Wedding
Planning a wedding can be overwhelming. Make it easier on yourself by using the tips for planning a wedding below:
- Set a Wedding Budget
The last thing you want is to pick a wedding dress or a particular venue only to find out you cannot afford it. Before anything else, sit with your partner and discuss your target budget. Consider the average number of guests you’ll expect and budget for every little thing, including unplanned additional costs such as wedding dress or tux alteration. To make your budget work, create a list of priorities and be open to compromise on the rest.
- Select the Tone for Your Wedding
Given that marriage trends are constantly evolving, choosing the type of wedding you want is essential for planning a wedding and can make the planning process easier. Popular types of weddings include:
- Formal weddings: Includes age-old wedding traditions such as a beautiful white dress for the bride and a dapper tuxedo for the groom. Formal wedding ceremonies typically start in a religious location like a church, and the reception is often in a hotel, ballroom, or any other event venue.
- Destination weddings: These kinds of weddings are pretty popular nowadays. They happen outside the couple’s hometown, so most if not all guests have to travel. Although they’re often associated with picturesque locations like the magnificent sandy beaches of Cabo San Lucas, a destination wedding can happen anywhere that’s not the couple’s hometown.
- Rustic weddings: Think of a natural color palette and muted textures characterized with wood, wildflowers, and rough linen napkins — rustic weddings typically happen in barns, ranches, village halls, mountain lodges, farms, or any other setting with a touch of the great outdoors.
If you can’t make up your mind, consider writing down all you may want for your dream wedding, and compare it to what your partner wants so you can compromise and choose a wedding that fits you both.
- Create a Wedding Checklist
To make your wedding planning process a breeze, create a wedding planning checklist along with timelines so you can handle one task at a time and on time. A checklist can help you prioritize the most critical tasks and help prevent you from feeling overwhelmed.
- Create a Guest List and Be Selective
Dealing with your guest list sooner can make finding the perfect wedding venue easier. So, create your guest list as early as possible during the wedding planning process. Remember, though, the longer the guest list usually means a higher cost.
- Find Your Venues
Whether for the church ceremony or the reception, your wedding venue sets the tone and mood for the wedding.. So, once you create a guest list, the next tip for wedding planning to prioritize is the venue. Compare different venues and pick a venue with all the amenities you need.
- Choose a Date
With a guest list and venue in place, now it’s time to choose a date. Think about the season you’d like to walk down the aisle. Think about the day of the week too, and be sure to factor in your guests’ work schedules, holidays, and personal circumstances.
- Have Your Partner Help
Wedding planning is a large endeavor and since you’ve both chosen to do life together, have your partner help and ask for or listen to their opinions. After all, it’s a big day for both of you.
How Long Does it Take to Plan a Wedding?
Just like there are no two same couples, weddings aren’t the same. How long a wedding is planned varies based on:
- Finances: Planning for a wedding takes a relatively shorter time if you already have money set aside for it. If you have yet to set any aside and want to speed up the process, a personal loan can be an excellent way to finance your big day.
- Guest list size: Small, intimate weddings with few guests can be more straightforward to plan than large wedding ceremonies with many guests.
- Lifestyle: If you and your partner lead a busy and demanding lifestyle, it may take you longer to plan your wedding. But if you have lots of free time, it may be easier to plan and organize things which means it’ll take you less time to plan your wedding.
- Preferences: Some people prefer to do things leisurely, while others prefer to be over and done with it.
Generally, most weddings take six months to a year to plan. Your wedding may take you a shorter or longer time than that, depending on the factors above.
Wedding loans from Mariner Finance
Need a loan to help with wedding expenses? A wedding loan could come in handy to cover costs.
Apply for a wedding loan, from the comfort of your home.
