You have finally decided to get married but a myriad of thoughts are beginning to overwhelm you: where to start to plan a wedding at its best? If there is one thing that working as a wedding planner has taught me, it is that it is the very first steps that send couples into confusion.
Planning such an important day, you know, is not easy, but patience and judgment are the qualities you will need to arm yourself with from the start. Within this article, I will help you clear your mind through some simple guidelines to follow to avoid mistakes and stay on track.
PLANNING PREPARATIONS
While it is advisable to start preparations at least a year in advance, the truth is that even a few months can be enough to plan a wedding as long as you follow a logical order.
After making a tentative list of people to invite, you need to choose the location that will be the setting for your big day. Try asking yourself how you envision your wedding, and the answer you give yourself will help you design your dream! Nestled in the countryside or on a beach, inside an elegant historic home or within the walls of a romantic castle? There are many solutions, but what is important is that the choice of location reflects your taste and has enough space to accommodate you all.
Another aspect that should not be overlooked is the distance between the place where the ceremony will be held and the location where the reception will be held. The travel time should not be too long, and it is preferable to travel along easy roads-your guests will certainly not want to spend hours in the car, nor will they want to get stuck in traffic. To make it easier for everyone to move around, you might consider chauffeured transfers or choose a location that includes a consecrated chapel or is recognized as a community house. In this way, the guests would already be ready for the celebration at the same place as the ceremony and without having to take the car back to move.
At this point, you can proceed with choosing a photographer, who is often also a video maker, and entertainment services. Music is an essential element and will accompany you at different times of the day: during the ceremony, during and after the wedding banquet, at the first dance, and at the cutting of the cake. Like every component of the wedding, the musical accompaniment will convey the mood of your wedding. Once the mood and style of the event have been established, we move on to choosing the gowns, floral arrangements, and designing the wedding stationery with the help of a good graphic designer. Wedding planning continues with the search for a make-up artist and a hair-stylist: these are key figures in enhancing each bride’s beauty without forgetting that the make-up and hairstyle must be in line with the dress, personality and style of the wedding.
By now it is clear to you: choosing a style is the starting point for selecting the right vendors, so as to create a harmonious connection between the elements and visual details of the wedding. What I will never tire of repeating, however, is to avoid mixing styles and colors that clash with each other or with the surroundings: the atmosphere you create will be the setting of your day and will speak about you to your guests.
DEFINE THE BUDGET
Preparation planning must go hand in hand with budgeting, but how much does it cost to get married? In Italy, a good wedding with a hundred guests is estimated at about €35,000. This is not a “rule” since the overall budget depends on multiple factors: first and foremost, the number of guests to which the cost of the wedding banquet, the amount of “wedding stationery” items to be printed, the size of the location to be set up, and the number of wedding favors are related. In addition to the variable costs, however, you will also come across fixed costs that will remain fixed no matter who you invite: this is the case with the cost of gowns, wedding rings and the hiring of most vendors.
I will come back to this topic with a dedicated article but, for now, my advice is to set an indicative and realistic budget range, based on the wedding you want. Duringwedding planning daydreaming will come naturally to you however, if you want to keep expenses down, try to keep your feet on the ground by imagining impressive but not overly scenic arrangements and prioritizing the guests you really care about. Then avoid going in search of the “bargain” and rely only on professionals with good quality/price because, in some cases, one wrong vendor can ruin the wedding.
CHOOSE THE LOCATION
The location you choose should have an outdoor and an indoor solution, both large enough to comfortably accommodate the same number of people. Having a plan A and a plan B in one location is the basic requirement to organize the space in the best possible way considering, of course, the areas designated for the band and dance floor. As of today, it is also still unthinkable to plan a wedding without taking into account the anti Covid-19 rules. This is why, once the number of guests is defined, the choice of location will also be closely related to its capacity in compliance with safety distances.
It is often the case that some locations, when contracting, avoid uncomfortable topics that may cause customers to prefer other facilities. Carefully visit all the rooms and discuss any doubts and critical issues, even if you seem to be asking tough questions: one such question is regarding the presence of a power generator in case of a blackout! Finally, ask if you need to guarantee a minimum number of guests to enjoy the same price treatment: when signing the contract make sure that the timeframe within which you can make changes to the number of guests originally communicated is indicated. One suggestion I would make is to provide an approximate number that is 10% lower than the attendance you expect. This is because no facility will have a problem coming to your rescue by adding a few guests even a couple of weeks before the wedding, as long as it is a small number that does not disrupt the organization of staff and space.
SELECT SUPPLIERS
The success of a wedding is largely decreed by the team of vendors you choose who are to embody the wedding of your dreams. The array of professionals to choose from is truly vast, and the challenge may seem quite daunting to you. From the very first consultation, it is essential to establish a relationship of complicity and trust with the vendors you meet: in addition to professionalism, watch out for their inclination to listen because it is only by letting you talk and accommodating your requests that they will prove that they put you first. In addition, you can always check the expertise and approach of vendors by referring to word of mouth but, most importantly, reviews left by customers or other wedding couples.
You will happen to choose vendors who have never worked together, but if you choose true professionals, working together will be a pleasure for everyone. Finally, you might consider drafting a timeline to turn over to all your vendors a few days before the wedding. This is a road map that contains timelines of the steps that will characterize your day and which I also prepare for all my wedding couples. A detailed timeline will inform your vendors ahead of time about what will happen during the wedding and encourage a smoother proceedings-remember that you will be the “hosts” and should do everything possible to make the wedding planning run smoothly!
