Wedding ideas blog

Wedding planning process - 10 important decisions

With some guidelines for your wedding style, budget and guest list it’s down to the nitty gritty:

1. Research and compare wedding ceremony and reception venues; select the ones that best suit your needs, budget and preferred wedding date.
2. Choose a minister or celebrant.
3. Shop for a wedding dress and accessories as well as the groom’s attire.
4. Research and select wedding suppliers - photography, florist, cake, decorations and theming, entertainment and transport.
5. Ask your bridesmaids and groomsmen, and choose what they will wear.
6. Arrange your gift registry.
7. Finalize your guest list and organize wedding stationery.
8. Book your honeymoon and organize the appropriate travel documentation.
9. Purchase the wedding rings. Select carefully as you’ll be wearing these for the rest of your married life.
10. Finalize specific details with your various wedding suppliers - food and beverages, music selection and hire equipment required.

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Setting a wedding planning budget

Weddings and wedding planning can be a costly business. All the ingredients of planning a wedding can really sum up if you don’t track what you are spending. That’s why it’s crucial to come up with a wedding planning budget, supported by what you will be able to afford, and adhere to it.

The individual details within a budget are flexible. There will be moments where you’ll go over your budgeted total in one area; it just entails that you will have to bring down your outlay in a different area to reconcile it.

The whole wedding planning budget (the bottom line) isn’t negotiable, unless you’re reducing it. If you begin to believe that going off budget in a couple of areas isn’t a problem, then consider your bottom line and ask yourself where you are intending to get the additional money that you need.

Nothing holds this top of mind more effectively than an Excel spreadsheet that adds together your total every time you alter a detail. For more information on planning, see our planning ideas section.

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photo credit: Alice Harold

Wedding planning basics - getting started

Everyone has different requirements for celebrating their wedding day. There are so many opinions and choices for wedding planning it can be intimidating when starting out.

Once you’ve put together a basic idea for each of the three points below you’re ready to start wedding planning and you’ll feel like you’re a bit more in control.

Consider carefully:

1. The style of wedding you want and any special features that are uniquely you;
2. Your budget and how much you can realistically afford to spend;
3. A preliminary guest list so you have an approximate event size in mind. 

See our wedding planning section for more information.

submitted by: Wedding Ideas Guide