After those exciting moments when you first get engaged, following the flurry of phone calls to friends and family, and your dream wedding starts building in your head, you might suddenly wonder, where to start? Don't panic, Fern Godfrey, editor at leading UK wedding blog Rock My Wedding knows exactly the first steps for you to take on your path to your big day.
Photo Credit: We Are // The Clarkes
Celebrate
This is a really magical time, so make sure you celebrate with a glass of something cold and bubbly. Get your friends and family together for an engagement party. It doesn’t have to be extravagant – it could just be drinks at your favourite pub or a dinner party at home – but people WILL want to celebrate with you! Everyone loves a good wedding, so allow yourselves to be caught up in the excitement of it all.
Set A Budget
Get the difficult decisions out of the way first. If you can both agree on a rough budget (with a contingency for blowouts just in case you find a dress/pair of shoes/suit that you just HAVE to have) then things will be much easier as you progress through planning. There are a lot of decisions involved so if you can rule out options because they are too cheap or too expensive it will make things clearer for you. Although it feels early, this is a good time to narrow down your guest list too. You’ll need to know rough numbers when you’re choosing your venue and remember – the more guests you have, the more space you’ll need, so you’ll be paying more for a larger capacity venue, as well as more food and drink.
Photo Credit: Samuel Docker
Find A Venue
There are a lot of things to think about when you’re choosing your venue. It goes without saying that you need enough space for your guests, and deciding whether you want to hold your ceremony and reception in the same location is also important. But here are some other things you may not have considered: some venues stipulate which suppliers you can use for your big day, make sure you’re happy with this as it could be a deal breaker. Read through the paper work carefully on timings – you don’t want to be kicked out of hotel room with hours to spare before the ceremony begins. Remember to also think about things from a guest perspective, can guests stay close to the venue? Can they leave cars overnight? Is there enough accommodation on site for close family and friends? And finally two things that often cause people to change their minds on a venue: the curfew time and whether or not you can use candles.
Photo Credit: We Are // The Clarkes
Set A Date
As soon as you start to plan your big day, you’ll hear people saying that the best suppliers get booked up years in advance. While this is often true, if you prioritise what’s important to you then your date can be flexible. If you’ve fallen for a particular venue or photographer then find out what dates they have available before making any decisions. It can be cheaper to have a weekday wedding but remember that this will involve people having to take time off work. If you’re not having any luck on finding a venue that works for your requirements then don’t be afraid to rethink things – have you considered a tipi wedding or getting married abroad?
Choose Your Wedding Party
Once you’ve got your date in the diary, it’s time to chose the guys and girls who are going to help make it happen. Planning a wedding is a big undertaking and if you’re not employing a wedding planner then you’ll definitely need your besties to get involved. It’s also an excuse to have another celebration and to spend all your time browsing ASOS for dresses, as well as getting your appointments at bridal boutiques booked.
Photo Credit: Papier
Send Your Save The Dates
Wedding party roles assigned, it’s time to send out your save the dates. We love Papier because they offer a great range of styles to suit every style of wedding and are really easy to customise and order. A beautiful save the date sets the tone for the whole wedding day and really gets your guests excited for what’s to come.
If you're ready to start perusing your save the dates and invitations, take a look at our collection, and if you want to really drool over some heart-achingly beautiful wedding inspiration while sipping on your afternoon flat white, then Rock My Wedding's new book (where all the images above are taken from) is the perfect accompaniment for your coffee table.
Cover image photography by Kate McCarthy, styling by One Stylish Day, ring from CJ Antiques, florals by Sassflower
