Book Hotel Room Blocks
Amber Gress
Whether having a destination wedding or a local celebration, chances are some guests will need a place to stay the night of the wedding. It’s a thoughtful gesture to take this into consideration and set up a hotel block for them at one or several choice establishments. This will ensure all your wedding attendees are in the same general vicinity, and many hotels can even provide a discounted rate depending on the number of rooms requested.
Choose Your Wedding Suppliers
This is probably the biggest step of our wedding planning guide, since it covers everything from photographers to caterers and florists.
Start by making a list of all the suppliers youre going to need to hire. Your wedding venue may already have a list of recommended suppliers which is a great place to start, but make sure you widen your search if you want something a little different before you book and pay deposits.
Itll help to visit the Hitched supplier section where you can find everything from traditional wedding suppliers to more unusual vendors like Prosecco vans, food trucks and flower walls.
Here are your main suppliers to look for:
Narrow Down The Dates
You wont officially set a date until you book your venue. But, we recommend choosing a few potential wedding dates before you start looking at venues. First, think about the season in which youd like to wedand if a Saturday night wedding is a must or if youre open to a wedding on a different day. Then, take a look at the calendar, taking into account work schedules, holidays, family conflicts, etc., and narrow things down to a few choice dates. Having some potential wedding dates in mind will be very helpful during the venue selection process.
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Shop For Wedding Attire
One of the most exciting outcomes of successfully learning how to plan a wedding is shopping for attire. Begin your search by browsing wedding dress and suit ideas online, and don’t forget to save your favorites to take them with you to your appointments. Then, learn the lingo before setting foot in a store. If you’re shopping for a wedding dress, read up on silhouettes, necklines, trains and hues that you’re interested in trying. For those shopping for a suit, consider whether you want a traditional suit or a sleek tuxedo. We also recommend considering whether you’ll buy or rent your outfit.
When it comes to wedding attire, we recommend shopping as early as you can. This is especially important now, as the industry faces potential supply chain delays. Custom orders, as well as tailoring, can take months. Plus, you’ll need additional time for touch-ups and alterations.
Spend some time thinking about how you can showcase your personality through all aspects of your wedding day outfit, from the actual clothing to the colors and even your accessories too. “Oftentimes, additional accessories like jewelry are forgotten, but they’re equally as important as the rest of your attire,” says Lisette Scott, founder of jewelry brand Jam+Rico. “All of these pieces will complete your look on your special day.”
How To Shop For Couple Wedding Attire And Jewellery
There isnt a one-size-fits-all approach to choosing wedding attire, as as your personal style will determine your choices. For example, the couple may want to wear traditional attire, modern outfits or completely unique ones. Nevertheless, a good starting point is to total the number of outfits that the bride and groom require and divide the total clothing budget accordingly.
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For men, common wedding attire includes sherwanis, kurtas, bandhgalas, and suits. You can opt for a traditional sherwani with an accompanying turban, or keep it simple by pairing a kurta with a Nehru jacket. For a more classic look, a black suit is a fail-safe option. Similarly, for women, options range from designer lehengas and saris to dresses with hand embroidery and ornate anarkali sets.
You should shop for jewellery after you finalise your outfits so that you can ensure that they match. Here are a few things to keep in mind when selecting and shopping for jewellery.
- Identify family heirlooms that you would like to wear and have them cleaned, polished or, repaired, if need be.
- Buy jewellery that you are likely to wear later as well.
- Shop from a reputed jeweller to be sure of quality.
Select pieces that are comfortable to wear with a wedding planning checklist and wedding decoration ideas at your disposal, make your grand day one to remember without breaking into a sweat.
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Start The Festivities And Enjoy
You know what to do from here. Congratulations!
Pro tip: Remember that your wedding day is about you. Its okay if you dont have a full-blown conversation with everyone there. And its okay if its not the best day of their lives too. So remind yourself of that in the chaotic moments. Enjoy celebrating your successful planning, your love for each other, and your future together!
Go Wedding Dress Shopping
The 12 month mark should see you attend your first wedding dress shopping trip if you’re a bride. This allows plenty of time for alterations. Before you go, you should know your budget and buy some nude, seamless underwear. Its also a good idea to try and go on a weekday when bridalwear shops are quiet. Dont take too many people along with you its nice to have your mum and your MOH with you, but any more opinions will only throw you off-piste.
READ MORE:29 Things You Need to Know Before You Go Wedding Dress Shopping
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Involve Your Significant Other
Whitney Neal Studios
Don’t feel like you’re in this wedding planning process alone. Consult with your partner along the way their opinion is bound to be invaluable andeven if they’re only involved in some aspectsit makes wedding planning that much more fun when you can make decisions together. Working towards a common goal not only further bonds you and your partner but also helps you grow as a couple with every issue you tackle as a team.
Book Your Wedding Entertainment
We speak to no end of couples that are disappointed because they have left it until 6 months before their day to book their dream band, inevitably finding out they have already been snapped up. Please ignore publications that tell you otherwise, if you have something specific in mind, book your entertainment as soon as youve booked your venue to avoid having to compromise. We have many options available and guarantee that well find you an alternative band that you love if push comes to shove but your first choice can be yours if you book well in advance! You can browse through our range of wedding bands here.
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Wedding Decoration Ideas For A Fabulous Ambience
Wedding reception decoration involves hiring decorators and event management companies. However, if you hire a planner, this is one less thing for you to worry about. You can share references with your planner and discuss colour themes, after which you give your approval to ensure that your wedding hall is decorated as per your preferences.
Set Your Wedding Budgetand Stick To It
Whitney Neal Studios
Your wedding budget will be the driving factor for many of your wedding-related decisions, so this should be one of the first things you tackle. If any family members will be contributing, chat with them about what theyre comfortable spending. If youre footing the bill yourself, its time to take a hard look at your finances. Be prepared for a reality check when it comes to actually budgeting for your wedding day as many couples dont realize the full scope of costs involved. Once youve got that magic number, stick to it!
Don’t forget to build in a 10 percent splurge cushion for those unexpected costs or urges that inevitably arise.
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How To Plan A Wedding: The First 5 Things You Need To Do
The question has been asked, the engagement has been announced, and youve shown off that sparkly ring. Now you probably find yourself Googling How to Plan a Wedding because the reality of the situation has finally set it YOU NEED TO PLAN A WEDDING AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO START. Lucky for you, were here with the five things you need to do first!
Three: Find Courses On How To Become A Wedding Planner And Get Certified
QC Event School offers a choice of two Foundation Courses for those aspiring to become professional wedding planners:
Graduates of the Event & Wedding Planning Course will walk away with an International Event and Wedding Planning Professional certification/designation. Grads of the Wedding Planning Course will earn an International Wedding Planning Professional certification/designation.
Moreover, you can then elevate your skill-set from there through QCs Specialty Courses! For instance, if you wish to offer clients luxury wedding services, our Luxury Wedding & Event Planning Course will help you achieve this goal . If youd love to travel the globe and provide destination services, QCs Destination Wedding Planning Course can turn you into a Destination Wedding Specialist in just a few short months.
And remember: the more certifications and services you add to your business, the higher your rates can be!
Once enrolled, QC Event School gives you a full 2 years to finish your program. Since our online learning environment is 100% self-paced, you can choose how much of that time youll need. Many of our alumni found that they were able to graduate in as little as 3-6 months by simply dedicating 1-2 hours per week on their courses.
Want to learn more about ALL of the online courses currently offered by QC Event School? Find the full list of course curricula here!
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Select A Stationery Suite
As your big day draws closer, you’ll need to alert guests with beautiful wedding invitations. But, believe it or not, your stationery suite includes more than just save-the-date cards, formal invites and RSVP cards. Consider what you want all of your paper goods to look like, from place cards, menus, ceremony programs, and wedding favor tags. Each plays a role during the day, and having a consistent design among all will make your wedding look seamlessly cohesive. We recommend using The Knot Invitations to find paper goods that match the style and theme of your wedding day.
Host Your Stag/hen/fox/sten Parties
After all that wedding planning, you totally deserve to let your hair down. The two-month mark is a great time to host your stag or hen parties, your sten party or fox party which will get everyone even more excited for the big day.
Theres not much you need to do here, since your chief wedding attendants are in charge of sorting everything out. Just turn up, have a wonderful time and forget about wedding planning for the night.
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Shop Around For The Best Rates
Ayers recommends calling 3 to 5 hotels in the area to determine the lowest rates. Youll be surprised by how much they can vary, she says. The size of the hotel, if they already have groups booked for your date, convention, or major event traffic it can all impact room price.
Be sure to note when a quoted rate is set to expire. A hotel typically only guarantees a rate for about two weeks, says Ayers. After that, there’s a good chance it will increase.
Start Looking For Your Dream Venue
When searching for local venues, certain ones help in a major way with planning your wedding, they can make your wedding seamless and will offer you everything in one place, rather than you looking to 10 different places to get what you need.
An example of this is the Dallas Oasis, they provide everything up front: a place for your wedding party and guests to stay and relax, bartenders, lighting, ceremony and reception all in one place, coordination assistance, and much much more! This saves you a lot of time and stress so you can work on bringing together other elements of your wedding day.
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Set The Date & Book A Venue
These two points come hand in hand. You dont want to be setting a date and then finding that your dream venue is booked already and that you have to compromise. Perhaps have a few dates in mind or just a general season that youd be happy with, so you can ensure getting your dream venue booked. If you do have a set date that you really want to get married on, it might be that you need to be more flexible on venue.
FAQ: Do I Need A Wedding Planner? Does your venue include this service? If not, its very much down to personal preference. Would you rather be hands on, dealing with suppliers and organising all the finer details or would you rather oversee the process, sit back and enjoy choosing elements without the stress of needing to provide the creative ideas? Another option is to consider using a wedding planning website like Wedding Well.
Obtain A Marriage License:
Every city and county has specific guidelines in place for obtaining a marriage license, but the universal rule is, generally, that you cant officially get married without one. Do a quick Google search for your area, and visit your city or countys website in order to learn more. For the most part, you will want to obtain a license 14-30 days prior to your wedding. And, make sure to note there is typically a cost for a marriage license! Be prepared to pay $100 in some areas .
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Why Is Wedding Planning So Hard
It really doesnt have to be! Wedding planning can and should be fun if it all feels a bit much, read our guide to remaining calm whilst wedding planning. Dont let it take over your life, simply follow the plan on the checklist and dont put too much pressure on yourself. At the end of the day, as long as you get married, thats all that matters.
How Do I Love Thee By Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.I love thee to the level of every day’sMost quiet need, by sun and candlelight.I love thee freely, as men strive for Right I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.I love with a passion put to useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my lost saints,I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life!and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.
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