It is hard to choose which one is more exciting—wedding planning or the wedding day itself. After all, most women have probably begun preparing for their dream wedding since they were little girls.
However, as much as it is stimulating, wedding planning is also quite stressful. You may get overwhelmed by the magnitude of tasks to accomplish beforehand. If done right, you will have a bunch of sweet, happy memories to look back to.
The first thing to realize is that the couple has to talk about and decide on these five essential matters. Once they have these things in the bag, everything else will be easier.
Budget
You and your would-be spouse have to decide how much they are willing to spend on your wedding. Before heading out to check on that lovely garden hall or that new hotel which banquet hall has a glass for a dance floor, decide on how much you are will to splurge and stick to it. Otherwise, you might end up with more expenses than necessary. It is not even good to start married life with a few payables from the wedding.
Again, decide and allocate budget for everything before doing anything else.
Tone
Do you want a modern or a classic wedding? What will be your take on the traditional or contemporary theme—will it be chic, minimalist, edgy? How about the color theme? Putting together a lovely wedding requires unity among all design elements—from the wedding gown to the table covers, to the invitation, and everything else. So, to focus your time and effort on how you want your wedding to look like, you must decide on your wedding tone or theme first.
Guest Count
Tradition says that no matter how many guests you decide on having, the couple gets half the guest list, and each parent gets a quarter. So, if you are having a hundred guests, you and your partner have 50 slots to fill while both of your parents get 25 seats each. However, before you decide on a figure, look at your budget first and see whether you can accommodate such a number. If you already have a venue in mind or you have several options that you are already considering, it is also essential to check if that venue can accommodate such a number of people.
Date and Time of the Wedding
This one is pretty tricky and deserves an entire article to be discussed entirely. In choosing a year for the wedding, there are many things that you have to consider. First, you have to put in mind how much time you need to put together a wedding. There should be enough time from now till then so you can plan smoothly. Remember also that some vendors and venues are already booked years in advance so if your wedding date is in a few months, you might not have the wedding that you like. Also, consider the guests that you want to invite especially those who live far or overseas. You have to notify them ahead of time so they can make travel arrangements and prepare for your wedding, as well.
Consider also the season and the weather. If you are planning to have a beach wedding, you might as well choose a date during the summer months. The color of each season is an excellent complement to your color theme or the tone of your wedding.
Are you considering an evening or day time wedding? Both options have their own set of excellent points and just as romantic as the other. Deciding on the time of the wedding will affect your choice of venue, your menu, the kind of entertainment you will have, and whether or not you will need to provide accommodation for your guests or not.
Venue
In choosing a wedding venue, you have to decide first if you want an indoor or an outdoor wedding. Then, throw in the time of the wedding that you prefer and the number of guests that you are planning to invite. However, you might already have a venue in mind so the number of guests will have to adjust to how many persons such site can accommodate.