How to Plan a Wedding!

You are engaged! You are so excited and ready to learn how to plan a wedding immediately!

Here are a few things to consider; it is not mandatory to have the same number of bridesmaids as you have groomsmen so don’t feel pressured to ask people you aren’t that close to just for numbers.

When it comes to flower girls and ring bearers you must first decide if you want this to be a kid friendly event and if you don’t but you still want these little cuties have a plan for the reception.

Ushers are one of the most underappreciated member of the wedding party!These guys have a number of very important duties and I have found in my experience that they need to be adults.I understand you have nephews and siblings who are too old to be a ring bearer and you want them to be involved and feel special but pre-teens and teens are seldom assertive enough to be productive ushers.When it comes down to taking the reins to get people where they need to be they have a tendency to get shy.

The budget is probably the most dreaded part but it can be detrimental learning how to plan a wedding without one!

Once you have established how much you can comfortably spend you need to begin your guest list.If your curious as to why you want to do this after the budget has been set it is because this element effects everything!How many people can you afford to feed? How many tables, table cloths, center pieces, etc. do you need to accommodate the number of guests? That guest list is likely going to need some shaving once you have the first draft.If you are having a traditional wedding and both families will be involved it is standard for the couple to have 50% of the guest list, the bride’s parents to have 25% of the list and the groom’s parents to have 25% of the list.

So now that you know how large your wedding party is going to be, how many guests you have on your master list and a budget you can get into some details.

The venue and the dress seem to be two of the first things checked off the brides list.So many things will center on the style of dress you choose. You probably have an idea of the style of venue you want and obviously you will want to make sure the venues you look at can accommodate the number of guests you are planning for.

Many venues will include some supplies in their cost so you will want to find out if tables, chairs and necessities such as this will be included.

Some venues also require that you use their catering and other vendors.If this is the case you want to get some pricing and compare.

It may be in your best interest to keep venue shopping if you’re going to be locked into a team of vendors provided by them that doesn’t give you the ability to look at services from outside sources. If getting married on a Saturday morning or afternoon is not a priority for you then you should also check on discounts for Friday evening or Sunday afternoon.

Often times these days will be discounted to some degree.

Another important thing to remember when learning how to plan a wedding is what time do you want your ceremony and reception to begin?

Will you do a reveal before the ceremony to get some pictures out of the way or will you wait?

How many hours have you hired your photographer?

How many hours will it take hair and make up to do the number of people lined up before pictures?

Having a good solid timeline to go by for the weekend will make any unexpected hiccup that much easier to deal with knowing you have everything else down with a good plan.

As a wedding planner I am obviously going to encourage you to hire a planner!Any good planner is going to pay for themselves in savings they can guide you to, create a great timeline and be well worth the stress relief to you!

Happy Wedding Planning!

-Angela Miller is the owner of Ivory Grace Event Planning, an award winning event planner in Kentucky and Tennessee.