Just Engaged? You Need to Start Planning Your Wedding and Here’s How

This is your step by step guide to planning your wedding day. Firstly let me congratulate you on your recent engagement, it’s such an exciting time in your life so before you panic just take a moment to take it all in and enjoy it.

There is plenty of time to plan for the big day so take this time to enjoy the moment. Once the dust has settled its time to kick it into gear and get to planning woman.

When’s a Good Time to PANIC!!?

As I’ve mentioned before this is no time to panic, your not the first person to plan a wedding and you won’t be the last so keep it calm. Don’t get bogged down by everything you read and start with the basics like dates and locations. So where do you start when planning your wedding day.

1. Decide on a Budget for the Wedding – This is a very important thing and that’s why we advise you to start on this point, you may think that you and your fiancé are on the same page when it comes to the budget for the wedding but trust me that’s not always the way. It helps to know what the average wedding is costing loved up couples in Ireland. The average wedding cost in Ireland is a massive 25 k, this is just the average and should not influence you when planning your big day but it gives you a great indication of what kind of money your looking at spending for a wedding in Ireland. The goal is to have all your family and friends with you to celebrate the joining of you and your partner and not to go into debt for it. Wedding costs can spiral out of control so having a budget to try and stick to is a very valuable tool to have.
2. Pick a Date for The Wedding – This seems like a basic thing but you can get stuck on this as part of your wedding planning, do you get married in the summer or the winter….narrow this down then narrow down a month, most coulees wait a year or two after they get engaged but this is totally up to the couple and their needs and financial stability. So the easiest thing to do is pick the season, pick the month and then chat to your venue about availability. We will speak about venue more later on. I always think it’s wise to check with close family members to ensure they don’t have anything on on the date you widdle it down to.
3. What ceremony are you going to have – no a days there is so many options for you to pick from, so if you want to go for a church wedding you must contact your church of choice and get approved dates and information on the marriage certificate course you must undertake in order to have a church wedding. You must also submit your intention to marry 3 months before the big day so don’t forget this step if a church is your dream wedding ceremony. Alternatively you can have your ceremony in the same venue as your reception, you must ask the hotel if they are registered for wedding ceremonies prior to booking if this is your choice.
4. Make a guest list – this can be a rough guest list and May and will change,the number of guests can affect the venue you book, the number you have may be too much or too little for a venue of your choice. Avoid the stress of people turning up on the wedding day and looking for their names on the table plan, so ensure all invites are actually invites in the post and not verbal invites.
5. Find a venue – This might be number 5 on the list but it is by no means less important than the rest, most wedding venues in Ireland can book up years in advance so if you really want that date the goal is to get a shortlist f venues and start calling them to met the wedding planner for an appointment. If you’re running short on time a good time saver would be to go online and get their wedding packages prices and details, it’s a complete waste of your time to drive to a venue if it’s crazy out of your budget.
6. Do your research when booking suppliers for your wedding – Don’t panic and book the first photographer you find, do your research and look for reviews from past clients. Trust us you will be thankful that you did the research when the big day is done and over. When researching wedding bands, ask the band where there planning next and make a night of it with your partner and check them out, this will give you a great idea of how the band perform at a real life wedding.

We wish you the very best in your wedding day planning and hope you don’t make big mistakes when organising the wedding.  Here are the top 5 mistakes couples make when organising the big day! Best of Luck!