Wedding planning advice: keep calm and carry on
January 31, 2012
Your wedding day will be one of the best days of your life, but planning a wedding can be stressful. Brides and grooms have to juggle project management and keeping family members happy. This guide will offer advice about how to stay calm, keep perspective and make your wedding yours.
Start planning early
Kate Middleton and Prince William might have been able to organise the Royal Wedding in just five months, but a lot of ceremonies are a year in the making. If you have a particular venue in mind, you’ll need to get in early to secure it.
The date and venue are the biggest priorities, so once you’ve arranged those you can breathe a sigh of relief and start arranging the finer details. Sending save the date cards to guests as early as possible means you have more chance of everyone being available.
Create a checklist
This might not sound like a romantic thing to do, but making lists will help you feel in control. By creating a checklist, ideally on a computer, you will know exactly what you need to do.
There are free wedding planners and checklists online, but you can also just use a simple spreadsheet. Including details about how much each part costs will also help you keep track of finances. Set a budget, give yourself some contingency, and stick to it.
Learn to delegate
As difficult as it may be to relinquish full control of your big day, you should ask for help if you need it. Your bridesmaids are there to support you not only through the day itself, but also the lead-up. Family members will also love to assist with arrangements.
You might be worried about others interfering. As long as you are clear about what you want them to do, you should be fine. Create a list of simple tasks, like booking the exact car you’ve picked out, and your family and friends will be a help and not a hindrance.
Be prepared to compromise
Although you will want everything to be exactly as you wished, there will no doubt be compromises to make. Write a list with your partner regarding every aspect of the day and rank them in order of importance.
When you’ve got your list of priorities, you’ll be able to see which areas are non-negotiable, and which you would be willing to change. Budget and availability are the two key areas. Stay realistic about what you can afford, and start planning early to secure in-demand venues, caterers and florists.
If you are yet to find love and want to meet someone special to take as your date to a wedding, you could try online dating. These sites can help you find a compatible match, and can focus your search on what you’re looking for. You can find like-minded singles looking for Indian, Asian or black dating UK at eHarmony.co.uk.