Quick Start Wedding Planning Tips
By Tracey Baxter | Aisle Do
What’s the most important first step to planning your wedding? That’s almost a trick question because the first step has two separate but equally important parts: The budget which pays for the professionals you hire and the guest list that determines who will be celebrating with you. Having only a budget is far less useful if you don’t know exactly how many guests will be invited. But without a budget, there’s really no point in getting started with any wedding plans. So the wedding budget and guest list are synergistic and really need to be done together! So step one, part A is plan your guest list and step one, part B is setting the budget. Both the guest list and wedding budget will become useful tools if done properly at the very beginning. Delaying either or both of these parts will only make planning everything else for the wedding much more complicated and stressful.
Creating a wedding guest list is more than jotting down a list of names. This task is an art in organization. Eventually these names will need to do more than just sit on lined paper, so starting with the end in mind is starting in the most efficient manner. The guest name will be needed on
invitations, so their name with appropriate titles and mailing address, as well as any of their guests, be they a spouse, significant friend or their children, should also be included on the list by name. Guest names will also be used in a variety of other places, such as seating cards and charts. Taking a little time to be creative and accounting for now how and where the guest list might be used later, will make maintaining {or editing} the list much simpler when the more fun wedding plans get underway! For example, including columns or space for those details {titles, table assignment, etc.} will help facilitate all of those details because the information will be easy to find and easy to share with wedding professionals who need that information.
Establishing a wedding budget needs to go beyond setting a dollar value maximum and should also include the sources of the funds and the availability or accessibility of those funds. Because an initial payment is going to be required for any wedding professional to reserve their services for your wedding day, it’s important to understand not only where the money is coming from, but also ensure you’ll have the funds to get started with real wedding decisions and later that you’ll have additional resources as those final payments are due. Not everyone has full access to their budget funds at the moment they start wedding planning, and in fact many wedding budgets are funded along way through paychecks, bonuses, or gifts. There’s no shame in that - embrace it! Creating a wedding budget is an act of financial responsibility and grace, both of which are also important attributes to carry into a healthy marriage so take the time to properly budget!
5 Simple Budget Fast Track Tips:
· Decide is most important and splurge on it! Make this area the priority and give an extra allowance in the budget by reducing allowed costs elsewhere.
· Decide what is least important and let this be the area to find a ‘cost effective’ alternative or skip this category altogether.
· Take the full budget amount and divide by 2 to get the reception allowance and ‘non-reception’ allowance. For a $10,000 budget, this calculation allows $5000 for the ceremony,
fashion, personal items, photography,
planner, etc. and $5000 for the reception. {60:40 is also acceptable, how it gets distributed should align with personal priorities!}
· Take your reception amount {$5000} and divide in half {$2500} and then divide again by # of guests {we’ll say 100} to give $25 per guest allowance. Especially for the most budget conscience couple or those that want less focus on the food, staying under this amount for the catering ‘per person’ menu selection will keep costs in line with the total budget because taxes and gratuity can significantly impact the final amount!
· Many professionals require full payment 7 to 21 days in advance of the wedding date so be sure to account for that when determining the funding availability!
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Tracey Baxter is the creator of the video series
5 Simple D.I.Y Projects to Add Personality & Style to Your Wedding and owner
Aisle Do in Charlotte, NC. Aisle Do a wedding planning and design company specializing in working with fun loving brides and grooms who want to express themselves through creative and uniquely personalized wedding details while staying organized and within their budget. As an active member of the NAWP-Charlotte, Tracey received the 2012 Leadership Award. Tracey’s planning & design expertise has been featured locally and nationally. Winter 2013 Carolina Bride;
Winter 2013 Charlotte Wedding ;
Candy.com Blog
