The hot blog for celebrity wedding style, top tips for the wedding of your dreams, speech ideas, budget busters & more.
After the initial shock of the rock you're now rocking subsides, it's time to get down to business and plan the wedding of the century. But where do you start? Right here....
1. Sign up for your FREE planning tools
Not just a shameless plug we promise, this is your complete wedding planning tool kit, and it's completely free! You'll have your very own wedding website to tell guests about accommodation options, directions and your gift list. An interactive table planner, a budget planner, handy checklist that tracks overdue tasks, RSVP tracker, wedding countdown and much more. Don't fall at the first hurdle! Sign up here.
2. Set Your Budget
Before you start arranging to visit venues and booking suppliers, set your budget so you know exactly how much cash you can splash. Enter the budget into your free budget planner here and it will help you to divide it over the costs you're likely to incur, you can then tweak it however you like but it's a great starting point.
3. Decide Your Rough Guest List
Very often you're planning your wedding 12-18mths in advance, so it isn't easy to set it in stone this early in the planning process, but set out your guest list together here so you know if you're shopping for a venue that holds 50 or 500 people. Just a ballpark figure will help when visiting venues to ensure you find the perfect one for you.
4. Get the Venues Booked
Start looking for the venues for your ceremony and reception that suit your budget. If money is tight, look into alternative options such as garden weddings and weddings abroad here. Some venues offer amazing packages which include photographers, bands and more making them the best option overall - check out top wedding venue packages here.
5. Set a Date
This is a little chicken and egg with the point above - you may find a dream venue not available on your ideal date, or find it is much cheaper on an alternative date. You're best to find the perfect venue, then before securing the booking, check with close family you really must have there for example parents and siblings, to make sure they will have that date free.
Calling all savvy brides-to-be! You'll find all the tools you'll need to plan an amazing wedding yourself by clicking here, including a FREE wedding website, FREE interactive table planner, FREE checklist which tells you when tasks are due, FREE e-vites and RSVP tracker, FREE budget planner and much more! It's the hottest wedding website available and it's all FREE!
6. Send Out Save The Date Cards
It may seem a bit premature, but this is a good thing to do for close friends and family who you'd really want sharing your special day with you. Many families book holidays a year in advance, so just a little heads up that the venue has been booked for a certain date allows them to save any holiday days needed, book a hotel nearby and arrange childcare if they aren't attending the wedding too...plus you get to send out shiny invitations!
7. Check Your Checklist
Log into your My Wedding account and check out your to do list which we've already set up based on the time left to your wedding date. It automatically displays overdue tasks, so you can see where you need to catch up, and edit/delete tasks you don't need to do. You'll feel much more organised once you've been through your checklist and made sure you're on track.
8. Book Your Photographer & Videographer
Some top photographers and videographers are already fully booked for 2016! Don't leave it too late, check out these amazing photographers and videographers to get yours secured early.
9. Book a Band
We've got Ireland's biggest bands on our website. They've won awards, had hit records, sold out concert halls, played for celebrities - this is the cream of the crop! With that acclaim comes a pretty busy diary, so don't wait to book your band, do it as soon as you have a date. Click here to find out more about these fantastic bands.
10. Use our FREE virtual wedding planner
Florists, bands, photographers, videographers, favours, venues, entertainers....the list goes on! Keep calm and click here - all you need to tell us is your wedding date, county and what you're looking for, and we work to find you available options straight away and present you with their details. This saves you a lot of work and the expense of a wedding planner! Click here to give it a go....
Planning a wedding can be stressful and you will have Bridezilla moments - that's your prerogative! Just log on whenever you need a hand, the planning tools will keep you on track, the virtual wedding planner will take a load off, and the forum is there when you just need to vent!
Happy Planning! x
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