Wedding season is year round, which can be very exciting but also stressful. Here are some helpful tips to ensure your wedding is smooth sailing from 12 months, six months and three months out.
12 months out
Determine your budget
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- You have to figure out who’s paying for what and determine what’s a priority and what is not. And since these numbers will change as you plan, it’s smart to start a detailed spreadsheet from the get-go. This will help you keep track of your spending and make it easy to adjust numbers along the way.
- Make a guest list
- Unfortunately you cannot invite everyone, so you will need to figure out if your budget allows you to have a small wedding or a big wedding. If you and your partner are footing the bill, assume you’ll get 70 percent of the invites, while both sets of parents will split the other 30. If the parents are paying it’s protocol to give all involved parties—your parents, your partner’s parents, you as a couple—one third each.
- Pick out a venue, caterer and wedding planner
- Your venue should ultimately be a place that fits your guest count, style, budget. For catering, start with hiring people you trust to deliver. Whether that’s the venue’s in-house caterer, a preferred caterer recommended to you or even your favorite taco truck. Your wedding planner will be your right-hand woman (or man) and will guide you in all decisions, from selecting a venue to tracking your budget and handling all the logistics.
6 months out
- Book rehearsal dinner venue
- Traditionally, the groom’s family pays for the rehearsal dinner so treat this as an opportunity to impress your future mother in law if that’s the case. With that said, you still have say in the theme of this party and where it should happen. It might be fun to have a family style dinner at your favorite restaurant.
- Book the honeymoon
- Typically, wedding etiquette for the honeymoon is that the groom plans a surprise honeymoon for the bride. But, if you guys are tag-teaming your honeymoon strategy, try to have things semi-sorted out by this six month mark. Being on the same page about budget, timing, travel arrangements, and a semblance of an itinerary.
- Book transportation for your guests
- Consider your venue’s parking situation, guests’ access to car services or public transportation, and the cost you’re asking them to incur. Good rule of thumb: If it’s going to run them $20 or more—especially if you’ve already asked them to travel for a destination wedding— think about a shuttle bus.
- Book a photo booth rental
- You could book a standard photo booth or you could book a unique photo booth experience that Mag-nificent offers. A great photo experience that would stand out at your wedding would be Mag-nificent’s photo cube. The photo cube is a social media enabled photo and video booth, which allows users to share to your organizations Facebook page or their own. In other words, we aren’t your grandmother’s photo booth.Solid color backdrops and green screen available. Props also available upon request.
3 Months Out
- Create your menu and choose your cake
- Once you’ve had a successful tasting, you’ll have a good sense of your caterer’s style and offerings, so you’re ready to finalize your food. For your cake, Don’t stress about pleasing every one of your guests, pick out a flavor and baker you and your fiance agree on. This is your cake as a couple; it’s about expressing you guys.
- Order the invitations
- Order enough invitations and account for some mistakes, make sure they will arrive in time, set up a system for recording RSVP replies, and confirm all addresses and spelling. Keep in mind that the theme of your invites should match the vibe of your wedding.
