What to do first??

Welcome to our first blog!

(We hope to be able to help you in certain areas of your wedding planning and just remember that we are available to officially help you if you are interested. Please see our website for further details.)

So, you're engaged!! Congrats to you both! Your engagement should be an exciting and wonderful time of your lives.....but as you start to think about piecing your wedding together, it can become quite a daunting task, and sometimes, can turn you into a BRIDEZILLA!! As a wedding planner/stylist, I can give you valuable advice and direction to make sure you relax and enjoy the process of piecing everything together, and keep you within your budget.

Where do you start? Well, after you have decided on a date your next move is to start looking around and speaking with friends or family who have recently married, for ideas and suggestions on venue locations. Will your venue selection be primarily based upon your budget? On the theme of your wedding? Or will it be based upon your guest list?

Your reception is usually the first thing you book. This is because nearly all the other wedding services need to know the date and the location of your wedding so they can confirm their availability. Once you have narrowed your venue selection down to a couple, you need to look at how many guests you wish to invite for the amount of room each venue can support. Keep in mind that most venues are booked quite some time in advance so you may not get the venue for your chosen date. If this happens, try to be flexible with your wedding date if you really want that particular venue or maybe see if they are available for the Friday or Sunday around the date you have chosen. You need to be somewhat flexible with a lot of elements along the way for things to flow smoothly. Of course, you can't be too flexible that your wedding doesn't turn out the way you want it to either!

So, try and book your reception venue at least 12 months before the date you have chosen, so you are not disappointed. A very popular function centre will probably be booked out up to two years in advance for Saturday nights in popular months. The same venue can probably be booked less than a year ahead if you steer away from a Saturday night or choose a quieter time of the year.

The next step is to book your ceremony. Or vise-versa if you choose so. Just remember that because Saturday evening is the most popular time for wedding receptions then Saturday mid-afternoon is the most popular time for ceremonies.

One way to avoid the difficulties of not getting both your venue selections to coincide is have your ceremony and reception at the one place. This can also save you money and will save you time and hassle and less running around!