Wedding Planning 101: Checking Off the Next Chunks!

Hi brides-to-be! I hope by this time you were already able to determine the first four things needed to settle for your wedding -- date and time, location, and budget. As what I have experienced, at the time that these items were settled, that's the only time that all of the other details below ran smoothly.

• Church and Venue: These are the next items that you would like to secure immediately because you'll be surprised that, even if your wedding day is still a year ahead, the day that you would like your ceremony to be on is already fully-booked. I, myself, got surprised! Our wedding is still at least 10 months after today but we got the only available time-slot left out of three. For our reception venue, by the time that we booked it, there were already two couples who penciled-in their reservations first. Luckily, James and I were able to secure a down-payment to then hard-reserve the venue we want

• Theme/Motif: It would be easier to conceptualize the look of your wedding with this next to be settled. Designs and decorations for your reception, centerpieces, souvenir packagings, and invitations would usually follow the motif that you would like your wedding to have. Motifs can be chosen as simple as choosing which colors to have to as specific as that of having an English Tea Party or going the nautical look.

• Entourage: These will be the people who will escort you and your groom during your ceremony, so, personally, I chose people who really are close to James and I and who really knew us. Your entourage would be the next set of people that you can turn to in terms of preparing for your wedding and who would be next to guide you through your marriage life after your parents. So I really took this task very seriously. Below is a list of, somewhat, responsibilities/roles of each person in your entourage which I learned from http://www.bridalbook.ph/:

• Principal Sponsors: will serve as godparents, so choose people that can give you advice

• Secondary Sponsors:
• Candle - will light the candle as a symbolize of God's guidance
• Veil - will cover you with a veil to symbolize your one-ness
• Cord - will connect you with a cord to symbolize the binding nature of your marriage.
• Maid-of-honor and bridesmaids: will help you with accomplishing the to-do list during your wedding preparation process
• Best Man and groomsmen: will help the groom keep calm before the wedding

After determining these, I now went down to the fine details for the rest of the preparation - gown, caterer, photographer, wedding planner, invitation, souvenirs, flowers, and make-up. One tip I can share in booking these suppliers, book them early and book them during wedding fairs because they give good discounts. Once you are able to pay a reservation fee, the price that you booked them for will be locked and you won't get affected when they increase prices over the next months.

Again, planning a wedding does not really have a solid set of steps. But it would really be a big help if you can determine what details you would first need to settle and what items you should prioritize.

Wishing you all the best! Happy Planning! :D

Wedding Planning 101: Springboarding!

I have to admit that, as of this posting, I can whole-hearetedly confess that preparing for your big day can be really stressful and can come out of hand sometimes. Essential questions like what type of wedding do you want, what date should it be on, what design should your gown be, and who should be in your entourage can get overwhelming and, sometimes, it can come to a point that you want to just get it over with. But don't worry and don't panic! The process is tough, and that's a fact. But, if you know what things you should focus on and if you have a solid support system, I assure you that everything will run just fine for your wedding day. :)

Although there is no one strict and set way on how to start your wedding planning, I'd like to share how I got through with my own wedding planning which might also get you through your humongous list of to-dos. In my experience, I suggest that you should first start crossing off the big chunks of your wedding details -- date and time, location, and your budget. I say big chunks because, without these items settled first, you'll have a hard time choosing suppliers and picking out the details of your wedding. Below, I have identified what impact each factor mentioned earlier may affect the other elements of your big day:

• Date and Time:
• When you're about to book for a supplier, this is one of the next questions that you would be asking from you after they have asked for your name. This is so they would know if they are free on that day, especially high-demand suppliers who can only accommodate one event per day.
• The food that you will be serving. Will it be for snacks, breakfast, or heavy lunch or dinner?
• If you'll be doing a destination wedding, determining the date of your wedding can also be helpful for your guests who will still be coming from faraway places and give them the chance to plan and book their trips.
• Location:
• Is it a destination wedding or just within your place? Suppliers would usually charge additional fees for destination weddings, so you should also plot these fees in your budget forecast. 
• The design of your gown could also be designed based on the location of your wedding. If it's a beach wedding, then your gown can't be the cathedral type because it would not be beach friendly. There are also certain Catholic churches who are strict in implementing dress codes for wedding dresses and gowns.
• Budget:
• If you have already pegged a budget for your wedding, then the range of suppliers you may consider can also get short-listed. This is helpful because there are tons of suppliers out there and you would have to trim your list down based on your budget.
• This factor can also help you trim down your guest list because most event places have a minimum or maximum number of guests they can cater to.
• Tip 1: In determining the budget of your wedding, it's really helpful that you go to at least one wedding fair to have a glimpse of how much a certain element would usually cost and base your budget on that.
• Tip 2: If you have already determined the date, time and location of your wedding, it would also be helpful that you go to wedding fairs and bazaars because this is were you would find great deals. For example, there are event venues who already have packages that include a couple suite which you can check into before and after the wedding.

Once these three factors have already been marked down. It's then time to move on in identifying the element that would create the most impact for your wedding and that's what I'm gonna tackle in my next post or two.

Happy planning! :D