Your wedding is little more than a year away: congratulations! It will be the one of the most profound events you will ever go through in your lifetime.
As a celebration of an unbreakable bond between two special human beings, it deserves to be remembered for being an incredible landmark in your life, not for avoidable errors you should have seen coming.
John Kleinheinz remembers his wedding day well. The ceremony was fantastic, but he also wishes he could have done some things differently.
Organizing an awesome wedding needn’t be a complex affair. In this post, we’ll share some pointers which will defend you from mistakes others have made so you don’t have to experience them yourself.
1) Get started early
This is easily the most important piece of advice we can give you; if you wait until there are only a few weeks before the ceremony, getting venue permits will be tough, and hiring quality caterers and photogs will be nearly impossible, leaving the viability of your entire event in serious jeopardy.
Consider this: your dear friends and family will be coming to see you and your fiance get married from all over the world. Respect them by beginning the planning process at least a year in advance.
Lost? Don’t know where to begin? Tackle the guest list first, then move on to the budget – getting these done will allow the dominoes to fall into place with greater ease.
Don’t forget about insurance either – if someone litigious in nature should suffer a fall, get ‘ill’ from the food, or feel like your in-laws slighted their ‘good name’, they might end up serving you and your spouse with legal papers.
If you don’t want to grapple with this after getting back from your honeymoon, protect yourself with a policy.
2) Keep a lid on your expenses
Your wedding budget will be one of the most important issues you’ll deal with during planning, as they can cost overambitious couples dearly if it is allowed to get out of control.
Everyone wants to have the blowout wedding of the summer, but one-upping everyone else isn’t worth years of economic pain.
Weddings these days have bills that can end up costing into the tens of thousands of dollars, and for some big spenders, a six-figure wedding isn’t out of the question..
Keep track of all expenses, and always ask yourself: is there a better way? Some things you can drop entirely. Don’t get carried away, though: focus on value – don’t be cheap for the sake of being cheap if you can get insane value by spending a little bit more.
Hold the line on spending even as others unload their hard earned savings – those from previous generations would be shocked at the excess on display in today’s ceremonies.
3) Get a great photographer
If there is one area where spending a decent chunk of coin is warranted, acquiring the services of a pro photographer definitely qualifies.
Your wedding day is special: you deserve photos that will bring these memories alive by looking at the innovative, sharp shots that a skilled professional can take.
From the intimate moments spent with your bridesmaids before the ceremony, to the timeless first dance with your life partner, a clever photographer can make a huge difference in how you remember that day years later.