Firstly, a huge CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement!   It’s an exciting time, sharing your fabulous news with the ones you love and starting to think about all your plans.  It can also be overwhelming and tricky to know where to begin, so here is my guide on what to do now you’ve said yes.

Hire a Wedding Planner
Weddings are complex events with a lot of moving parts. Hiring a wedding planner saves you time and can save you money, as well as helping to take away a lot of the stress that is involved in planning your wedding day.   The services I offer vary, from supporting you as we plan your whole wedding together, to being there just on the day and making sure all the details are covered – find out more about my services here.

Set Your Budget
One of the first steps in planning your wedding is thinking about your budget.  It can be difficult to do this without really knowing what you want or how much things will cost, especially if you haven’t planned a wedding before.  Think carefully about how much you are willing to spend, and consider the things that are most important to you – for example, if you really love flowers and want to include a lot of floral arrangements in your wedding day, this is an area you will likely want to spend more money on.

Working with a wedding planner will help you allocate budget to the different areas of your wedding day, and they’ll also be able to help source venues and suppliers that best match your requirements as well as your budget.   They’ll also keep you on track so you know how much you are spending, as well as letting you know when payments to suppliers and venues are due.

Choose The Date
It’s one of the most important planning decisions to tackle in the early stages, and not just for practical reasons.  Setting the date early will impact all the other areas of your wedding and once you have made that first decision, you’ll be able to go ahead and secure your venue and suppliers for your wedding day.

The most popular months of the year to get married in the UK are June, August and September.  If you’re not tied to a particular season, month, or even day of the week that gives you a lot of flexibility and options.  Many venues offer more affordable or flexible pricing for mid-week weddings; however, this does come with the challenge of giving your guests enough notice and the understanding they may not be able to take time off work to attend. 

Choose a date that suits you both, you may want to take into consideration any significant dates that involve your family or close friends, major sporting events and bank holidays.  

Get Inspired
There are so many sources for inspiration, from home décor to fashion, travel to design.  Instagram, Pinterest and wedding blogs such as B.Loved, Style Me Pretty, Wedding Sparrow and Magnolia Rouge (to name a few) can be invaluable resources for getting the creative juices flowing and for inspiring ideas.  Creating mood boards with images of things you love is a great way to keep track of your ideas and for sharing with your suppliers so they can get an understanding of how you see your wedding day. 

Wedding Style and Venue
Think about the type of ceremony you would like, will it be a religious or civil ceremony?  Are you thinking of a marquee or ballroom wedding?  Once you have an idea on your wedding style you can start to think about venues.  Working with a wedding planner can really help you to picture how you would like your day to be and narrow down all the endless possibilities.

Questions, Questions, Questions
The first thing people will ask you when you tell them you are engaged is ‘when’s the wedding?’.  It’s natural for people to be excited for you and want to know all the details of what you are planning, but it can be difficult to not feel pressured by so much attention and interest.  Embrace the love and share your engagement story, and be diplomatic around questions of when and where the wedding is and who is invited.  Having a wedding planner can really help navigate you through all these questions.

Insurance
Consider insuring your engagement ring – it’s not only an investment but also holds sentimental value and having insurance in case something happens to it will give you extra piece of mind.   Also think about wedding insurance, weddings are expensive and emotional and it is best to be prepared in case something does happen.  Wedding insurance covers you if there is a problem with the venue or a supplier, but be mindful that it does not provide cover if one of you changes their mind.

Enjoy Being Engaged
You wedding is about you, it is a special day to celebrate your love for each other and your relationship; it’s about the two of you, and the beginning of your life together.  It can be difficult sometimes to ignore all the varying opinions about what you should do and how you should do it.  Stand firm and make sure that your wedding planning doesn’t take over your life, or relationship – this is where having a wedding planner really can support you both. 

Discover my wedding planning services and how I can help.

Image credits: Irena K Photograpy | Eva Tarnok | Neli Prahova