wedding
First 5 things to take care of when planning your wedding
So you’re engaged. yay!!! First of all, congratulations! I’m sure you’re excited to start planning the big day (or like me, you’ll put it off for a while but start the endless Pinterest scroll). Whether you’re proactive and will jump on it immediately or slowly get into the planning mood, you’ll soon realize how much work actually goes into wedding planning.
Basic wedding planning checklist
When I started planning mine, I quickly realized that event planning is not easy (and I planned events with over a 1,000 people attending). Soon after making a wedding planning spreadsheet, I realized how many details you have to take care of if you’re not hiring a wedding planner. Even if you do though, there are still a lot of little decisions you’ll have to agree on with your partner. All that being said though, planning your wedding is actually a lot of fun if you do it right. Below is a wedding checklist of the top five things you should decide on before you get into the nitty greedy details.
1. Set your wedding budget
Regardless of whether you will have a 120 or 20 people wedding you have to sit down with your partner and agree on the wedding budget. It could be as simple as a pen and paper budget where you simply agree on what is the total budget you are willing to spend on a wedding (including on a wedding venue, on your wedding gown, a wedding cake, DJ, and other items). If you want something more fancy (and like spreadsheets like me) then you could use Google Sheets to create your own wedding budget tracker or use some online templates. Once that part is figured out and you have a consensus, you can then go ahead and start calling people up and getting quotes from places that fit within your budget. You will most likely go above what you’ve budgeted, but hey at least you have a starting point and will keep track of your wedding expenses.
2. Choose your wedding venue
The wedding budget will help you decide on how much you wish to spend on a venue so it’ll be easier for you to decide on which ones to call up. It will help knowing an approximate number of guests you wish to invite to your ceremony and or reception to narrow down your venue search. And assuming you also have a few dates (or one date) in mind, you can start your search for the perfect wedding venue. Best is to have a spreadsheet to keep it all organized (especially if you’re looking at a lot of venues). Choose a few, decide on the venue and lock in your date. I went with the Old Mill Toronto venue (despite originally wanting to have a small ceremony at a large private chalet) as it made our lives so much easier thanks to their complementary planer service and on-site catering.
3. Choose your wedding photographer
First of all, it’s so true what they say – the day goes by so fast! And if you were debating about photography and videography, if your budget permits, get both, and get the professionals you like! After the day is gone, you’ll have the photos and your video to relive the beautiful moments, so find a few wedding photographers you like and choose whose style you like the most. Wedding photographers in Toronto range from $1,200 to $4,000 for a full day (eight hours) of shooting. The price will depend on their experience so shop around. I used Pink Daisy Weddings and am very happy with their services. It’s an agency that lets you choose the person you like and you can select the price range based on their level of experience.
4. Choose your wedding DJ
A good DJ who’s also going to MC at your wedding is a great way to liven up the room. Not all DJs MC the wedding, and it’s up to you to decide if you want to ask a friend (but only if you think it wouldn’t be too much to ask of them) or go with a DJ who can be a good entertainer. Regardless of whether you want a live band or a DJ, you should find what you want and lock it in early as things book up and wedding industry professionals get busy especially during the crazy spring-summer wedding season. You’re a little less pressed for time and have more options during the off-season.
5. Get your wedding dress
Finally, your wedding gown. You will read lots of stuff on how magical the moment is, and it is but I won’t go into details here. What you don’t read often is that it can take up to six months for you to get your wedding dress (unless you are buying a sample model that fits you almost perfectly). So it’s a good idea to mark down a few stores you want to visit, schedule this rather early (but after you got the rest of the things on this list done) and have fun with it. You can read more on my tips on how not to get taken advantage of by the wedding industry when choosing your wedding dress here.
Bringing it all together
Once again, congratulations! I hope you have a wonderful time planning your big day and hopefully find some of the tips you read here useful. So to summarize it all, even if you’re not yet ready to start planning your wedding in all the detail just yet, you should take care of the biggest five things: your wedding budget, your venue, DJ, photographer, and last but not least, your wedding gown. The budget is just going to help you stay organized and not overspend (as it will be tempting) and the rest is good to plan early to have more options and choose the best bang for your buck. The wedding dress shopping is a separate story. It takes up to six months for the boutique to receive your dress and then you have to go for two fittings before you can take it home. There are a few things you should watch out for when getting your dress from a wedding gown boutique. You can learn about my unfortunate wedding gown experience with a Montreal boutique here.
