Are You Newly Engaged?

When first sitting down to begin your wedding planning, it can be very overwhelming. The first task…you would think it is picking the perfect date. Some try to make the date a meaningful one (perhaps it is the anniversary of when you started dating), others go with the best choice from where they would like to have their reception. But really your first task should be budget. It should include how much you can actually afford (you don’t want to start off your marriage any more in debt than need be), how much your parents can help and how much his parents can help (this can be tricky as many still feel that the bride’s parents should pay for the reception and his parents the rehearsal dinner). Once a budget has been decided on, you’ll need to pick possible reception locations. You will be limited, here, not only by budget but available dates. The faster you can book your reception, the better. Once that’s done, hope and pray your church (or chosen ceremony site) is available. It’s best to get a back-up date (or two) when you do book your reception in case you need to change. Thankfully, most places will get back to you in a short amount of time, so the chances of losing out are slimmer (but, if you are in a heavy metropolitan area, don’t be afraid to be a little pushy---generally there are only 4 weekends in June). If you lose out on one or the other, consider having your wedding on an off day—Friday night or Sunday afternoon.

Once you have your reception and ceremony down, the rest is easy. You’ll want to start thinking about colors, a theme if you decide to do one, and how each other aspect is going to tie into that. Picking a color or theme can actually make the rest of your decisions easier. Your choices will then be limited to that theme or color. Put blinders on for everything that doesn’t fit to your colors or theme and life will be much simpler. If you still need more wedding planning assistance, check out Wedding Strategies, a great site that has tons of articles to assist you in every stage of wedding planning...even the honeymoon and beyond the wedding. Remember weddings can be fun...just remember to relax and take everything in stride.


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