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Choose your wedding venue and set an intended
date. Keep in mind this may need to change, depending on the bookings
your service providers might have. Booking ahead
for your Photographer and Caterer may see you
planing 12 months and more in advance.
-
Choose a wedding officiate -
A Priest or Celebrant. You may even consider a
Ship's captain under some circumstances.
-
Make
a decision on who will be part of the wedding party - groomsmen,
bridesmaids, etc. Consult them to be sure they are firstly willing and
secondly, free to take part.
-
Draw up a guest list and calculate
approximate numbers for the reception. Keep in mind there may be staff
meals needed for Musicians, Photographers and
anyone you employ over meal breaks.
-
Consider your reception venue. Keep in mind the
size of your guest list and make sure the
venue's you consider are neither too small or
too big. Many of the popular reception locations
will be booked out for November and most
probably October and December. Booking more than
a year in advance is not uncommon with popular
venues.
-
Book the hire any extra equipment required -
marquee, furniture, crockery, well in advance.
-
Determine if a
Wedding Decorator or a Wedding Planner is
required. There are some links to companion services who provide this
service on our links page.
-
Begin shopping for wedding dress or
dressmaker and accessories. Do not overlook buying your wedding dress
from China. Many of our brides have saved major
money buying their Wedding and Bridesmaids
dresses on eBay.
-
Select suits and dresses for the rest of the
wedding party. Hiring formal suits may be a
practical ideal if your Fiancé is unlikely to
need a suit after the Wedding.
-
Plan your honeymoon. Ask yourself if you would
rather spend a week in a tropical paradise or
spend the cost of it on a meal for your guests!
I can highly recommend the Tropical Paradise.
It's memories will stay long after the meal is
forgotten.
-
Book
your wedding transportation - cars,
horse and carriage, limousines, etc. Keep in mind many vintage cars
favoured for weddings may only have limited
registration for hire and may not be suitable
for anything other than a photography prop.
There are (or will be) service providers listed
on our links page who
provide Wedding transportation.
-
Select your photographer.
weddings N portraits (us) are well experienced
and highly qualified. If you are reading this
wedding planner, it was compiled by 'Margie' and
came from
www.weddingsNportraits.com.au Give us a call
if you need to make a booking.
-
Select a florist.
I know this sounds simple but if you think about
it for a moment you'll see it is far from a
simple matter. Flowers you may like are not
always in season. Some florists are more
prepared than other to go the extra distance you
need on your wedding day. Once again our
links page has service
providers we are happy to recommend.
-
Choosing music or musicians for
your ceremony is another area of over
simplification. There is not much point in
having an expert organist booked for your garden
wedding but not having one booked for your
church ceremony could be disaster.
-
Book reception entertainment.
I suggest you listen to quite a few entertainers
before deciding on any.
3 Months
Before
-
Order invitation cards and stationery. There are
suppliers of this service on our
links page.
-
Make any necessary personal
appointments. Be sure to book your hairdresser and any personal
pampering.
-
Choose wedding cake.
Often cake makers need to allow fruit cakes to
'mature' for a month or two before the icing
will take. If you intend to have a traditional
cake, it will take all of three month to create.
-
Arrange
your travel plans. Apply for your passports, vaccinations
etc if you will be honeymooning overseas.
-
Arrange
your Master of Ceremonies. There are some
excellent band owners who can double as MCs or
you may prefer to pay a professional MC for the
task. If you intend to ask a relative, perhaps a
quick course as an MC might freshen their
skills?
2 Months Before
-
Compile
a gift list and consult a gift
registry if necessary. Some people still consider providing a list of
useful gifts is offensive but on the plus side,
if you do make one, there is a lot less chance
of getting six steam irons as wedding gifts!
-
You must give notice of intent to marry to
wedding official at least one full month and no more than 6
months in advance of your wedding date. I know your celebrant or
priest has an obligation to do this but
reminding them if they haven't is not such a bad
idea.
-
•
Arrange a wedding rehearsal.
I am amazed at how many wedding I photograph
have never had a rehearsal. Rehearsals won't
guarantee a perfect ceremony but they will
ensure everyone knows what is expected of them.
Plan for one, you won't regret it.
-
•
Select and
secure you wedding rings and any wedding
jewellery you may need. Consider gifts for your
bridesmaids at the same time.
-
•
Collect and write invitations.
Unless you engaged someone to do this for you in
step 1 of the 3 months before section. If you
did, remind them now.
6 Weeks Before
-
Confirm reception arrangements
especially if you booked hire goods but need to select them.
-
Order beverages.
-
Confirm arrangements with florist.
-
Confirm your honeymoon travel and accommodation.
-
Plan
your honeymoon wardrobe.
-
Mail your invitations
unless you used a contracted service and if you
did, make sure they have mailed them.
-
A
good idea is to keep a record of who accepts
your invitation and who doesn't. RSVP does not
alway guarantee an invitee will reply. You need
to know the exact number of acceptances for
caterers etc.
-
Advise your caterer and reception host of estimated guest
numbers.
-
Start making arrangements for your hen's and buck's nights.
Traditionally these are organised by friends of
the couple but if you don't plan them now, they
may not come off.
-
Select
your gifts for the attendants. Tradition is that
bridesmaids get a gift of appreciation along
with gifts for the best man, ring bearer and
flower girl.
-
Start planning your speeches. Make sure your
Fiancé knows what speeches are expected of him
and any friends who wish to speak know what they
are going to say. It is timely if you, yourself,
know what people are going to say in front of
your guests!
4 Weeks Before
-
Arrange wedding insurance for gifts and
holiday insurance. In particular, health insurance if you are
travelling overseas.
-
Confirm reception arrangements
and delivery of any goods you have hired.
-
Confirm arrangements with
your wedding
officials. Even if you have already completed the necessary forms, you
may still need to finalize a few details and
book for the wedding rehearsal.
-
Confirm your bookings with hairdressers,
beauticians and your makeup artist.
-
Final wedding dress fitting and
alterations if necessary. If you purchased your dress from overseas,
you should make sure it still fits in time to
have it altered.
-
Finalise arrangements with
your photographer. If you booked with us, we
will attend the rehearsal and arrange for any
pre-wedding portraits about now. You also need
to go over our 'shoot-list' and make sure it
contains all the shots you personally want and
importantly... Get it back to us!
-
Finalise
your attendants outfits.
-
Update your Guest List and begin writing
thank you notes if gifts are received
early.
2 Weeks Before
-
Final fitting of all wedding attire and
arrange delivery well in advance of your wedding day.
-
Make sure the wedding party is fully
aware of all arrangements and of what is
required of them.
It is a wise idea to have a written guide to
distribute to them.
-
Finalise
your guest numbers and confirm with
your caterers and the reception venue.
-
Arrange wedding reception seating.
Most reception venues will offer you a 'floor
plan of the seating layout. Use this to work out
who will be seated with who.
-
An alphabetical list of guests and
their table allocations along with the place cards
you have written should be given to your reception venue.
-
Make the final payment for your Photographer and
any other people you agreed to pay before the
wedding.
1 Week Before
-
Finalise all arrangements - catering,
floral and photography.
-
Have
your wedding rehearsal.
-
Final fitting check of all outfits and
accessories.
-
Ensure that all guests (especially
interstate and overseas) have transport to
and from the church and reception
and accommodation for them is finalized.
-
Get together an emergency kit for the day which
the bride's mother can carry. Margie generally carries one with her to
every wedding we Photograph, in case you forget.
-
Pack for your honeymoon.
-
Layout your clothes for the wedding day -
this will set your mind at ease and allow you to
see first hand, anything you have forgotten.
Emergency Kit
-
Paracetamol or other tablets for a
headache.
-
Sunscreen
if it's an outdoor wedding.
-
Bandaids
and/or blisters pads if your shoes have never
been worn before. I may well be a wise move to
wear your wedding shoes around the house for a
few days to 'break them in'.
-
Tissues -
A small travel pack should be enough.
-
Spare stockings - especially if the
bride or bridesmaids do not have full length
dresses.
-
Needle, thread and safety pins. Bobby pins if your hair needs securing.
-
•
Lipstick and compact for touch ups. Include
blotting paper, even paper towelling, to mop up any perspiration.
-
•
Medicine if any of the wedding party
suffer from hay fever - especially if any
of the day is outdoors (perfume can also
trigger the sniffles for allergy sufferers).
