Help planning a wedding

Start by setting a budget and coming up with a rough number for your guest list. Then decide on a date/month/time of year you would like to get married. From there, look into and reach out to venues. It maybe difficult to schedule venue tours right now, due to Covid, but booking your venue will be your first official step because it will solidify your wedding date!

From there, I would follow the checklist here on WW (or The Knot). It is super helpful. Also, something to keep in mind... venues, photographers, caterers, florist, and DJ's tend to book up pretty far in advance.

First things first would be to figure out your budget. How much can you and your fiancé spend? Are family members helping with the cost, and if so how much will they provide?
Then you should figure out your guest list. How many people will you invite? Once you have budget and guest list you can start looking for venues that fit your budget and the amount of people you will invite. This site has a Vendor tab where you can enter your location and see different vendor categories. Look up some venues and look at the venues website so you can see some pictures and then you can visit the venues you like the most in person (once covid restrictions relax and the venue is open). There are other websites like TheKnot that also have a search tool.
I recommend utilizing this website. They have a great checklist of when you should book every vendor, when you should get your dress etcAlso if your budget permits it, you could get a wedding planner that basically will do all the research and will help you plan. They can range from $**** depending on where you live but might be worth it.Any other questions you have feel free to ask there are many helpful people on these forums

These comments are super helpful! I am in the same boat as far as wedding planning!

If you are looking for how tos/ tips and tricks I have found the articles on here very helpful, along with Jamie Wolfer's youtube videos. She is a wedding planner and her videos have a lot of good advice.

Congrats! I agree with other posts. Breathe. Then these three decisions will help you plan the rest: 1) set a budget, 2) estimated guest list, 3) venue. These may take a few weeks to a few months to decide. Once you choose those the details start becoming easier.


Welcome here! 🎉

I went onto a variety of websites and found the best of all and created my own planning checklist to meet our needs everything from the start (12-16 months prior) to after the wedding (changing your name). I personalized it to make it memorable for me including pages for notes and put it in a 3-ring binder.

But for us, our first step was deciding on a date and size of wedding, followed by location (we knew we weren't going to have it in our home state or even our "hometown" states). From there we started working on the budget. A lot of checklists say start with Budget first, but I think deciding on a size first will help with budgets. Depending on where you want to get married, think about seasons, is there a high (touristy) season that everyone wants - expect higher costs, do you want a traditional Saturday / Sunset wedding - expect higher costs.

We always knew we wanted a sunrise wedding so it was really down to deciding where. We also ALWAYS intended our wedding to be immediate family only (no more than 25) but somehow we both got to feeling guilty and increased our count to 45.

Definitely search the DIY section when it comes to budgeting there are a lot of great posts with helpful answers so you know about how much to spend per person. Food and Beverage will be your highest costs so expect anywhere from $75 - $100 avg per person (including drinks if you're having an open bar) and then for almost all venues include the local sales tax then another 25% in service fees in your budgeting - leaving this out could end up costing you in the long run.

You can have your dream wedding even on a tighter budget, just think outside the box and do lots of research online. I saved thousands on my dress and veil and our wedding rings because I found them online for 1/4 of the cost of retail. And don't be afraid to haggle a little with some vendors (know when you can / can't) - you could get discounts or freebies if you ask. Remember, you never get anything if you don't ask.

Good Luck and Happy Wedding Planning.

I completely agree with Pirate & 60s Bride - those three things make everything else fall into line. I also suggest listing the 3-5 most important things to your and your fiancé so you can prioritize those in the budget. Good luck and welcome!

Come up with a vision of what you want it to be and then an idea of what you are wanting to spend! I helped my brother and my friend plan their weddings in the past 2 years so let me know if you have any questions!

Ive been married before but i have never used this site so im still figuring it all out also