-
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).
