How do you plan a wedding?

Question

i have the wedding party picked out and colors and dresses,but how do i do everything!? i am going insane.my mom can't know till Oct. when my fiance comes to town.. and we are getting married march 15th. someone please help.

Answer 1

There is really good advice in all the responses, so far. I would add that finding a wedding officiant that is available on your set date and venue would be next.  As an Officiant myself, I am already booking weddings for 2009. Congratulations, by the way!

Answer 2

Well if you haven't already, register on a wedding organization website.  The Knot.com at http://www.theknot.com might help.

And I am kinda in the same boat.  I'm not engaged yet but I'm planning now so I don't have too many decisions to make.  Decide on the day, reception place, and little nuances now so you don't have to worry about it later.

Answer 3

If I wrote out everything there is to know about planning a wedding it would be too long.

The best advise we can all give is to go to either thknot.com or brides.com. They're both great sites for first-time brides that have no idea where to start. theknot.com also has a great budgeting tool, I've heard. I've never used it because I'm a very organized person on my own, but I've heard a lot of good things about it on YA.

The first things you'll want to do will be pick a style or  theme, and find a venue. You can do either first. If you have no idea what style you want, start looking for venues first, and pick which one you like the best, and that will dictate your style. If you have a style in mind, pick that first, and only look at venues that will fit with your style (i.e. beaches, gardens, etc.).

Then move onto the big vendors like photographers and caterers.

That should keep you busy for at least a month :)

And it's never too early to find your dress! Start look now so that you have plenty of time for alterations and ordering.

Happy planning!

Answer 4

I feel your stress, I just got married 2 months ago, and all the details leading up to it drives you crazy. Try this site, it has a task list, everything you need to have done and exactly what month you'll need to have it done. It also has this great website creator, where you can design your wedding website for friends and family, so they can catch up on details of the wedding, find your registry and get to know about you and your man

Answer 5

A wedding planner is a must, look one up and they will guide you all the way.  

Answer 6

Buy a wedding planner book from Walmart.Works great.I've planned out everything allready and will be getting married March also.The day before you will.lol.This book has helped alot.Keeping receipts on how much weve spent,every guests information,BBQ location,all that stuff.Dont let it stress you.Your day will be beautiful.Good luck.

Answer 7

I had a general idea of what I wanted and let everyone help me.  My mother in law found the place, my husband got the flowers taken care of, my mom got the dress taken care of.  I trusted everyone around me and it was so easy and stress free.  Just dont have super high expectations and trust those around you to help.  

Answer 8

Slow your roll, babe!!!  First things first- compile a rough-draft guest list, just to get a good idea of the size of your wedding.  This will determine the rest of the budget and planning, pretty much.  If you only have about 50 guests on the list, you can start looking at smaller venues and getting realistic price quotes from vendors and caterers.  But if your guest list shows you that you're looking at a big, 200-guest wedding, you'll have to limit your venue options to places large enough to accomodate that many people.  I'll tell you this, though- vendors won't even look at you or return your call until you can provide these two pieces of info: the wedding date and the rough number of guests.  Once you have that hammered out, I think you should wait until October when you've told your mom, so she can be part of the planning process.  In the meantime, look through bridal magazines for ideas on decor, dresses, etc.  But DO NOT start dress-shopping yet for two reasons: one, you want to have your guest list and venues in place before you go picking a dress (a casual bridal sundress would look stupid at a large, formal ballroom reception, but a poofy white ballgown would look equally ridiculous at a small, intimate garden wedding); and two, I don't know one mother in the world who doesn't want to be with her daughter when she shops for her wedding dress- you can't leave Mom out of that!!

Here are some things you can do in the meantime- listen to lots of songs so you can start coming up with a good playlist for your ceremony and reception; start saving a little money out of your paycheck each month for a wedding savings account, and talk to your fiance about any particular themes or motifs he'd like incorporated into the wedding, since it's his day too.  Best of luck!

Answer 9

Why can't your mom know until October?

Start thinking of who you want to invite, what you want as centerpieces, who you want to use as a photographer, where you want to have it.. etc.  Try theknot.com it helps out a lot.

Answer 10

Colors and dresses are the easiest. You should check out some bridal guides online or buy a couple bridal magazines, sit down, relax, and read.

Answer 11

you can get a wedding planner?

just decide who you want there (for numbers reasons), then get the venue ASAP, then find a caterer, then music...

a wedding planner can really help you if you can afford it but i just got a book from barnes and noble with time frames, ways to save money, etc

Answer 12

Start watching wedding shows to get ideas  

Answer 13

Go sign up at the www.theknot.com it is so helpful with everything you need, also gives you names and #'s of vendors you may need, it gives you a checklist and all kinds of other helpful things! It has helped me in planing mine.  Good luck and congrats.