A wedding can be a great event to plan out, and for some, it can feel like a challenge that is by no means an enjoyable one.
Therefore, it’s important to know what you’ll need to help with your wedding day so that it goes as smoothly as possible and without any hiccups, hopefully too.
If you’re planning a wedding for the near future, or there’s some time off yet, then here are several tips to help your wedding day go without a hitch.
1. Create a detailed timeline and spreadsheet
A detailed timeline is something you’ll want to look at putting in place when it comes to planning out a wedding. There are a lot of things that will need to be checked off the list, and if you haven’t got a detailed timeline in place, then things are likely going to be missed out as a result.
With that being said, you should look at creating a timeline with all the various tasks needed in chronological order. A spreadsheet is a good way to keep things organized, and it can also be a useful way of seeing everything clearly when adding your finances up or crossing them off the list and bringing that overall budget down.
The more detailed you can make the timeline, the more efficient you’ll be in planning everything out and not missing anything that’s of vital importance.
2. Consider hiring a wedding planner or coordinator
Hiring a wedding planner or coordinator will be your next port of call if you don’t fancy doing all the work yourself. For most people, getting the opportunity to have a wedding coordinator or planner would be the dream. However, it’s not something that everyone can afford.
You might find that you have the extra funds to hire a wedding coordinator for the day of the wedding. Otherwise, if you’re flush enough to hire someone from day one, then this is something that you might want to consider.
There are many great benefits of hiring a wedding planner, so it’s definitely something to explore, especially if you’ve got a busy schedule and work life that doesn’t really have the capacity for a wedding and everything that comes with it.
3. Plan ahead as much as possible
Planning ahead will ensure you get everything booked in ahead of time and that all the essentials are covered as soon as possible. The reason to plan ahead is due to some vendors booking other couples ahead of time, sometimes years in advance.
Your venue, for example, is one that might have a waiting list or may not be available for your date for a year or so.
When you’ve got engaged and you have a rough idea of a date, start looking for vendors like your venue and photographer so that you avoid being disappointed.
When you plan ahead, you’ll find that you’ve got a lot organized and therefore won’t have a lot to worry about until closer to the time when everything starts coming together.
4. Trust your vendors by picking the right ones
Vendors are people and organizations that you want to trust implicitly. This is because they’re the ones who are responsible for making sure you have the most wonderful day of your life. So that’s no easy feat or one to take lightly.
When shopping for vendors, it’s a good idea to shop around and look for the vendors that have great reviews, rather than just perhaps being rated by a local magazine or being the top result on your Google search results page.
It’s always worthwhile to have an in-person conversation with your vendors, or at least converse over a video call. While emails are convenient, they aren’t always the best way of communicating when you want to put a person to a name.
5. Delegate tasks to friends and family
Delegating tasks to friends and family is a great way to help manage all of the duties that are required in order to have a successful wedding day.
You’ll also find that many of your friends and family will only be too keen to help out with the organization of your wedding, so make sure to put them to work.
Of course, it’s a good idea to make sure that you’re picking the best people for the jobs in question and to maybe politely leave out those individuals who are known to not get things done in general. Otherwise, you might be waiting a while!
6. Regularly review your progress
Reviewing your progress is a great way to make sure you get everything you need done in a timely manner. Not only that, but it can be a helpful way to check in on what progress is being made and what might have been forgotten about.
As you get closer to the wedding day, it’s good to keep on top of what’s being done and what needs chasing. From sorting out transport with a black car service Chicago to contacting catering for updates on food requests, it’s all part of the timeline that you’ll want to stay on top of.
Within those last few months or weeks, you’ll want to keep on top of everything, which is where the timeline and spreadsheets prove massively helpful.
7. Get insurance just in case
While you’d like to hope that everything goes to plan on your wedding day, even the most well-laid plans can go to waste. You unfortunately can’t control everything, which is why you should consider getting insurance for your big day.
This will help ensure any costs are refunded to you, should anyone not show up or the wedding be canceled for some reason other than cold feet. Getting insurance is a crucial part of helping cover all that money you’re investing into your wedding day.
Hopefully, with these seven tips under your belt, you’ll find it a lot easier to manage the wedding day planning and ultimately, have the day you deserve to have with your person to be.