12 DAYS OF WEDDING PLANNING - DAY 12
12 Days of Wedding Planning
DAY 12 - CONGRATULATIONS, NOW THE FUN REALLY STARTS
It’s official, you’ve confirmed your wedding date! You’ve booked your venue and your ceremony too, now it’s time for the fun to really start as you begin to book all your other suppliers…
Remember those pinterest boards you made and all the posts you liked and suppliers you followed? Well it’s time to go back to those and delve into your priorities list and wish list of what you both really want from your wedding day and start to bring it to life. Bit. By. Bit.
And remember our Wedding Tool Kit you downloaded too? Get that open and saved somewhere handy as you’ll want to be using it all the time. The Budget tab and the Supplier tab will now be your bestest friends! I can promise you that. Why?
Budget tab - this has a huge list of all the things you may need to buy or book for your wedding.
Some won’t be applicable to you so I’d suggest filtering through and hiding the ones you know you definitely don’t need
The rest will act as a great working list of all the things you need to confirm basically
Make sure you keep it updated with the correct costings as you go and please try to stick to your budgets (you’ll thank yourselves when you do)
Once you’ve booked a supplier make sure you add them to your ‘Supplier’ tab
Supplier tab - your little black book of your booked suppliers
Use this regularly and keep it up to date
Store all the contact details for each of your booked suppliers
Log your order information here too - what you’ve booked and your order details including a payment tracker so you know what’s due and when!
How do I go about picking my suppliers though?
For suppliers such as stationary for your invites or florists and room stylists for your centrepieces for example, it’s really good to find a style you like and then a supplier who demonstrates work in that style – that way you know you’ll get exactly what you want.
They’ll also love it if you have a good idea of what you want when you contact them, they’ll be able to give you a clearer quote from the start that’ll enable you to plan to your budget (don’t forget about your budget – it’s hard to not go crazy I know!)
Ask your venue if they have a recommended suppliers list - this is like gold as a good venue will only recommend suppliers they’ve worked with or who’s work they know to be good and reasonable.
Instagram/ Hitched & Bridebook are also all great for finding fabulous suppliers in your area.
TOP TIP: on Instagram if you come across a styled shoot that you like, all the suppliers that were involved are usually tagged and normally all from or at least cover the same county/ city. This can be a great way to find different suppliers that really suit your style.
Timings wise, who should I confirm first?
Definitely book in your bigger suppliers first, particularly the ones that can only be at one venue on any given date such as photographer/ musician/ live band.
Suppliers for your cake or flowers have a bit more flexibility but they still only have a set number of slots around your date so look to sort them next.
Stationary for your invites etc will need to be decided in time for your save the dates to go out - check lead times with them first (here’s a bit more information on wedding stationary).
For your wedding dress, unless you are going to be buying an off the rail / sample dress, then you’ll need to start dress shopping a good 12-18 months before your wedding as each dress is made to order and most designers have a long lead time. plus you’ll need to allow for any potential alterations to be carried out too.
This will definitely keep you very busy that’s for sure!
Wedding planning should be so much fun so remember to enjoy this stage, get creative and remember – it’s all about you! Plus, wine helps and your big day will be here before you know it! Happy planning!!
If you like what you see so far, then we’ve plenty more for you…
Katie
Wedding Coordinator
Our lovely Katie comes from a fashion background, so not only very creative and organised but super passionate about weddings. A winning combination!
She loves it when couples push the boundaries and try different ideas for their weddings, so don’t be scared to ask her to create any weird and wonderful concepts you may have!
What is Katie’s favourite part of a wedding? “When the wedding couple come out of the ceremony room once they are married, they are so happy and it’s lovely being one of the first people to congratulate them!”
What else should we know about Katie? She is a Mum to some very cute kitties!