Wedding Planning Help
First things first:
Before starting to plan your wedding, set a budget. And stick to it. Budgets are unfortunately sticky things that will beat you round the head and spoil your fun in the short term. However longer term thay are very useful; getting married on its own is stressful. If you begin your married life up to your eyeballs in debt because you wanted the 'perfect' day you are doubling or trebling the stress and giving yourself a rocky start to your marriage. It is not worth it. Stick to a budget that involves no borrowing.
Having set a budget, it is a good idea to decide where you are willing to compromise and where everything has to be just so; will you be happy with an off the rail dress or does it have to be handmade and bespoke? Do you need to have sole use of the venue or are you willing to share with other happy couples? Do you want to be waited on hand and foot or would you settle for an M&S buffet in a local hall, with friends helping to clear up afterwards? Each couple will have their own desires and standards of acceptibility, which will regardless end up in a lovely day. Decide where you want to spend more money and then settle on how much you want this to be within the bounds of your budget.
There are various budget planners that can help you work out what you will need to spend money on for your wedding (there is one on the confetti website which you can find by following the link from here). Use them, and talk to friends and relatives about their experiences in order to give yourself a realistic idea of what you will need to spend.
Making Some Expensive Decisions:
The most important things for the Bride to worry about are the venue and The Dress. The bridegroom should probably worry about the photographer and getting some wedding insurance in addition.
Wedding Insurance
There are several companies that offer wedding insurance. Beware that this insurance does not cover you should either you or your intended change your minds, rather if something unforeseen (ie illness/ broken leg/ etc)means that the wedding cannot take place as arranged you are covered. Cover starts from £50, and rises depending on the cost of your ceremony and reception. Check out all the insurance companies to see which offers the best cover for you, and then bob's your uncle! Current suppliers include:
M&S
Confetti
Greenbee
E & L
although if you google 'wedding insurance' others will also appear.
Finding 'The Dress'
There are seemingly more wedding dresses available than grains of sand on the beach - the problem is choosing one that suits your personality, your budget and the style of your wedding. Here are a few tips to narrow down the field!
I used to teach English, par of which involved drilling the writing manta 'introduction; main body; conclusion.' I mention this because the same drill is helpful in finding a your dream meringue. In wedding dress hunting terms, the introduction is your preparation before you even enter a dress shop; your main body is the fun bit where you assess your option; in your conclusion you evaluate your findings and make a decision.
It is highly possible to find yourself drowning in a sea of choice, leaving you even more unsureabout what to choose afterwards than you were before. As such, before you enter any bridalwear emporiums it is really important to have a rough idea of the kind of dress that you are looking for - With or without sleeves? With or without embroidery? How long a train? With or without a veil?V-neck? Halterneck? A-line? Fishtail? The options are without limits! The confetti website's dress finder helpfully groups dresses together according to style, so if the terms are bewildering start there to get an idea of what they mean.
Having armed yourself with a vague idea of what your are hoping for, you are now ready for the exciting bit - yes looking at your budget... Okay, you don't have to look at it for long, however you do need to crunch some numbers before you enter any shops. The reason for this is that no matter what you buy, you will probably need to have it altered. As such, whatever price you have set for your dress will need to include alterations costs. So, firstly find out roughly how much alterations will cost and then secondly factor these into your budget, so that your total dress cost = price of dress + price of alterations (if you have a total dress budget of £850, then this could break down as dress £700+ alterations £150). No nasty surprises when you pay for everything else then!
Next, now you have an idea and a budget, is to think reasonably about where you can afford to shop. If your budget allows a bespoke wedding dress then reach for the skies - if not, then keep your feet firmly on the ground and stick with the shops and dresses you can afford.
- Posted by greenishfingers on 18/02/2007.
