“I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.”
—J. R. R. Tolkien
Congratulations! You have met the love of your life and now, cannot wait to embark on your journey together. As you plan for the day that would kick-start this all, you may feel overwhelmed – so many decisions and just one too many things to organize.
So where do you start? We have broken this article into 3 sections. Laying Down the Foundation, Constructing Your Wedding Event, Celebrating the Day (plus a bonus section: what to do right after!).
Part 1: Laying the Foundation
Organization is key to keeping your sanity! Some helpful tips include:
- Think about Dates and Seasons.
- Create a resource and reference centre – what are your favourite bridal magazines and where do you get your inspiration from? Which are your top bridal stores?
- Set a wedding budget and create a 5-10% buffer. Do you know what the most expensive items are in a wedding. Ofcouse, we are not considering the luxurious honeymoon or the diamond ring here!
- Have a good chat with your significant other. Too often, we see how couples stray off when one person plans the whole wedding and then gets disappointed that the other is not as involved as they would like them to be. So, set your expectations on the outset. To what extend would you like your significant other to be involved and how much would they like to be involved in the details.
- Decide on an onsite or offsite wedding for your dream day. Could it be in a lush tropical garden? By the beach as the sun sets? In a boat/ yacht?
- Consider your theme – this will be your overall branding statement as well as the final lingering memorable thought of the day. Everything will be designed around the theme you choose so do so carefully. The Big Rajah has an inhouse event designer who is highly experienced and will walk you through this. We cannot emphasise enough on how important it is to have a coherent and consistent theme for the wedding.
- Determine the type of entertainment and music you would like to have. Would it be a live band or a DJ? Will there be dancers or comedians to entertain your guest? Will there be performances from the audience or guest artists?
- Research on your bridal style from Pinterest or Instagram and have your own style board. This will protect you from feeling overwhelmed from the number of choices available today. Plus, you will end up with a consistent look & feel which will stick to what you would like exactly.
- Create a spreadsheet and checklist. Some great tools out there include Wedding Happy and AllSeated.
Once you have laid the foundation for planning and organization, then the next stage comes into play. Constructing Your Event Day.