Wedding planning hacks with your wedding planning book
In case you haven't seen them yet, we have some beautiful wedding planning books! I recently gifted one to a friend who is getting married soon, and I had one similar to this when I got married several years ago. If you're in the process of planning a wedding, or just looking for ideas for the future, I have dug around on all the different wedding planning websites to find the best hacks to make life easier for the bride and groom during the wedding planning process.
Wedding planning hack #1: Buy a wedding planning book:
My first and most important hack for this whole blog post is buying yourself a wedding planning book! A wedding planning book is a place for you to keep all of your information, ideas, budget, contact details, vendors, timelines, running sheets and more. The wedding planning book is great because all of these things are together in one place. You can carry your wedding planner with you while you visit locations, speak to vendors, while you make decisions with your fiancé. You can add information as you go, and you can write in all your information and ensure nothing is missed or forgotten. If you purchase one of our wedding planners, you'll find specific sections for all the different elements of wedding planning, with prompts, information, and space for writing whatever you need. You can find our wedding planners here.
Wedding planning hack #2: Budgeting:
Decide on your budget early on. Look up the average costs of venues, dresses, flowers, food, and beverage packages etc., in your area and base your budget around this, and of course, keep in mind how much you can actually afford. Be realistic and flexible with your budget; it will be impossible to have a big wedding at an exclusive venue with a budget of $10,000, but you certainly can have a beautiful wedding on a budget. Before doing anything else, sit down with your fiancé and anyone else involved in budgeting (for example, your parents if they are contributing money), and work out how much you want to spend. Write down some rough ideas on how much to spend on each different item. Some important items to budget for include: venue, food and beverages package, celebrant, flowers, dress, suits, and the honeymoon. Your wedding planning book has a budgeting section in it to assist you with your budget. You can write down exactly how much you want to spend on each different item and add these up to establish your total budget.
Knowing your budget in advance will help you select appropriate vendors, venues, and products. For example, before you get to the stage of visiting venues, you can look up costs and ensure that each venue is in your budget before you go and visit it. The costs of wedding venues vary enormously, so don't be disheartened if the nicest place you find far exceeds your budget. If budget isn't an issue and you are lucky enough to have a large budget for your wedding, it is still a good idea to keep track of your spending, especially if someone else is contributing money for the wedding, as there are many hidden costs that can come up that also need to be factored in.
Wedding planning hack #3: Choose a venue that offers everything:
You will find some venues for weddings offer space for the ceremony, catering, decorations, an events co-ordinator, and contacts with other wedding professionals. There are other venues where you need to bring your own decorations, organise your own catering, and plan the event yourself. If you are able to, choose an all-inclusive wedding venue. Planning a wedding involves a lot of work, and organising a whole lot of different people and items to all work together on one day. The event planners at wedding venues have done this many times before and can handle some of the most stressful and time-consuming parts of wedding planning.
If you choose a venue that requires you to provide your own catering, decorations etc., you will need to co-ordinate these things, so book them as far in advance as you can, and provide everyone with the contact details of the venue so they can contact them in the days and weeks leading up to the wedding with questions instead of you.
Wedding planning hack #4: Hire a wedding planner:
If you have the budget for it. Hiring a wedding planner is the one thing that will save you the most time, effort, and stress when planning a wedding. A Wedding planner is someone who is experienced in the wedding industry, they know all the ins and outs of planning a wedding. They can help you choose a venue you love, select the perfect flowers, and decorate your dream wedding. They can put you in touch with photographers, celebrants, caterers, and all the professionals involved in a wedding. And the best part about it is, they will do everything for you on your wedding day and in the days and weeks leading up to your wedding. They can decorate your venue, confirm your bookings, and organise your time lines and running sheets. Wedding planners will help you ensure that everything is planned and booked perfectly and that you don't forget anything. They are also the contact for everyone on the wedding day and the days leading up. They help ensure that you won't be receiving phone calls asking questions about the wedding when you should be relaxing and preparing for your wedding. A wedding planner is one of the best ways to reduce your stress leading up to the wedding.
Wedding planning hack #5: A wedding website and digital RSVPs:
Collecting RSVPs is always a nightmare for any event. This is especially the case for a wedding, as you are paying a large amount per guest, and often have considerations like seating charts to think about as well. Having a wedding website with all your wedding information, plus somewhere for guests to RSVP digitally, is one of the best ways to get people to actually respond in advance. This means fewer people for you to follow up with in the weeks leading up to the wedding, chasing RSVPs.
Wedding websites are also great because they can have all the important information guests need to know for your wedding, such as the timeline for the day, information about the venue, parking, accommodation, and your gift registry. This can also help avoid people contacting you to ask questions in the days and weeks leading up to your wedding.
There are several wedding website makers out there, including The Knot, Say I Do, and With Joy. I recommend making one early and using a QR code on your wedding invitations.
Wedding planning hack #6: Delegate jobs:
When you first start planning a wedding, you will quickly realise that there are a whole lot of tasks that have to be done, with some needing to be done well in advance (like booking a venue), and others needing to be done right before the wedding (such as picking up flowers and decorating the venue). One of the best ways to reduce your own stress and to ensure everything runs smoothly is to delegate people to be in charge of certain tasks. For example, you might ask a parent to be in charge of flowers. They will the co-ordinate with the florist, pick up the flowers, deliver flowers to the venue, and be the general contact person for all things flowers. You might ask another person to be in charge of the decorations. They can help select decorations, pick up and deliver anything that needs to go to the venue, coordinate with the events planner at your venue, and be the contact person for all things decorations. In your wedding planning book, you can write down who is in charge of each different item, and ensure you give their contact details to the venue and vendors involved. Writing it in the wedding planning book ensures that everyone is on the same page and everyone knows who is in charge of each item.
Wedding planning hack #7: the morning after breakfast:
After the wedding is over, there is often a lot to pack up, a lot to take home, and items that need to be returned. A common way of dealing with this is to ask the important people in your life, such as your close family and friends, to come and help you the next day. You can provide them with brunch and dinks, and they can help you with all the jobs that need to be done afterwards. It's also a great time ot open your gifts, cards, and wishing well so you can share the experience with the special people in your life.
Wedding planning hack #8: Book everything well in advance:
Venues, celebrants, photographers, bands, and other wedding professionals can often book out well in advance. It is likely you will need to book your wedding a year in advance, and for some places you may even need to book further in advance than this. If there is a venue or a wedding professional that you have your heart set on, check their availability first and book them in as quickly as possible. Then you can find other wedding professionals and vendors that are also available at that time. This helps you ensure that you won't miss out on any important things, or be left paying huge amounts to someone whose work you don't love.
Wedding planning hack #9: Plan your hair and make up in advance:
If you are doing any kind of extravagant skincare, hair care, or any kind of beauty treatment that takes time, make sure you plan it well in advance. For example, if you want to get your hair dyed or touch up your roots, book the appointment well in advance, and make it in the days prior to your wedding. If you're planning any skin treatments, talk to your beauty therapist about how far in advance you should be booking prior to your wedding. Some treatments take time to work, and some will leave you with red skin in the days after the treatment. Take this into consideration when making bookings.
Wedding planning hack #10: Designate a wedding day decision maker:
If you don't have a wedding planner, designate someone to make all the decisions on the day. They can be in charge of any questions that your venue or wedding professionals need to ask. They can answer guest questions, and they can problem solve if there are any problems that come up on the day. This frees you up to be able to enjoy your wedding day and not have to stress about anything. The perfect person for this is someone who is close to you and knows the type of wedding you want, but isn't part of the wedding party. A sibling, cousin, or close friend can make the perfect candidate for this position!
If you are looking for a wedding planning book to help you with the planning process, check out our collection here.
Also, if you are looking for a wedding guest book, check out our guest books here, or my blog post on fun wedding guest book ideas!
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