Wedding Planning – Where Do I Start?

One of the questions we hear the most from our hitched.ie brides is ‘Where do I start?’; getting married will be a fun, emotional, challenging and exciting part of your life and is most likely the biggest event you will ever have to put together. So to help you on your way we have some great tips to get you started on planning your perfect day so everything runs smoothly and you can concentrate on having the happiest day of your life.

Collect Your Ideas

Before you start to do anything, take some time with your partner and discuss what it is that you both want from your wedding, the type of ceremony you would like, the size of your wedding and what is most important to you on the day. A fun part of brainstorming about your wedding day will be taking a look at some of the beautiful colours and styles you can bring into your wedding day. A scrapbook of all your ideas is a great way to keep all your thoughts together, as a hitched.ie member you can save your very own online scrapbook, including your own photos you discover, as well as everything you find in our inspiration galleries. You can then put all your ideas into a hitched.ie moodboard and see how they all blend together; why not save your moodboards or even print them off to show your friends and family?

Set Your Budget

Before you begin to book anything, sit down with your partner — and your parents if they are contributing — and have a frank and honest discussion about what your final wedding budget will be. Once you have your budget you can begin to list all the things that need to be paid for and estimate what you will spend on each aspect of your wedding. The hitched.ie budget planner is easy, simple and you can have your estimated spend sat alongside your actual spend so you can keep track of how your budget plan is working.

Organise Your To-Do List

Once your budget is set and you know how much you will be spending on each aspect of the big day it’s time to create your to-do list. The hitched.ie to-do list allows you to set individual deadlines for each aspect of your wedding planning — it’s a great way to take the stress out of planning and you can take everything one step at a time. By breaking down what you need to do and having separate goals for each bit of the planning process you will be able to tackle your to-do list in a calm and simple way. Remember your friends and family are there to help and will be happy to feel involved in part of the planning process so remember to delegate and help make your own life easier.

Guest List and Table Planner

Many brides say their guest list and table plan are two of the biggest parts of the wedding to organise. The hitched.ie Guest Manager is a great way to manage your guest list, keep track of who has RSVP’d and add any additional details such as a guest needing a vegetarian meal. As you receive each RSVP, log into your hitched.ie guest manager and tick that they have accepted, these guests will then be visible in your online table planner and you can begin planning the layout of your reception.

We hope this guide gives you an idea on where to get started and how to have your wedding planning run smoothly. All the tools mentioned are free to use for hitched.ie members and you can register on our quick and easy form right here.