Pre-Wedding Checklist

Planning a wedding is stressful, whether your big day’s in three months or three years. Obviously, you want everything to be perfect, so you make lists, you check and double-check, you try to cover for every single possible outcome – and, if you’re not careful, you drive yourself into a hole in the process and risk ruining your special day for yourself and the people around you. Yes, you don’t get married every day, so you want to make sure it goes off without a hitch (if you’ll pardon the pun); but by the same token, this is a special occasion which is there for you to enjoy. Here are some of the basics; take care of these and the rest will fall into place, and if it doesn’t – don’t sweat it.

First things first, draw up a budget. Weddings are expensive, and while in a perfect world money would be no object for a day like this, chances are it will be. Once you’ve done some preliminary research into how much things like the venue, catering and music are going to cost, draw up a budget so you don’t end up starting married life in unnecessary debt. After that, decide on a venue. Unless you have a specific special building in mind, this is likely to be decided by location, and the Grand Ballroom in the Montcalm is a great choice if you’re looking for wedding halls in London. Next – whisper it – comes the guest list. This is obviously a potential minefield when it comes to prospective guests who you or your other half may not be so fond of, so first decide who you both want to invite, then split the remaining seats between you, draw up lists, and reconvene to (hopefully) approve one another. Compromise is the key here. OK, you don’t want bickering relatives stealing the show at your own wedding, but they don’t have to – you don’t have to see them again, whereas you don’t want to start married life with your partner holding a grudge because you didn’t let them invite one of their rowdy mates. The most important guests – probably your close family and friends – are likely to play some role in the next step, which is setting the date. If there are people you can’t imagine celebrating without, then make sure they’re all available before you set the date. Top of that list, of course, will be the best man and bridesmaids, who will need to be informed well in advance. Next comes the suppliers, such as the photographer, florist, cake, décor, music, and hair and make up. Needless to say, these get booked up early, so try to make sure you sort this at least a year in advance. This extends to your honeymoon – don’t get so caught up in planning your wedding that you run out of places to go to afterwards! With 6 months to go until the big day, it’s time to focus on some of the smaller details: order your invitations, book the church and priest if applicable, and decide on things like prayers and readings. Choose the rings, get things like dresses and suits fitted, and chase up guests who haven’t responded. The oft-dreaded table plan, while stressful, doesn’t strictly need to be decided upon until just before the wedding – but leave longer. You’ll inevitably want to make changes.