STORY – MAT & EMMA - A BRIDE-TO-BE

It begins with congratulations and then within two days people want to know if you’ve set a date

UMMM what? But you’ve only just become engaged, you haven’t even bought your first wedding magazine. Take a deep breath and dive in.

Planning a wedding can be as stressful and over the top or as low maintenance and breezy as you like.

These are my top tips for wedding planning. This is from the bride herself. The trials and triumphs of a September 2017 bride. Plan early: This one may go without saying but photographers, videographers and venues are usually booking out 12 to 18 months in advance, especially if they are popular and your wedding is in peak wedding season. Budget: Have a serious discussion with your partner and decide how much you can afford to spend. Will you have any contribution from your families? What are the things you can scrimp on and what are you not willing to compromise on? As amazing as big weddings can be, it is not worth declaring bankruptcy. Don’t spend more than you can afford. This might sound obvious but it is very easy to get caught up in the moment. Stick to your budget. Pick something to splurge on: Whether it is your dress, transport, photographer, whatever is important to you. Pick a feature aspect you want to splurge on and give yourself permission to splurge. I picked the photographer. I booked the photographer I wanted and the cost was second.

Technology: Today there so many great apps to help with your wedding planning, which will tell you what you need to book and when. Get a good shared drive, be it Onedrive, Dropbox or Google Drive – a shared drive will enable you to share your spreadsheets and planning with all relevant people, such as suppliers, your partner and any helpers who need to see it.

Embrace technology throughout your planning stages but ditch it for the ceremony. Unplugged ceremonies are rising in popularity. You only need to see the sample pictures from photographers that show gorgeous shots of a bride and groom ruined by people holding up an iphone or, worse, an ipad. Guests are now more understanding of this trend. We opted to send a note advising of this in our invitations. We invited guests to provide an email or post address for us to send them professional shots. That way people felt like they wouldn’t be missing out.

These are just a handful of my favourite tips. It can be a fun process. Talk to people who have been married recently.

They will love talking about their weddings and you can learn from their mistakes. There are no rules any more, weddings be whatever you want. You can have a themed wedding, gaming wedding, a party with a jumping castle or a completely traditional event. This is your day, do it as you want.