Eastlife Winter 2019

Weddings
Recently Engaged?
What To Do Next
Written by Katrina Otter | www.katrinaotterweddings.co.uk
If you’re recently engaged – congratulations! This is such a
wonderfully exciting time with lots to look forward and, if you’re
going to jump into planning your wedding, there can be quite a
lot to do as well. But stop – before you go too far and before your
to-do list starts to get away from you, please take a little time to
look through my guide that explains what you should do when
you’ve just gotten engaged.
Firstly, take some time to enjoy being engaged! I know it’s
incredibly tempting to start planning your big day as soon as the
ring is on your finger but there’s no hurry and no immediate need
to make decisions so if you can, take some time to revel in your
newly engaged status.
When you’re ready to start planning your wedding, it’s time to
have a really honest conversation with your partner. It might be
that you’ve already discussed the kind of wedding that you’d like
but now that it’s a reality, revisit those discussions and talk about
the season, style, size and rough location for your wedding. Talk
about the elements that are important to you both, what you’d
really like to include and even the things that you’re not so keen
on. Look at your priorities and hopefully, your wedding day will
start to emerge.
Another conversation you absolutely must have at this stage is
the one about money. There’s no denying the fact that weddings
can be expensive but similarly, fabulous weddings can also be
planned on any budget. Work out what you can (and want) to
afford. Will you have any input from parents or family members?
How long will you need to save if you’re paying for everything
yourself? Once you have your absolute maximum figure, aim to
spend 10 per cent less than this – this contingency is your little
wedding planning safety net so do everything you can to avoid
dipping into this unless it’s absolutely necessary.
With your budget agreed and a vision for the day clear, it’s time to
move on to some practical planning and the first thing to do is to
look at your guest list. It’s so important that you have a rough idea
of numbers for your wedding before you start visiting venues so
now’s the time to starting writing things down. Of course, there
might be a few changes before you send out your invitations but
from this first draft, you’ll get a good idea of the size of venue that
you’ll need. You’ll also need these figures to be able to get an
idea of catering costs so be realistic about numbers at this point.
Now you’ve got rough numbers, you’re ready to get out there
into the world of wedding planning and the first job on your list
should be to secure your wedding venue. Your venue has such
an impact on your day and obviously, you can’t begin to book
other suppliers until you have your date booked and secured.
There are so many ways to find your venue – you might use
an online directory such as Coco Wedding Venues, you might
browse magazines and blogs, or you might just hit Google and
social media. There’s no ‘right’ way to research so work in
whatever way suits you best.
Look at the venue’s capacities, its style and see if matches up
with the notes from your earlier discussions. If it does, check their
availability and make an appointment to visit for a showround.
The showround will give you a really clear idea if this is the venue
for you. You’ll then be given a full tour of the venue and this is
your chance to ask any questions that you might have. If you
think the venue could be ‘the one’, check their available dates
and ask about next steps before you leave. Some venues will
provisionally ‘hold’ a date for you for a few days while you decide
but you’ll need to sign a contract and pay your deposit to formally
book. Before you do sign, carefully read the venue’s terms and
conditions and question anything that you’re not sure about.
With your venue booked and your wedding date confirmed, you
can then move on to planning the rest of your big day, starting
off with a planning timeline/checklist and the creation of a master
budget!
Good luck and enjoy every moment!
Katrina Otter is a Cambridgeshire based wedding planner and
event organiser with over 10 years experience. Find out how she
could help you plan your wedding day at
www.katrinaotterweddings.co.uk
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