Step-by-step free wedding planning guide for newly engaged couples

Hello, love birds! Congratulations on your engagement! This is such a exciting time and I would love to help you turn your wedding dream into a reality. Whether you are thinking of a big celebration or an intimate gathering, every special event of any scale starts with a plan!

No matter how long or short your engagement is going to be, there is always a way to prepare for your Big Day and stay organized, calm and confident.

Although, typical engagements nowadays can anywhere from 1 to 2+ years, even if you are trying to plan a wedding in shorter timeframe (think 9-6 months) it is absolutely realistic and should not be considered more stressful, expensive or somehow sacrifice your vision.

The first step into this journey, would be to determine your vision! So what is this trendy word that everyone is talking about? In short, it is a definition of your ideal or close to perfect wedding. Very often, vision is something shaped throughout your planning, that will be based on many external factors, like your budget, size of the wedding, planning timeframe. However, you most likely have a general idea of what you and your partner love and prioritize in such a special celebration, what non-negotiables you both have and that would be a core of your vision!

Lots of times, when start planning their wedding, first advice couples might find, would be to determine their budget, but I can not completely agree with this. You definitely must have a range, an estimate idea, a number that you absolutely realistically can not go over, however, a lot of "average" suggestions can be misleading and not accurate, due to lack of specifications ( your location, time of the year, size and type of wedding etc.)

So, truly, your First and the most important step that will significantly determine your budget and your planning direction is Creating a tentative guest list (initially, based of your minimum number of guests) This is the first question you have to ask yourself, as it will be the first question from all other vendors, especially venues when you will try to start your search. Same as with budget, there is no need to have a precise number yet, but you definitely would like to have a range, as many venues do have guests minimums and it's important to keep it in mind when inquiring for the tour. Knowing your estimated maximum number of guests will also help to estimate what space would be the most comfortable with your projected guest count.

Based on the guest count, budget and sometimes "style", couples will usually decide whether their wedding will be local or they might consider a destination wedding (which are more common for smaller, intimate micro weddings). According to data from the past years, about 19% of couples chose to have their wedding in remote locations, often international.

Most of the weddings, however, remain relatively local, within 30-75 miles of the couples residency or family residency, with a significant increase of smaller-intimate celebrations actually hosted at the couple's or family house, known as "backyard weddings". According to Pinterest 2024 Wedding report, there was a 300% surge in "small backyard wedding" search, indicating a growing interest in intimate home-based celebration.

This brings you to you next step in planning the wedding- sourcing your venue (deciding on location).

It is obvious, that the smaller the wedding you are planning on hosting, the lower will be your overall spendings, including the venue and the more guests you are inviting, the higher that bill will be.

Sometimes, couples tend to think, that hosting a "home-made" DIY/Backyard wedding is going to be more cost effective, but it is very subjective and might be opposite, especially for larger celebrations. I do agree, that any small reception, micro wedding up to 50 guests might be more affordable to host in your home, but it's not always the case. There are a lot of factors need to be taken into consideration (such as tent and furniture/equipment rentals, whether you will need to bring additional services like portable bathrooms, lighting, generators, get any specific permits from the township and organize parking for your guests)

Usually going to the venue, that already includes basic necessities like parking, tables and chairs, adequate kitchen equipment for your catering, sufficient amount of bathrooms, covered outdoor deck/patio could be the most budget efficient option even for smaller weddings!

It is truly impossible to give a precise answer on how much money you can expect spending on your venue in numbers, as there are different packages and options out there, but according to "The knot" average wedding budget breakdown in 2024, your venue could take up to 37% of your budget, adding 30% for catering, so if your venue is inclusive of F&B that could compile to 65%-70% of your overall budget. Overall, this number seem to be realistic, as F&B and location of the reception are definitely the most important and the most expensive portions of your Day!

I will create a separate post about Wedding Budget breakdown and ways to cut costs, how to maximize the value and budget and do your research while vendor searching!

After researching, touring and booking your wedding location(venue), next important step would be scouting most essential vendors, which are typically:

• Musicians or a DJ

• Photography, video team

• Catering (if not included with the venue)

• Officiant or a church (most of the weddings nowadays are happening in the same location as the reception)

• Transportation & accommodation services if applicable for you and your guests.

Usually next planning steps will be:

• Visualizing your design and hiring a Florist

• Beauty team (Make up artist, hair stylist)

• Wedding attire

• Rings

• Cake or dessert (if not coming with your catering)

• Ordering decor, stationary and rentals

These planning tasks do not have any specific "deadline", but typically done within 9-3 months before the wedding to give you enough "buffer time" for any changes.