With all the excitement of getting engaged couples can get distracted into planning too early and then regretting some of their arrangements later. #engaged. In most cases, one of the couples doesn’t know they are about to be proposed to. So rightly so, there is major excitement and planning suggestions without much thought because you are caught up in the celebrations.
Following a recent interview with Sara Kennedy @ Irish wedding blog, it's good advice to take a minute and sit down and agree between each other what sort of a wedding are you looking to have.
The following are key questions to ask before really discussing your wedding with anybody:
1) Do we want a big wedding or a small intimate wedding.
2) Do we want our wedding in a traditional hotel wedding setting or something different eg, Castle, Marquee or an exclusive wedding house. E.g., Bellinter House, Co Meath @Virginia park lodge or going abroad to get married.
3) Do we want to have a church wedding or civil wedding ceremony
4) Budget are we going to be using our savings or borrowing money to get married. Do we think our parents are going to help?
5) Honeymoon straight after the wedding or will we have a short holiday and then go on a honeymoon.
6) The date very important summer wedding, Autumn wedding or a winter wedding around x-mas.
Really you have a lot to discuss between yourselves before you get your family involved. It's good advice to have these decisions made between you before this happens. Sometimes parents have a different vision on how they would like their son or daughter to get married and where they would like to happen. That’s all very generous but it’s important to remember it’s your wedding and it’s the one day in your life that marks a brand new chapter, a chapter that will remain with you for the rest of your life. It's good advice that as a couple you do it your way.
I am not for one minute saying don’t get your family involved in your wedding day, by all means, but have your boundaries set up as a couple, this is what we would like and we really would like you involved. This way you are creating less stress and you’re not shutting your family out. @irishcelebrant.
Now you should then sit down and put together the people you would like to have at your wedding. This will and need to be done a couple of times before you finalize a list. This is where the work starts because at this point you are beginning to put a structure into your wedding. Before you even think about looking at a venue you should have a fairly good idea of Numbers for your wedding, this will dictate the venue you are looking for.
Having the basics established like a rough idea of numbers give or take ten people, whether it’s a castle, outside venues, house or hotel, religious or non-religious. a good tip here is to start thinking about friends weddings you have been at and pick some of these ideas just to help you along the way.
Then think about the budget, do you have the savings to cover it between both of or do you need to save, if you need to save how much can you save within the next year or 15 months to cover your wedding costs. One thing you should not bank on is that if you invite 100 people, they will at least give you an x-amount or at least 50% of them will do.
You can’t depend on that because you will need to pay a lot of your fees upfront. There are some things you might pay on the day like a selfiemirror@fotomenow.ie or a wedding DJ @steviedeeweddingdj.ie, the celebrant, but the main part of your evening will be paid before your wedding day. To be fair it doesn’t look great going through envelopes looking for cash. Don’t rely on guest gifts.
Some couples apply for loans, this can be difficult, you may not get approved for the loan, how much will you really need. If you get approved you have to draw down the loan within 30 days, then you have to pay it back and in some cases, you paying it back before you spend it. Is it worth it getting yourself into a stressful situation paying back a loan just for one day?