Five Things You Need to Know for Planning Your Wedding

Your wedding day should be one of the best days of your life, but unfortunately, a lot of stress often comes with planning it. From dealing with a mother-in-law to picking a venue to budgeting, it can seem like a never-ending list of annoyances. All you need to do is stick to these five tips in order to ensure that your special day is as smooth as possible! You can thank us later.

Create the Guest List First

Make sure you know exactly how many people you’re planning to invite before you pick the venue. Make a list and quadruple-check it. That way you won’t have to awkwardly uninvite people because you forgot about Ruth, your mom’s second cousin once-removed who you met once when you were a baby and you realize you can’t actually fit that many people in the venue. (Trust us, that does happen sometimes, and it’s an uncomfortable situation for everyone.)

Make a Budget

This may seem like a no-brainer especially if, like most of us, you’re not a trust fund baby, but you’d be surprised how many people forgo this part. Make a budget early on and figure out in which areas you want to spend the most. For example, are you really into high-end wines? Or perhaps you’re more enthusiastic about the flower arrangements. Just make sure you budget everything out accordingly! And remember: There are areas you can definitely save, but there are also things you don’t want to skimp on. For example, find a makeup artist who really knows what they’re doing, otherwise, you will look back on your wedding day photos for the rest of your life and cringe because the budget artist you hired accidentally made you look like a clown.

Wait to Book the Venue

This piece of advice may sound counterintuitive, seeing as most couples book their wedding venue at least six months in advance, but hear us out: Booking the venue just a couple of months before your wedding can save you up to 25 percent. Why? Because venues are also looking to rent their spaces out so that they can actually make money off of them, rather than having them just sit there un-booked. (Obviously, this tip works best for couples who aren’t super keen on a specific venue.) Additional tip: You can even save up to 30 percent if you book your wedding on a Friday or Sunday, rather than a Saturday.

Don’t Listen to Other People (Too Much)

Stereotypes aside, your future mother-in-law is going to have a LOT of opinions on your choice of silverware for the dinner portion of the evening, but sometimes you have to learn to just put your foot down. It is your wedding after all. You probably value your family’s opinion on things, but at the end of the day, all that really matters is that you and your future spouse are satisfied with how things went. So when your Aunt Debbie suggests that you absolutely must have the steak tartare and caviar with dinner, just smile politely and ask her who’s paying for it.

Expect Some Rejections

In general, when inviting guests to your wedding, you have to expect that 10 to 20 percent of people won’t attend. It’s (probably) not personal; some people have little kids that make attending a big event difficult, and some people live out of town and just can’t realistically fly across the country. And frankly, attending a wedding is expensive and not everyone can afford to shell out hundreds of dollars on wedding attire, a nice wedding gift, and a plane ticket to Hawaii. Just try not to take it personally and move on!