Ok so tomorrow we are booking the venue...What on earth do we do next?

FairyComper

Ok tomorrow me and my partner are paying the deposite on our venue for a wedding taking place next August which is brilliantly exciting, but it has just hit me that me that I have no idea what to do next?

I am the first in my group of friends to get married, and although I have attended weddings (mostly when I was a child) the majority were at a church and then to the village hall. In contrast we are having a civil ceremony and reception in the same venue. So I was hoping that some of you lovely ladies and gents would be able to ally my worries and explain what happens next.

kurly~kale

Does the venue have a wedding co-ordinator?
Look at the venue website closely, you might find a countdown planner like this:
http://www.lythehill.co.uk/files/Digital%20Wedding%20Brochure%202014.pdf

Lots of bride/ wedding sites on the web too.

Good luck !

Edit just found this thread too:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2323077

FairyComper

The wedding planner is great but I have seen so many version of it that I am still unsire of when I should be sorting what out (if this makes sense)? The venue does not have a dedicated planner so no-one to really discuss this stuff with. I will look online for other sites but if anyone has any suggestions, anything useful they have found or advice for someone so new to all this then please feel free to share.

Ruby_Roo

We booked the venue and church in conjunction with each other, so checked both were available and booked both. Our venue provides catering and a DJ so nothing to sort out on that front.

Then we looked for photographers - this took time as we gathered prices from a broad selection, looked at their work and then went to meet our first choice to see what we thought, he was great so we booked him.

After that I could probably have shelved planning for awhile but I knew what I wanted so booked the car and the make up artist. Not long after I booked the cake and the suits. Last week I had my hair done so I asked my hairdresser if she'd do all the hair, and she will.

I did a few trips trying on dresses in between everything else and my dress was ordered last month, it will arrive in January. I've also arranged to get the bridesmaids together in the same place in January to look for their dresses. The shoes I'd been looking at for them went on sale last week so I've ordered them, which saved £75 in total on the full price (which I'd have paid).

I think it's just a matter of making a list of the things you need to sort out and working your way through, starting with the things which are most important to you. It's also worth keeping an eye on things which are less important (shoes, accessories, favours, invites/materials etc just to see if you can bag a bargain!

Paulaviki

The first things I did were to book the big things, mainly to secure the date. The most important is the registrar (if you can book it now, I think we could only book them 12 months in advance), then caterers, DJ/band, photographer, florist. Basically anything which requires advance booking and could get booked up.

Also start thinking about dress shopping, some dresses take 9-12 months to come into the store but that depends on what sort of dress you want!

Other things to think about is hair/make-up, good people get booked early in months like August!

Then it's all the other bits. If you are doing save the date you could save some money by sending them with Christmas cards. They say you only have to do the actual invites 3 months before but we did ours about 6 months to make sure we knew numbers etc.

I found the you and your wedding forums pretty good, and wedding magazines all have timelines in them.

*manda*

Definitely arrange registrar ASAP, I only had 2 options left 10.30 or 4 pm when I just arranged mine.

snow_ball

Agree with *manda* if you haven't already make sure you book your registrar. Our venue held the date for us and we confirmed the venue and registrar and paid deposits a few days later.

ETA I used a checklist very similar to the Lythe Hill one, linked above, and it's kept me sane

minerva_windsong

Definitely agree with those saying book the registrar ASAP especially if you're not getting married where you live. We had a similar situation to *manda* where we were told we had to give notice first before we could book the registrar, then when we gave notice my OH got a call from the registrar saying they only had two slots left!


Then I'd sort caterers (if they don't come with the venue), entertainment for the evening (ditto), photographer, stationery, cake, transport, dress appointments, hair/makeup people, outfits for attendants and accommodation.