Wedding Planning Timeline (Part Two)

Six Months to Eight Months before the wedding

• Select the couturiers and the designs for your wedding gown and the attire of your entourage. Set date for fittings.
• Start planning the reception program.
• Select and order the wedding rings.
• Start working on your guest list.
• Personally visit and invite those that you have chosen to be your principal sponsors. Inform them of your motif so their attire will blend well with it.
• Start getting into shape.
• Finalize any remaining supplier that you have not booked:

1. Make-up Artist (Before choosing your make-up artist, ask for a trial session so that you can compare which is better.)

2. Wedding Cake Supplier (Ask if they offer free tasting so that you can choose well your cake. The cake should not only have a great design but it should taste well too.)

3. Wedding Souvenirs Supplier (Research what you want to give to your guests as a memento of your special day.)

4. Wedding Invitation Supplier (Look for designs that suits your theme)

• Plan and book your honeymoon.
• Get passports.

Three Months to Six Months before the wedding

• Complete the guest list.
• Finalize decisions for the ceremony and the reception.
• Apply for your marriage license at the Office of the City Civil Registrar. (Make sure that you have the necessary requirements with you.)
• Order wedding invitations.
• Book and confirm time and date with suppliers and professionals to be hired. (Secure contracts and official receipts for deposits and full payments.)
• Determine reception menu.
• Scout for your wedding transportation (e.g. Bridal car and the entourage van/coaster)
• Shop for bridal accessories. (e.g. jewelries, lingerie, shoes – once you buy them, walk on it a couple of times so that your feet will get used to it and you can avoid blisters on your wedding day)
• Make a list of songs to be played in the reception venue.
• Begin creating your missalette. (You can ask for a copy of a sample missalette from your church. There are readings prescribed by the church for weddings, you can also choose from their list.)

Wedding Planning Timeline (Part One)

A Wedding Planning Timeline is a calendar designed to help you in your wedding preparations; to make it more organized and systematic. “The ideal amount of time for all wedding preparations is one year”. The Wedding Timeline is a checklist of things to be done in the course of twelve (12) months.

Tip #1

Some items in the checklist may not apply to you, just cross it out and personalize the checklist that will suit to your wedding plans.

Tip #2

You can distribute some of the tasks to your mother, maid of honor, bridesmaids and your fiancé so that it will be less stressful for you.

Nine Months to Twelve Months before the wedding

• Announce your engagement to your family and friends.
• Plan and go through the pamanhikan. (Pamanhikan is a Filipino custom of having the man’s parents ask the woman’s parents for her hand in marriage.)
• Determine the style, concept and the formality of wedding. (Decide on your wedding motif too)
• Prepare marriage requirements for church and civil registry office. (some may take long especially if you have problems with NSO)
• Make a draft of your wedding budget.
• Determine the size of your guest list. (you can make a preliminary guest list if you like)
• Select your wedding entourage. (if you have out of town entourage member, you can inform them ahead of time so that they can set their schedules)
• Hire a wedding planner/coordinator.
• Discuss with your fiancé the date and the time of your wedding.
• Once you have set the date, inform your family, friends and the wedding entourage. (You should invite personally your principal and secondary sponsors.)
• Research, select and book ceremony and reception venues. (It is advisable to book the venue one year in advance)
• Get quotations from the different wedding suppliers. (Choose 3 suppliers who gave you a reasonable/affordable quotation)

Ø Photographer

Ø Videographer

Ø Florist

Ø Band / Choir

• Look for wedding gown designers. (Look for those that offer wedding packages that includes the whole bridal entourage.)
• Start looking for your honeymoon destination.

Next post will be the completion of the wedding planning timeline. Till next time!

Wedding Guide - An Introduction

After your boyfriend popped the four magic words to forever – the most anticipated question you have ever dreamed of since you were three, the moment you say “yes” , your life has been changed big time!

You’re engaged!

So now what?

Okay, you go tell your mom, phone your best friend, twit about it on twitter, you can even call your boss and ask if you can take the day off tomorrow to enjoy the feeling of being engaged. Yes, enjoy the feeling because once your wedding preparations kick off, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.

“Preparing for a wedding is usually a challenging experience especially for the bride-to-be who is customarily the central figure of it all.” Planning a wedding can be fun but believe me it entails a lot of work too. But the good news is that there are ways to make your wedding preparations easy and breezy.

Holly Lefevre in her book, The Wedding Planner, said that “information and organization will ensure your success”. In the same book, she has given a list of rules to help you in making decisions on your wedding.

• Be Money Wise – Determine your priorities, create a budget and track it down.
• Be Open – Talk to your family, friends and colleagues, ask for advices.
• Be Smart – Please try not to be impulsive or else you might regret it later.
• Be Willing to ask for help – Enlist your family, your friends and even your fiancé to help you in the wedding preparations. You need a good team to back you up!
• Be Yourself – It’s good to have references but “the best weddings have touches that are a reflection of the bride and groom". Use your imagination and create a wedding that reflects both of you as a couple.
• Be Relaxed – The road to your wedding may have a lot of bumps, twists and turns but relax and go with the flow. Remember that your guests “are not there to judge your wedding but to share this wonderful occasion with you.”

As you go along with your wedding preparations, it is important to keep “accurate and thorough records”. Use a binder or in my case, I used a clear book where I placed all the important papers and documents in my wedding preparations like marriage requirements, suppliers’ contracts, official receipts and the like. In the world ran by technology, you can also use your laptop or personal computer to organize other wedding details like budget spreadsheets, guest lists, misalettes and invitations.

There are other resources too that you can use in your wedding planning like:

1. Bridal Fairs – there are bridal fairs all year round, the most common is in the month of June. Here, you will meet different wedding suppliers; you will see their portfolios, samples of their work. Get as much business cards as you like, you will need it when its time to do the canvassing.
2. The Internet – there are a wide selection of wedding planning sites in the internet. Browse thru each of them and pick out ideas for your wedding.
3. Publications – like bridal magazines and catalogues.
4. Wedding Planner / Coordinator – “take advantage of their connections and experience”
5. Other Brides – “One of the best and honest sources for information in the wedding world is other brides”.

Itching to start the preparations?

Let’s do this together, I’ve been there, I know how it feels. So let me guide you in your wedding preparations. Allow me help and share with you my experience. Enjoy and have fun!

Sources: The Wedding Planner by Holly Lefevre and The Filipino Wedding and Marriage Guide by Diane Reyes