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