Congratulations! Your partner proposed to you (or the other way) and you two are now ready for tying the knot. Certainly you are quite excited, maybe you look forward to start planning the wedding. Maybe you already know what you want, or maybe you feel a bit confused and anxious after the proposal. Where do I start from? Do I have to organize everything at once? What if I forget something really important? What if the day I choose is not available? And if my partner doesn’t agree on something? How can we plan a whole wedding by ourself? 

In this article we are not telling you how to plan the perfect wedding, neither we are giving you a mere list of to-do things to cross. There are too many online guides on how do plan your wedding step by step, you don’t need another one. And we don’t like standard solutions. We’d rather tell you in details what are the very first things you should do after the marriage proposal, so that you can personalize your wedding organization according to your own needs. Sit down with your partner, take a moment for yourselves and don’t forget pen and a piece of paper.

How long to wait after the wedding proposal? 

Obviously there is no right answer to this question – it depends on when, where, and how you want to get married. Let’s see these variables one by one!

First, it’s better to discuss about the kind of wedding you want: in church or a civil ceremony? Intimate or big? It’s not necessary now to think abou the theme of your celebration – but of course, you can write down some ideas to discuss later (and if you need help, here’s an article on how to find the right wedding style). Right now, you want to focus on the fundamentals that will give shape to everything else.

After deciding what ceremony you’re having, you should probably think about and select the date for your wedding. In fact, day and season affect the time you have for the organization, as well as many important aspects. Some kind of celebrations, such as those in peak season, or with many people, or destination weddings require many months to be properly organized. Here’s two opposite situation that many couples bump into when they have to pick a date:

You don’t know how to decide. 

Proceed by exclusion: cross out festivities, long weekends, holiday times, private celebrations and elections or other public events. Ask yourselves in which season would you rather get married. Now you have way less options and it’s easier to select two or three days: you can pick “the one” according to your venues’ availability.

You want “that” exact date.

It’s good to know what you want, but… It can be a downside too! Don’t be stuck on a particular day if that’s creating obstacles in the organisation. For instance, if a venue you want has no availability for that day, ask yourselves if it’s really worth to give up the perfect place for a date. Try to consider this: whatever day you’ll get married, it will instantly become an important date of your life, as a couple and as a family. Choose a new date and you’ll have an extra day to celebrate on your calendar.

Set your wedding budget

Dreaming is nice, but… We should also stay practical and talk about how much you’re willing to spend for this important celebration. You don’t have to write the exact number now – but at least try to figure out if you don’t want to spend a lot of money or if you have a nice budget to treat yourself. Don’t think only about numbers: decide where do you want to increase the budget, and where do you prefer to save money. Handling the budget is not always easy: that’s why it’s usually better to seek for an external help, but we’ll talk about it later on.

If you really have no idea about how much each wedding item can cost, and you’re interested in having your destination wedding in Sardinia, you can try our online quote calculator.

Venue and guests

It may take some time to find the right place for your wedding reception – and a lot of searching, contacts, and site inspections. So it’s a nice idea to limit your options from the very beginning: geographically speaking, where in the world do you want to get married? Start from there, and decide which kind of venue you are looking for. Do you want to have one place only for ceremony and reception, or are you willing to move with your guests from one to the other? Answering those questions will let you consider only the venues that can meet your needs.

On the other hand, if you already know the venue of your dreams and don’t want to get married anywhere else, probably you should call them as soon as possible and ask for their availability – and maybe be ready to book the date right away. However, unless you have already seen the place a few times, it’s always better to do a site inspection before making any final decision, to be sure that it has everything you need for your event.

If you need extra help to select your venue, we have an article for you here.

Wedding planner: yes or no? 

We should say that every couple needs a wedding planner… But let’s be honest, it’s not always like that. You should base your decision on the previous points, on your time andability to handle the inevitable stress that planning a wedding generates. Do you have many months ahead and a big wedding on your mind? Or you’re getting married soon and are not sure you can meet every deadline? Or do you have few guests, but you live away from the designated place? In each case, you could find a great support with a professional wedding planner. 

Of course, a wedding planner is not just an extra item on your budget list, but an added value for many reasons. Remember: if you choose to organie your wedding by yourself, you are alone on your big day too, and you’ll probably have to find some time to make sure that everything is working just fine, and deal with accidents… Or completely rely on single suppliers that may not talk to each others, hoping that everything goes well, that timings are respected, and not to forgot to have a special picture taken in a particular moment. Also, delegating means not giving your personal touch. With a wedding planner, you have the chance to create something on your own (handmade, for example), while finding the style that fits with everything else.

If you have doubts and would like to know how a wedding planner can help you, contact me and I’ll be glad to answer your questions.