The Ideal Planning Timeline & Booking Suppliers
First of all, don’t get too caught up in needing to have everything organised and booked straight away. There is time and you want to make sure you book the right supplier/vendor which means you need to shop around and do some research before finalising things.
The first thing I would do is establish your budget. This is incredibly important for you and your partner to understand what style of wedding you can afford and whether or not you need to tweak your dream wedding to make sure it fits into reality. More about Budgeting in my next blog.
The first supplier I would look booking is a Wedding Planner. A Wedding Planner is a great investment and can save you a lot of of stress and worry over the 12-18 months leading up to the wedding. They can understand your vision and help refer you to suppliers/venues that can fit into your budget (hence why establishing your budget is so important). They also will provide you with endless support and assistance along the way, attend any meetings with your vendors if you wish and also communicate with your vendors on your behalf to finalise all details so you don’t have to.
From there, I would book your venue. It’s a great idea to book your venue first and then fit all your other suppliers in around that date. The last thing you would want is to book your photographer and have no venue you like available on that day. All your other suppliers can be booked anytime from 6 months - 18 months out from the wedding, as there is not cookie cutter timeframe for this process. It is also great to understand if your venue has a On The Day Coordinator to make sure everything is running smoothly and decor is set up properly, or if your Wedding Planner is needed to complete set up on the day.
Once you have all your ducks in a row, it is best to get a great understanding from your Wedding Planner as to when all your payments are due to your suppliers and venue. This will help you plan out your money and ensure you are paying everyone on time. Now of course your Wedding Planner is the main person managing this process, but you will still need to know where your money is going and when.
Creating a seating plan is probably one of the hardest things within planning a wedding, right after the guest list. Everyone seems to have a say in who you invite and who can sit next to who, or if these two relatives are going to fight…. It can get exhausting… Setting an expectation with your guests when sending the invitations out is the best thing to do, this could be something like not inviting kids and explaining that on the invites or no plus ones (make sure you ask your Wedding Planner for some advice on how to phrase this on the invites). It is also great to remember that this is your wedding and if people aren’t happy with where/who they’re sitting next to, then they probably shouldn’t be coming to YOUR wedding.
Now with the last 2-4 months leading up to the wedding, make sure you have your final numbers, dietaries, food & beverage selection, floor plan, styling & flowers, distinct order of events for your photographer to follow, timings and any documents confirmed so you are ahead of the game. the last thing you want is scrambling to get things confirmed 2 weeks out from the wedding when you should be relaxing and enjoying the fun.
Once you have done these steps, your suppliers can work their magic and take of everything else for you.