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You have just made one of the most important decisions of your life. You have agreed to spend the rest of your life with the man or woman standing before you. Pause to enjoy the moment, but then it's time to get busy. Planning your wedding day takes time and needs to be well thought out. It helps to know where to start.

The Budget

Establishing your budget is the most important step in creating your wedding plan. The budget will guide all of your decisions, such as the location, guest count, decorations, wedding dress and much more. You and your fiancée may be paying for your own wedding, or you may be getting help from family members. Either way, it is necessary to have firm dollar figures to work with to keep spending in line. A well-established budget can make it easier to make your choices as you go along.

The Guest List

Do you want a small intimate wedding, or do you want a huge, extravagant event? You should decide on the number of guests that you would like to have at your wedding. Your guest count will help you establish your costs. With that information, you can decide on the location and size of your venue. You will also need an accurate headcount to share with your cater and other people involved in the wedding, so that you can get correct estimates of costs. Once you figure out how many people you would like to have at your wedding, you need to sit down with your fiancée and decide who to invite. You may want to include other family members in this process.

The Date

After getting engaged, the first decision many couples make is setting the date. Of course, it is important to have your wedding date, but it can be easier to save this decision until you are sure of your budget and guest count because where you have your wedding and the schedules of friends and family may have an effect on the timing. If you are planning a destination wedding or have a lot of family who live out of town, you should take the schedule of others in consideration to make sure that they do not miss your special day. It can take a lot of time to plan a wedding, especially if it is large, so give yourself enough time between your engagement and wedding day.

Planning the Wedding

Are you going to handle all of your own wedding plans? Will you have help from family or friends? Would it be best to hire a wedding planner? Planning a wedding can be very time-consuming and stressful. You need to determine if you have time in your busy life to handle all the commitments that come with planning the event, or if you need help – and if so, how much? You will need time to shop, meet with vendors, write your invitations, deal with the decorations and flowers, and if your your venue is not nearby, there may be time needed for traveling.

If you have friends and family helping, you should delegate specific duties to them, so that it will be easier in the long run to make sure that they have taken care of their obligations. You do not want to be standing at your venue the day of your wedding and find out that Aunt Suzy never dropped the deposit check off at the rental company and now you have no chairs for your guests. In addition, do not think that because you have hired a wedding planner, you do not need to be involved. You should meet with him or her often to make sure that he or she is following the vision that you and your fiancée have for your wedding day. By communicating well with the people involved in the planning of your wedding, you will feel more comfortable, and if any problems arise, you can help find solutions.

Your wedding day will be one of the most important days of your life, and with proper planning, it can turn out to be the wedding of your dreams. When you are standing in those last few moments before the rest of your life is about to change, it will give you peace of mind to know that all the details are well taken care of and the only thing you need to focus on is what comes next – spending your lives together.

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Source by Emily Newman