You’re getting married, congratulations! That’s a great step. Although many get married in their early adult years, there’s no official or predetermined best time to get married. Whatever your age, you deserve all life’s happiness in your relationship. Here’s a wedding priority list to get you prepped on the main areas your To-Do list must address as the countdown to the big day starts.
1. Decide the Kind of Wedding You Want
Do you and your partner have a shared vision for your wedding? Since childhood, you’ve wanted a white wedding, like what you read in fairy tales. Now’s the time to actualize this dream. Your partner may not have dreamed of a white wedding, but maybe a garden-themed traditional wedding. Here’s how to get this right. The two of you will sit down, pen and paper in hand, and describe in detail what you want to see on your wedding day. Do you want a destination wedding? This would mean ferrying your family and friends to an exotic location to witness your vows.
What about having a traditionally themed church wedding, with you walking down a long winding aisle while the train of your gown flows right along? For now, the floor is all yours. Does your partner like the idea? It’s up to you to design a wedding you’ll both be proud of for the rest of your days.
2. Draw Up a Budget
After writing down your vision, now’s the time to polish it up. You and your partner are looking forward to an unforgettable wedding day. This should also include the finances. It makes no sense to splash on the wedding day only to be left with huge debts from day one of your married life.
Agree as a couple on how much you will put into the wedding expenses. This ensures you’re both pulling in the same direction regarding wedding expenses. No person should be left to bear the entire budget unless they’ve offered to. It takes two to tangle, right?
Since weddings can be expensive, avoid relying on emotion, where hope becomes part of the budget. While some people fundraise for their wedding, this should only be in a situation where your friends or family have offered to support, and even then, they should not be forced into it. It feels right to foot the bill for one of the most memorable days of your life.
3. Stay In Pristine Health
You’re entering a hectic season as you prepare for your big day. You’ll want everything to be perfect, including the weather. However, your health must be first on that wedding priority list. Book an early appointment with your doctor so you’re checked and all interventions, if any, done early.
You may need some of your pending treatments moved closer so that they are dealt with early. The doctor will also advise if iv therapies are an option for some procedures. Early treatment gives your body time to heal and enough time to take care of any side effects before your wedding.
Do you wear braces? This is the best time to find out whether you can wear them on your wedding day. You can ask the orthodontist to remove them temporarily if you don’t want them to be a permanent feature when showing off your wedding photos.
You want a killer smile on your big day; hence every concern about your gums, teeth, breath, and the entire oral system should be addressed now. It’s advisable to pass by the family dental office for a clean bill of health in this area.
The doctor decides whether to give your mouth a professional cleaning, refix your braces, and check on areas that could use his expertise at this point, such as fixing a root canal or a tooth extraction. If you want your jaws standing perfectly in place and your tooth formation in check, your orthodontist will map these out and check for other signs of abnormal growth. Hopefully, there’ll be none.
4. Prioritize the Safety of Your Wedding Guests
We’re living in strange times. The scare that the Covid-19 pandemic rained on humans in 2020 should not be forgotten in your wedding priority list. Ensure your wedding day doesn’t expose your guests to illnesses. If possible, have your wedding ceremony outdoors for easy fresh air circulation. It’s a great strategy for keeping your guests away from congested spaces.
If you must have your wedding indoors, ensure the venue has sufficient space for the guests to move around so they’re not crammed into a tiny space. A wedding planner is useful in helping spot halls that can accommodate your guests. Consider the needs of older people and those with long-term ailments when choosing a wedding venue. They are among the most vulnerable to covid-19.
5. Book a Catering Service
There’s nothing like a memorable wedding without great catering. This is the best time to treat your guests to an unforgettable culinary experience. Grant them an opportunity to wine and dine as they toast to your unforgettable day and the life you’ve just begun.
The meal selection on your wedding priority list must consider the needs of guests with special dietary needs, such as vegans, and those with other distinct eating preferences. Since you, hopefully, know your guests well, this should be a breeze, but a good catering service understands these things and will come prepared. Agree with your spouse-to-be on the best way to handle guests from both sides to ensure no one feels left out.
Having taken care of diverse dietary needs, get down with your partner to decide on the most appropriate catering service. Visit each restaurant supplier, speak with the management, and discuss your proposed menu. Ask to sample the meals beforehand to taste what to expect, if possible.
Compare each supplier’s menu offerings, prices, and reputation regarding wedding catering services. Check online for reviews about their services. Discuss with the caterer the menu options for guests with special dietary needs.
6. Make Sure The Venue Looks Good
Your wedding day is special, and why shouldn’t it be? It’s the one day you’ll cherish and talk about for years, maybe even the rest of your life. Hence, every detail about you and your bridal team, such as your preferred color themes, the bridal team’s outfits, choice of shoes, bouquets, and the photoshoot’s location, should feature in your wedding priority list.
Include the florist early in your wedding priority list because flowers must match the wedding theme, location, and outfits. The best florists are resourceful on the kind of flowers you should use for decoration depending on the wedding season.
The florist can recommend various types of floral arrangements specific to different locations and times of day; for instance, one kind of floral arrangement for the wedding venue where the vows will be taken, another for the wedding reception, and yet another for the photoshoot location, amongst other key areas.
The goal is to brighten your day and make it memorable in a way only the best floral arrangement can hack. They’ll also give you ideas on the appropriate bouquets for the ladies, ensuring they adhere to the theme of your wedding. The florist will guide you on where to get the flowers from, their price, and delivery timelines.
7. Venue Set Up
It’s not just flowers that make a venue look good. Other technical issues that should be on your wedding priority list include setting up the venue for everyone’s convenience. Have you considered how you’d like the seats decorated and arranged? How about the food service area, the cake tower, and the gift delivery spot?
You want welcoming colors but not too loud, hues with a welcoming ambiance, a celebratory mood, and comfort. Get your wedding planner to source for decoration experts with a keen eye who understand your particular needs and can work with the space you’ve chosen as your wedding venue. Keep to the color theme to ensure harmony throughout.
The floor shouldn’t have cracks or protrusions that could endanger guests. You don’t want your guests tripping while balancing a plate of food. Or the dancing session stopped midway as shoe heels get stuck in the cracks beneath. It sounds funny, but it can happen to the best of us.
Inspect the entire length and breadth of the facility ahead of your big day and deal with repairs early on. Revisit the venue, this time with your decor specialist, to give them a feel of how the real venue will look when fully set up and decorated.
If you really want your venue to be perfect, you need to make sure that you’re being accommodating as well. You want the guests at your wedding to have just as great an experience as you will! If you’re hosting your wedding outside, there are a few things you may want to consider. The first one is a portable restroom. Especially if you are having your wedding or reception outside, you need to make sure that you have a place for people to go to the bathroom if necessary. Not only should you provide a bathroom, but you need to provide an elegant, clean bathroom. You need something that’s not going to be gross or disgusting after each person has used it. Thankfully, there are plenty of luxury portable bathrooms available that you can use. Not only will this be nice for your wedding, but it’s also basically a necessity. If you’re getting married soon, be sure to reach out to a professional about this service. Having a portable restroom at your event is always a good idea, no matter what the circumstances are!
8. Plan for The Kids
The kids also look forward to your wedding day and are prepared for a fun experience. Your guests will most likely bring their kids to your wedding. Don’t leave out their needs when preparing for your big day. Kids bring joy and fun to a function, but their needs can be overlooked when planning a wedding.
Check online for reputable daycare specialists in your area. Talk to your wedding planner for referrals to ensure you’re dealing with those with experience offering kids’ services alongside main events such as weddings. As you chat with the daycare specialists, find out what services they offer kids. Vet their trampolines, the slides, and other playground equipment to ensure they’re safe and age-appropriate.
While at it, ensure the caterer has a children-friendly meal plan, as children can be picky eaters. Some prefer junk food and other sweet things they can’t indulge in at home. The goal is to help them enjoy their day as much as everyone else, within limits.
9. Get Ready to Look Good
This is your most memorable day; hence you must look the part. Your skincare regimen should be on your wedding priority list. Talk with your skin therapist, explaining what you need and how you want to look on your wedding day. If you’re on dermatological treatments, check with your therapist whether it’s safe to use them on your big day, keeping in mind all the makeup you’re likely to be adorned with.
You may need advanced skin care such as micro blading for your eyebrows, laser hair removal services, and body contouring to get rid of stubborn fat in various body parts, among other areas you feel require skin tightening.
Ensure your hair is near the top of your wedding priority list, especially if you’re experiencing hair loss. There are a variety of health conditions that can lead to hair loss. If you have any of these, such as anemia, alopecia, male and female pattern baldness, and scalp infections, only use hair treatment approved by your doctor.
Weaves and wigs give the overall facial look a hair-raising dazzle bound to make heads turn for days. However, if you’re experiencing hair loss, you must check with a professional hair expert before wearing hair additions. Professional hair loss specialists will advise you on whether to use hair additions such as weaves and wigs, depending on the strength of your hair.
10. Your Honeymoon Destination
You most likely agreed on your partner’s honeymoon destination. However, it’s up to you to book the hotel early, agree on the price of the packages, and make a down payment. The honeymoon destination must feature on your wedding priority list. Since most American weddings take place from late afternoon into the evening and at night, the first venue to secure is where you and your partner will spend the wedding night. Pay a downpayment as early as possible to tie down your honeymoon destination.
Ensure the host, whether a hotel or other venue, knows your travel dates and how long you plan to stay. To avoid confusion and awkward situations, you and your partner should make full payment by the date of checking in to avoid unsavory experiences, such as waiting for another guest to check out of your honeymoon suite while you wait in the lobby.
11. Capture The Best Moments Of Your Wedding Day
After all the fanfare, the dancing, and the teary eyes, you’ll need every minute of it captured and frozen in time. These are the images and videos you’ll be showing your children and grandchildren years from now.
For the best memories, your wedding priority list should include the services of a highly-rated professional wedding photographer who understands your needs and captures your day to the finest detail, just as you’d want to remember it.
Photographers come in many flairs, so do your homework early by first running a search online. Always read the customer reviews; they’re mostly honest and can direct you where to look. Besides the web, consult your wedding planner, as they must have mingled with these paparazzi in their line of duty.
This list is not exhaustive, but great for starters. Ultimately, the wedding day is about you and your partner and family and friends all gathered to celebrate your union. It’s an event worth planning for as early as possible, and hopefully, it’s an event you and your partner will remember for the rest of your lives. Best wishes on your wedding!
