1. Soak Up the Newly Engaged Moment.
You might be rolling your eyes at this obvious first step, but this beautiful time in your life is fleeting and precious. Breathe in and out all of the love and joy you are feeling before plunging head first into wedding planning. Now, let’s begin…
2. Create a Wedding Planning Vision Board!
Sit back with a glass of wine and create a vision board for your wedding utilizing Pinterest, Instagram and local magazines like ours! Start gathering ideas about your ideal color palette, theme, and favorite details. Ask yourself what style wedding would best reflect you and your partner’s personality and relationship. If you and your partner are laid back farmer’s market type folks, don’t let the pressure of throwing a formal black-tie wedding overwhelm you. Stay true to you!
3. Pick a Wedding Date (Range).
We know you want to skip the boring initial steps and jump straight into cake tasting, but slow your roll. Select your favorite season, month, day, and time before anything else. You’ll be saving vendors and venues a lot of time if you arrive with a date range that you are ready to lock in. Keep in mind that the most popular local venues are often booked a year and half in advance during the peak seasons of spring and fall, so flexibility is key to landing your dream team.
4. Budget like a boss.
Sit down with your partner, parents, or whoever will be spending money on your wedding and discuss a realistic budget plan. The average wedding reception in Raleigh is around $30,000. That does not mean it should be your budget – but it gives you an baseline idea of what most weddings cost. Please note that this number estimate includes weddings that don’t have much of a reception at all, and that price tags can go far beyond. Most couples end up spending more than they initially budget but it’s still important to set an expectation. This number is largely determined by guest count, so start there when it comes to budgeting. Venue and catering will follow as the next biggest costs. Setting a budget will help you prioritize and make wedding planning decisions throughout your journey. Remember, stress ain’t included in the budget!
5. Communicate to Your Wedding Squad.
Decide who you want to be involved in planning your wedding and ask them if they have the time and enthusiasm. Maybe you already have a bridal party in mind, or maybe you want to fly solo down the aisle. Whatever the case, communicate. Clarity is the key to success, and will result in less drama. Finally, finding an amazing wedding planner can make the difference between a dream and a nightmare wedding planning process.
NOW you’re ready to start your wedding vendor research!
Perhaps you’re ready to jump in and browse venues. Our VENUE GUIDE is complete with the best venues in the heart of NC and some fabulous destination sites from coast to coast, that you can sort by geographic location, guest count and more features.
Or perhaps you’d like to start with a full service wedding planner to lead the way – we agree that this is a great way to go. Our WEDDING PLANNER GUIDE features eight elite wedding planners in the Raleigh-Durham area who vary in specialty and style.
