The BIG question has been answered, a beautiful ring is on display, and now you can call your best friend your fiance. CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement!!
Though we hope all of our newly engaged couples can celebrate this wonderful moment in their lives, we also know that stress can quickly start overwhelming the soon-to-be newlyweds as questions of the big day arise and the planning begins.
Photography: Kai Photo
A Perfect Day LLC, was created with the goal of helping every couple achieve peace of mind through planning and organization. That is why we have created numerous resources to assist couples with planning their dream wedding!
Today’s blog will focus on helping couples to create their wedding planning timeline. Not to be confused with the wedding DAY timeline, the wedding planning timeline does not focus on the day of the wedding but instead on all of the things that have to be done in the time leading up to the big day! This timeline is extremely important as it will ensure that everything is organized and thought out so for the days before, and especially on your wedding you will be able to relax and truly enjoy the occasion!
Venue: Hawaii Vista Weddings | Photography: Michele C Photo
Things to Consider When Creating Your Wedding Planning Timeline
The Length of Your Engagement
Having an idea of how long your engagement will be prior to your wedding will allow you to estimate how much time you will have to plan your wedding! As the average engagement is between 12-18 months, couples who are engaged longer than this period may be able to take their time when selecting vendors and making decisions, while couples who are engaged for less than this period may have to have a planning timeline that’s a bit more jam packed.
We recommend that couples should secure all of their vendors by at least 4 months prior to their wedding as this will allow them to focus on finalizing details, create their wedding day timeline, and purchase supplies for their big day between 1-4 months prior to the wedding. Depending on the length of your engagement and the number of vendors you choose to have at your wedding will determine the planning timeline.
For example if you are planning your wedding 12 months out, and want to hire 16 vendors by 4 months out, you’ll have 8 months to secure your desired vendors. With this in mind we recommend setting a goal of hiring 2 vendors a month or 1 vendor every two weeks.
Setting goals will greatly help you with the organization of your wedding planning timeline as it will create achievable milestones along the journey. With the goals in place you’ll be able to clearly see the exact task that will be taken care of and when it will need to be completed by.
Venue: Four Seasons Resort Oahu | Photography: Christie Pham Photography
Wedding Budget
It may surprise you but the budget of your wedding will actually play a role in affecting your wedding planning timeline. This is because the timing of which vendors to book will be determined by their priority in your budget. As typically the higher priority the vendor is the greater amount of money is allocated to it in your budget, you’ll want to book your vendor in the order of highest priority to lowest priority. Due to that, we highly recommend that you establish your budget prior to creating this timeline. If you haven’t made your budget yet, not to worry! We have created a series of blogs & videos focused on wedding budgeting!
Top 5 Decisions That Will Affect Your Budget
How to Create Your Ideal Wedding Budget in 3 Steps
3 Ways to Stay in Control of Your Wedding Budget
With your wedding budget established you are ready to move on to creating your wedding planning timeline!
How to Get a Custom Wedding Planning Timeline
Many couples initially reach out to us not knowing what to do first, what order to do things in, or even how much help they need. We have created a new service to create a custom and personalized planning timeline just for you along with helpful tips and guidance from almost 20 years of planing weddings! We will discuss what your actual needs and wants are, what type of vendors, services, and products you are looking for, and at the end, we will be provide you with a digital solid plan that is easy to follow so you can check it off every step of the way. We will take into account your priorities and concerns the entire time. While everyone is busy these days, we feel that our custom personalized plan can get you off on the right foot to planning your wedding successfully and having fun doing it! To find out more, contact Kelly at Kelly@APerfectDayHawaii.com.
As it’s our mission to help you have a wedding planning process that’s as stress-free as possible, we hope you will allow us to help you enjoy the planning process from the very beginning!
XOXOXO
Happy Planning!
(A Perfect Day)