Monday Tips || 19.05.2014

 

I don't know if I did the right thing calling this feature "Monday Tips", they're not really tips are they, just little old me wittering on about wedding/ wedding planning.

Last week I talked about enjoying being engaged before letting Wedding Planning take over your every waking thought. This week we're moving on to the next stage - setting a date, or not!

The first thing to consider when setting the Date for your Wedding unfortunately is your budget, how long will it take you to save up for your dream wedding?

We were engaged in September 2010 and we got married by February 2011. While it would have been nice to have a summer wedding, once we sat down and worked out how much money we could put aside from then until the February and compared it to the price inflation of summer weddings - there wasn't really much of a difference. We didn't want to be engaged and not get married until 2012 - we just wanted to be married. For me our wedding had to take place before 22nd February as that's my Birthday and as I am slightly older than  him - I wanted us to be the same age on our Marriage Certificate. Some of you probably think that's the worst reason for choosing any particular date - but in my head it was completely valid. We were lucky that my parents we're able to make a large donation to our wedding fund.

Some couples I've need a year or two in order to build up the funds, other couples enjoy the wedding planning process and don't want their plans to be rushed. But some couples know what they want, can be very decisive and have everything organised in less than 6 months. There is no right or wrong way to plan your Wedding - only your way.

But what I would say as you sit down with your new Magazines and start planning your dream wedding is this; don't be naive as to how much a wedding can cost, according to the Telegraph in 2013 the cost of the average wedding has soared to £18,244. There are of course way's to save along the way (and we'll cover these in future Monday Tips) but don't be surprised if the reception venue you'd had your heart set on was suddenly out of your price range (we'll cover this in future Monday Tips too)

Do your research and budget:- 

1. Know how much you can afford to save each month (and whether or not family will be able to contribute towards the cost)
2. Research how much flowers, suit hire, bridal hair etc are likely to cost you
3. Budget how much you can afford to spend in each area, do you have any leeway to really splash out on something if it's really important to you (like them Jimmy Choo's you always swore you'd wear on your Wedding Day, or the Stag-do to Prague that all the lad's are desperate to go on)
4. Keep track of your spending as you go along, if you've spent less on one item than you had planned does it mean you have more money towards another item?
5. Remember - this is your Wedding! If you are planning a no expense spared extravagant day make sure you're doing it for the right reasons - and not to try to out-do the girl in work who got married last year (yes I've had a few of those in my time) Don't start married life in debt, yes you're only going to get married the once and it should be an amazing day - but not to the detriment of the early years of your marriage as you struggle to pay back your Credit Cards (we'll cover these in future Monday Tips aswell)

Thank's for stopping by today, I hope the post has been useful.

Gemma xx