As one of Ireland’s most popular wedding planners, Kate Deegan has worked with many couples over the years and knows all the insider tips and tricks to planning a successful and stress-free wedding day of your dreams. Here, award-winning Kate, shares some of her top tips on how to get started on planning your wedding and why being organised is so important.
Getting Started
Getting in touch with a wedding planner is always a smart place to start when approaching your wedding. The great thing about working with a wedding planner such as myself is that I can help with as much or as little of your plans as needed. You’re not locked into anything and it’s completely customisable to your bespoke needs.
That said, if a couple doesn’t want to go down the wedding planner route, then they should start by arranging some key elements first, such as;
The ceremony and the reception venue – These are the foundation of your wedding and it cannot proceed without them. Once these important pieces are in place, you can move forward with the rest of the plans.
The photographer/videographer and band – Again, for many couples these are key factors to their wedding day and many of these vendors can book up far in advance, so identify your wish list early and book them.
Organisation is Paramount
Being organised with your wedding planning is going to make life so much easier and the process much more enjoyable. There’s no point in putting important elements of the day on the long finger, as it will just create stress for you. If you find you don’t have enough time to devote to your wedding plans or you find being organised is just not your forte, that’s when you need to pause and get in touch with someone like me who can take care of all the nitty gritty details, leaving you to enjoy the run up to the big day.
However, if you do have the time and enjoy organisation, then you’re going to find planning your wedding lots of fun.
Start with getting your ideal wedding guest list planned out on paper. This is a key element as it will really determine what sort of venue you can go for. There is no point looking at say an intimate manor house, when you know you’re expecting to have over 350 guests at your wedding and they just will not fit in the venue.
Keeping an eye on your budget is another really important factor in terms of organisation. No matter what your budget is, it can be easy to find costs spiralling, so keeping on top of quotes and deposits is paramount. Again if this is not something you find you can do yourself, then reach out to a wedding planner who can help you stick more rigidly to your budget and indeed save you money by negotiating better rates with vendors.
If you’d like to chat to Kate directly, please don’t hesitate to contact her at [email protected] or head over to her website – www.co-me.net
