Breakdown your wedding planning
So.. you’re planning a wedding? How are we feeling, nervous, excited, overwhelmed - all the above? I totally get it! We got married quite young and during covid, so you could say that we know how to plan a wedding, even in nonideal circumstances. And now we can help you!
As a photo and video team, we’ve been to many weddings, written a hundred timelines and have had many moments where we had to just go with the flow when things change at the last minute - so we’re here to help you on your wedding planning journey!
Define your vision
The first step is to figure out your vision for your wedding day. Some helpful questions to ask yourselves are ‘what do we want to be the atmosphere of the day?’, ‘what emotions do we want to nurture on our day?’ and ‘what themes and colours reflect us as a couple?’. These can help narrow down the look and feel of your wedding, but most importantly - how you and your partner can prioritise your relationship during the day and make sure it truly reflects your story.
Note down emotions, themes, colours, aesthetics that you both value the most for your wedding day. Now is also your chance to get that pinterest board out and begin pining ideas according to these notes. For example: let’s say you’re an outdoorsy couple who enjoy walks together and picnics, you can begin searching for outdoor venue styles/seating and nature inspired decor.
Determine your budget
We have a whole blog post on budgeting for your wedding, so check that out here.
It’s a good idea to set your budget early on and make sure to prioritise 3-5 vendors/purchases for your day, so you can come back to that when you’re adjusting your budget as you plan.
Create a wedding checklist
Having a master checklist will be super handy to come back to as you plan and will help you feel less overwhelmed when you know that everything is in one place and has a rough date assigned to it. Luckily for you, we’ve made a wedding checklist that you can download for free, when you sign up to our mailing list.
It includes the major planning milestones and the ideal time to complete them, right from 12+ months before your wedding right up until the few days before the big day.
Find your venue
Booking your venue is probably one of the first things you’ll book once you start hiring all your vendors for your wedding day. It’s important for this to be one of the first vendors you book as you’ll need a date and location to give to all the other suppliers you want to hire for your day. Visit local venues in your area and don’t forget to ask around friends and family if they have any private property that could be a unique venue for your wedding.
Hire your dream team
Once your venue and date is booked, you can now reach out to other vendors for your day. Depending on your venue and what’s included, the next vendors you’ll want to book in will be your photographer and videographer, catering and your celebrant. After these are booked, you can book in vendors like florists, event stylists, hair and makeup artists, wedding cake, signage, wedding dress & suit.
Don’t forget about getting ready locations (your home or a friend/ family's place/ accommodation) and a place to spend your wedding night (if you don’t want it to be at home).
Save the dates & invites
Now it’s time for your save the dates and invitations. You have many options for this, either hiring out a local designer or designing them yourself. Engagement photos come in handy here; you can really make your save the dates and invites your own when you include imagery of the two of you. (Engagement sessions are included in all our wedding packages, great for personalising your invites!)
Here are some lovely stationery designers local to Mildura;
And some more Australian Designers that I’ve had the pleasure to work with or have heard great things about;
Planning your timeline
As the day gets closer, you can begin putting together your wedding timeline! This can be daunting for some, but don’t stress - we have another free resource for you, a sample timeline that you can edit and use for your day, or as a starting point for your timeline. You’ll receive access to this when you sign up to our mailing list below.
Stay madly in love,
-Lindy & Quin x
