Planning your wedding - Part 3

Part 3/10 of my brief guide to planning your big day:  start looking for suppliers

(read part 1, part 2)

It's taken a little longer than expected but I'm happy to say Part 3 of my wedding planning guide is finally here!

At this stage in your wedding planning, you will have come to terms with the fact you are planning a wedding. Hopefully. You'll have decided on your style of wedding, or theme if you want one, and what you want the overall feel of the day to be. It's going well!

It might be worth mentioning that at this point, you might want to consider hiring a wedding planner to get all your ideas in to motion. But if you're more of a DIY bride, or your budget doesn't allow for a personal wedding planner, read on!

The next step is to start looking for wedding suppliers. I'd recommend starting with the 3 most important things. You'll want to sort these out for your wedding first:

Venue

The earlier you choose and book your venue, the more availability they'll have. Especially important if you want to get married during the peak season or on a weekend. 

We chose a stunning Victorian mansion with beautiful grounds and gardens for both our ceremony and evening reception. This was the very first thing we booked for our wedding, and that was over 2 years prior to our wedding date. Even that early our first choice of date was already taken!

Going to lots of wedding fairs can help you choose a venue, or there are loads of directories online. Most venues will be happy to show you around at any time.

Photographer

I've put photographer as another important thing to book first. This is obviously down to the individual bride, but for myself, and probably many others, wedding photography is one of the most important things to get right. 

I've read too many horror stories from couples who asked a friend / relative to take their wedding snaps, rather than invest in a decent professional wedding photographer, and ended up with photos they are ashamed to show anyone.

My Fiancé and I spent a long time researching wedding photographers and again, had signed a contract about 2 years in advance as his books were already filling up. Read my tips and questions you should ask potential wedding photographers here.

Dress

Deciding on your dress early on is a good idea, not only because it usually take 6 months for the dress to be made plus any time for alterations if needed, but also because you never know how long it is going to take you to find 'the one'. Allow plenty of time, and you can't go wrong.

Finding your dress first will also help you style other aspects of your wedding. For example if you fall in love with a gorgeous 50s vintage dress, you'll know to look for other vintage or 50s style things for your day.