He popped the question, you cried your eyes out and now you have a beautiful ring on your finger. Awesome. But now, fun time is over – so to speak. You’ve got so many events to plan that you need to keep your head in the game.

There are a lot of factors that can ultimately make the wedding planning process more bearable – from the support of your family and friends, to the love you get from your husband-to-be and finally the infamous checklist. It might seem like a drag right now – I mean who wants to write down a checklist and be reminded of the hoard of chores – but it’s really the safest way to get all things done. While some would say to leave it all to fate and to not overstress about it, others argue that it would be far less overwhelming to break down the entire process, bit by bit. The good news is, you have a year or more to plan the wedding of your wildest dreams so try to relax as much as you can instead of blowing it all out of proportion – like we all tend to do.

So bride-to-be, brace yourself for some serious mind-blowing organization procedures.

1. First things first: determine your budget. Obviously, that’s something you need to do with your fiancé. We know doing the math is not the most enjoyable thing to do, but fear not, there’s a fairytale wedding for every budget.
2. Once you’ve got the first issue sorted out, it’s time to prepare the guest list. Now whomever you invite to the engagement party, you’re going to have to invite to the wedding as well. And no, you don’t have to invite every single person you’ve said hi to in the past year. Start by writing down the names of your family members, your fiancé’s, your friends and then add whoever you wish to add.
3. Now this is perhaps one of the most important part of any wedding planning process: the wedding planner. In order to hire one, you should really consider your options; ask around, word-of-mouth is the best feedback you can get.
4. Pick a venue and set a date. It all depends on the theme of your wedding, come to think of it. If you want a beach wedding, you might consider looking for a venue by the beach and so on.
5. Now that you have that figured out, think about the caterer, the photographer, the florist and the DJ (or live band). But these are all tasks the wedding planner will easily help you do, along with the multitude of other decisions.
6. Once all the above points are handled, you can proceed to the wedding dress dilemma and select your options.
7. Register for the wedding list. Enough said.
8. 6 months before the wedding, consider choosing your bridesmaids dresses.
9. Send out save-the-date cards to all your invitees – you don’t want to be late for that.
10. Four months before the wedding, start checking out the invitations to organize the table and settings.
11. Select and order your cake – yum.
12. Three to two months before the wedding, you should start booking hair and makeup appointments.
13. Touch-base with all your organizers, suppliers and other appointments.
14. Send out the invitations and check-in all the RSVPs.
15. Try to stay sane and remember, you’re not alone!

 

Article Written by Cindy Menassa