How To Start Planning Your Wedding When You Are Unsure of Your Date

Huge thanks to the incredible Michelle with A Perfect Plan Wedding Consulting for these ideas.  

It’s no secret that planning a wedding can be a bit stressful, but throw in a global pandemic and stress levels can go from 0 to 100 even quicker! 

To all of my recently engaged couples, take a deep breath and know that it’s ok to not have it all figured out yet! Don’t let these times of uncertainty discourage you from planning one of the most exciting times of your life – there are still plenty of things you can do despite not yet having a date or not being able to go out and plan!

Look at it this way, if you’re going to be stuck at home (not so bad when you’re with your babe!) you might as well take full advantage of the situation and get a jumpstart on planning!

Here is a list of things that you can do before committing to any vendors or dates while you wait out this pandemic. And the best part? All of these things can be done from your couch (messy buns & cozy pajamas encouraged!)

7 Things You Can Do

Create A Design Board
Meet your new best friend during this time of “social-distancing,” Pinterest! Now is the perfect opportunity to gather inspiration & create a design board by first pinning everything you like; then going back and narrowing down your pins so they follow a theme. This will give you an idea of what to tell a florist, designer or rental company when you are finally able to choose a date. The better your vision the quicker it is to get a quote and there will be less back and forth between you and the vendor. Things to consider:

• Decide where and how many floral arrangements you will need (based on your predicted guest count)- number of centerpieces, arbor flowers, bouquets & boutonnieres.
• Create a list of rentals you will need-guest tables, chairs, food tables, welcome table, cake table, bar, dance floor, stage, etc. 

 

Discuss Budget
To be honest, figuring out what you want to spend on your wedding should be the very first decision you make. I suggest going with the lower end of your budget because you will most likely end up increasing it to accommodate things such as: a must have vendor, increased guest count, falling in love with wedding items you found along the way, or deciding to add custom/personalized elements. There are plenty of websites that can help you figure out what percentage of your budget should be spent on each area of your wedding (about 50% is spent on venue while you can expect for 10% to go towards flowers). If you have hired a planner, they will also be able to help you with this. Knowing how much money you have to spend in each area makes it easier to pick a vendor in your price range and also to eliminate unnecessary wedding items (Ie. that cute lounge area that no one will sit on!) to bring your quotes down closer to your budget. 

Research Wedding Venues
This goes hand in hand with budget. The top three aspects most couples tend to consider when determining budget is venue, guest count and location. Since the venue will be one of your primary decisions, knowing this cost early on will allow you to figure out how to divide up the remaining budget. Finding wedding venues you love will also help to solidify the theme or “vibe” you’d like to have on your special day!

Start A Wedding Website
There are tons of free websites (The Knot & Zola are great options) that will allow you to create a wedding website. You may not have too much information to put on it at this point but you can definitely get started!

Make Your Guest List
Since you’re spending so much time with your fiancé during this quarantine, you should decide who you would like to invite to your wedding. It’s even a good idea to start a spread sheet with addresses that way when the time comes to send them out you’ll already have all of the information you need. Knowing how many people you are inviting will also help you choose a venue that can accommodate that many guests while remaining in budget.

Choose Your Wedding Stationary
Start to design your save the dates, invites and thank you cards. Play around with the different wedding stationary websites to see what you like, save your favorites and once you have your venue & date all you have to do is pop in the info and order them!

Read Reviews Of Potential Wedding Vendors
Couples hire about 15 vendors for their wedding day. Vendors include everything from florists, photographers, videographers, entertainment, hair, makeup, caterer, etc. Although price is a huge factor in determining who to contact, about 80% of couples choose their vendors based on reviews. When it comes to reading reviews, it’s helpful to choose factors that will make or break a vendor for you (price, responsiveness, personality, location, creativity.) Once you’ve determined your must-haves, you’ll know exactly what to look for when reading those reviews. 

Although life may feel like it’s been put on hold right now, the most important thing we can do is stay home, stay healthy and most importantly stay hopeful! Date or no date, moving forward with the wedding planning process will help to give you something to look forward to!

And to all of my beautiful couples who have had to make the difficult decision to postpone their wedding, my heart is with you, but please find comfort in knowing that your big day will be as magical as ever!