First Steps for Planning a Great Wedding (Wedding Series: Part 1 of 6)

Congratulations! You’re getting married! Having a wedding is an amazing time in your life, yet it can be very stressful getting prepared for the big day. Here are some of your first steps to get you ready:

Step 1: Make your Budget

The first step is perhaps the least fun part of it all. It is very stressful budgeting for such a big event, but it is a necessity. So here are five steps to help you make your budget:

1: Who is paying for it?

Figure out who will pay for your wedding. Traditionally, it is the parents of the bride, but your situation may differ. If you and/or your fiancé are the only ones paying for it, that will make things much easier, but then you have to discuss who is paying for what. Although it may seem strange that you would talk about who is paying for what, you aren’t married yet. You each have individual assets and savings accounts (yes, your wedding will probably take a chunk out of your savings).

2: Where will you get married?

Where are you getting married? If you aren’t paying for your own wedding, or it is absolutely necessary that certain people need to be there, you need to discuss the location with those people. Unless you are planning on paying for all expenses for all of your wedding guests (a very costly decisions in terms of money), you need to be reasonably close to where those people are.

Location also determines how much you are going to need to spend. According to valuepenguin.com the most expensive place to get married in the USA is Manhattan, NY (over $88,000). It is followed by Southern Florida ($51,000) and Long Island, NY (almost $50,000). Obviously your own expenses will not follow the average but it is important that you look at the cost of where you want your wedding to be held. Holding a wedding in downtown New York City is much more expensive than holding one in rural Wyoming.

Foreign Countries: Getting married in a foreign country may sound great and all, but be sure to check the realities. There is a lot of paperwork that goes with getting married in a foreign country, you’ll probably not be able to get all of your guests to fly to your location (unless you pay for the flight, then they’ll be more than happy to come), and dealing with foreign languages and laws can be very tough. Also, many countries have a residency requirement before getting married (meaning you have to live there or be a citizen).

Are you getting married in China, or another eastern country? Make sure you’re over 22. If you get married in China, you cannot legally get married until you are over 22 years old! All European countries have a minimum age of 16 (probably not a worry for you). You can check minimum marrying age with this handy chart.

3: Set the Budget

You need a set budget. You need a budget that is at the higher end of what your costs will be. The nationwide average was almost $34,000 last year, and it increases every year. Lucky for you, you can create your own budget. If you want to spend more, or less, you can make everything custom and unique for your special day.

Step 2: Create Your Wedding Planner

Your planner can be a binder or a notebook. It should have everything related to your wedding in it (but make sure it is not the only copy!). In the planner, you will have everything you will do for your wedding, who you will invite, how much you have spent (or will spend), and all of the other things.

A combination of a notebook and calendar would be an excellent choice if you want a physical book. Blurb.com allows you to create your own custom notebook, so that you could let it have a pretty cover and keep it as memorabilia for years.

You will likely want your planner organized differently, but here is one layout:

• Budget
• Guests
  • Invited
    • Show up/No Show
• Arrangements
  • Venue
  • Transportation
• Important Dates (Calendar)
  • Wedding Day
  • Rehearsal
  • Marriage License
    • Date of Application for Marriage License (when you are going to apply)
    • Date of Receiving (When you need to go up and get the license)
    • Waiting Period (How long you have to wait before you are get married after getting Marriage license)
    • Marriage License Expiration (In the majority of states, a marriage license will expire within 60 days).
    • Blood Test Results (3 states, and district of Colombia, require blood tests. Check with local government before getting married)
      • if you’re uncertain about the laws in the area you are getting married, you might want to check them out here
        • Note: This resource is far from comprehensive.

Step 3: Read the Laws Where you Are Getting Married

This is a very important step. You need to read as much about getting married in a state as you can. Do they require blood tests? What is the waiting period? When will the marriage license expire?

Here is a far from comprehensive list of things to look up beforehand:

• Number of Witnesses Required (if any)
• Blood Tests Required
• Minimum Required Age for Marriage
• Waiting Period for Marriage License (before receiving it)
• Waiting Period after Receiving Marriage License before Getting married
• Expiration of Marriage Licenses
• Required Identification
• Requirements on Who the Witnesses may be
• Required Documents

A great website for checking this out is www.usmarriagelaws.com (although you should also do your own research to make sure it is correct). Again, this isn’t a fully comprehensive list, there are many other legal requirements.

If you liked this article, be sure to check out the next article in this six part series on preparing for getting married. Also check out planandorganize.com and subscribe to get updates from our website.