12 Months Until You're Married...

Over the course of the next few posts, we're going to be looking at a timeline of wedding planning. It goes without saying that this can be a very stressful time: the planning, preparing and the paying for. It's important to start as soon as you're able to. We're breaking down a timetable from 12 months right down to the day before. Don't feel like you have to stick to a list, but sometimes being aware of timings can help you to prioritize, and then organise, without running into trouble later on.

• Firstly, you need to set out a budget and promise to stick to it. With the average cost of a wedding now at around £17,000, it's all too easy to overspend. Nobody is saying that you can't have nice things, just be sure that you don't end up broke because you couldn't say no to the bells and whistles.

• Decide what type of visual theme you'll have: traditional? religious? outdoor? themed? If you're not sure, then bridal magazines, Pintrest and websites can be a huge help. Having even the most general of ideas will provide a range of options that can be whittled down and, at the very least, tell you what you don't want.

• Compile a mock guest list to have a rough idea of numbers. This will help when you start choosing venues; there's no point having a guest list of 100 if there's only space for half that. 

• Most importantly at this stage is finding a venue and booking it. The sooner you have that part done, the easier everything else should be. Of course, it's not a race but when you find your perfect venue, secure it on the date you want before someone else does.

• Once the venue is booked, send out the save-the-date cards. Business cards are perfect for this as they're cheap, effective and easy to hand out. Protecting your date should ensure that you don't have any nasty surprises once the invites go out. This also takes the pressure of having to get the invitations out months in advance.

• Start thinking about the bridesmaids, the ushers and the best man. The sooner you decide on who to pick, the more people you'll have to help you out.
  
  Of course, these are just guidelines. Some people will be incredibly organised and some will prefer to leave things closer to the date: whatever works for you is fine.

Just know that the day will be here sooner than you think. 

Image by perfectska04, GNOME icon artists [GPL (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons