Where to Begin Planning Your Philadelphia Wedding After Getting Engaged: Your First Steps
Just got engaged? After sharing the big news with your family and friends, and enjoying the excitement, you might suddenly be wondering: Now what? As the confetti settles, the reality of planning your wedding begins. Feeling overwhelmed is normal, but we’re here to help you take that important first step with confidence.
Start Your Philadelphia Wedding Planning Journey with These 5 Simple Steps
Crunch the Numbers—Without Crushing the Fun
The first rule of planning a big event like a wedding is to come up with a budget. Don’t even look at venues or vendors or start gathering ideas until you know how much money you have available to spend on your big day. There’s nothing worse than finding that perfect dress or location and then realizing you can’t afford it, so spare yourself the heartbreak and gather the numbers.
Set aside time with your partner and decide how much you can afford. Will you be receiving contributions from family members (and never assume that you will)? Confirm the amount as soon as you can. In the meantime, you and your partner can start saving early to maximize your funds. Once you’ve set a budget, decide which elements of your wedding are a budget priority.
Bring Order to the (Beautiful) Chaos
To avoid the stress of trying to deal with clutter and chaos later on, it’s a good idea to figure out an organizational system for yourself early on whether it’s a binder or spreadsheet or something else. You’ll be amazed at how quickly all of those ideas, contracts, lists, samples, flyers, business cards, coupons and emails will pile up once the planning process gets underway.
Build Your Dream Guest List
One of the first things you’re going to need to know when planning your wedding is how many guests you’re likely to invite. This number is going to have a significant impact on almost every aspect of the planning process, especially capacity when choosing your venue. While you don’t have to come up with a finalized list (trust us, your list is going to go through multiple drafts), it’s a good idea to at least have an estimate.
Create a list with your partner, detailing who you’d like to invite and have your parents make their own lists, especially if they’re helping you pay for the wedding. Once you’ve got this first draft of your list done, you can start to trim it down based on your budget.
Set the Tone for Your Big Day
Now the fun part begins! Take some time to envision your ideal wedding: is it large or small? Indoors or outside? Casual or formal? Evening or afternoon? Do you have a type of wedding venue in mind? A certain atmosphere? A theme? Answering these kinds of questions is an important step in narrowing options when it comes to venues. Feel free to search for inspiration both online and in wedding magazines if you’re drawing a blank. And, of course, don’t forget to collaborate with your fiancé to reflect both of you.
Choose Your Wedding Season and Date
Set your budget and clarify your vision, then start choosing your wedding date. If you already have a specific venue in mind, selecting a date becomes easier—your options will depend on the venue’s availability. In that case, simply choose a date that hasn’t been booked. If you haven’t selected a venue yet, consider a few key variables to guide your decision. Eliminate any seasons you definitely don’t want, or identify which ones won’t suit the style of wedding you’re envisioning.
You can further narrow your options. Rule out any specific dates that you’d like to avoid. Think religious holidays, family birthdays, or major sporting events. You may want to even take the wedding busy season into account. If you choose to marry during the wedding off-season (January-March), you can typically find discounts from venues and vendors. As a rule, it’s best to choose a season, a few potential dates or a range so you have some flexibility when you move on to touring venues.
How PartySpace Can Help
PartySpace can help out once you have reached that point by allowing you to search for Philadelphia wedding venues based on whether or not they’re available on a certain date. Look up our availability calendars to see if your date is open. Then, you can even hold the date online at participating wedding venues. Try it! The next step? Finding your wedding vendors like your officiant, planner, photographer, florist, band or DJ!
