The euphoria of engagement only lasts for a short while until you realize that the ring you have been waiting for has just caused your to-do list to quintuple over night. Planning a wedding and learning wedding etiquette can seem like a daunting task; so, to help all of you brides out there, we have highlighted some of our most frequently asked planning and etiquette questions and provided insightful answers to help guide you through this process!
From plus one’s to registering, here is everything you need to know before you start planning your wedding:
When should I start planning my wedding?
Traditionally, most people take about a year to plan their upcoming nuptials; however, some people book venues as far as two years in advance. If you ask us (which you are) it is never too soon to start! You want your wedding to be everything you always dreamed it would be, so give yourself a fair chance to achieve that!
Who should I invite to my wedding?
This is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of wedding planning other than making sure you can afford the affair! At first, you likely will want to invite everyone that has touched your life in a certain way; then, as you start to add those numbers together you will realize that it can quickly and easily get beyond your budget and venue capacity. There are two things you need to decide:
1. Count: how many people can you comfortably afford (from a spatial and financial perspective)?
2. Style: what kind of wedding do you want (large and inclusive or small and exclusive)?
Once you answer those questions, you and your fiancé can then create your A-list (people that you must have at the wedding). At the same time, you should have both sets of parents do the same. Once you merge those lists together, undoubtedly you will need to move people from the A to the B-list. Sorry cousin Billy! This can be difficult, but keep in mind you are deciding who gets a wedding invite, not who picks the winning mega millions lottery numbers.
Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when making your list …
- Remember where the bank is: whoever is funding the majority of the affair should get a tad more leeway and invitations for their A-list (within reason of course).
- Invite the people that are important to you: whom you plan on having a relationship with in the future. We all have old friends that have drifted; however, a wedding is not always the best time or most economical way to rekindle your friendship.
- Plus one or not: is always the question. The unwritten rule is if a couple is married (obviously, hello), engaged, living together, or has dated for several years they should be invited with their significant other. In terms of everyone else, if you are going to have a lot of single people at your wedding, you don’t necessarily have to invite people with dates. If you have the space (and extra finances) and think it would make people have a better time, then you should. It all goes back to how many A-lists spots you have left. (see below for more detail.)
- All in all, it is your day so you should make sure the affair is what you want and doesn’t turn out to be the party someone else (your parents) wants for you.
Here’s the deal … this will always be a sticky situation so it’s best that you and your fiancé come to a decision on how to handle this and stick to it. You obviously invite the following people with a date: any who is married, engaged, living with their significant other or been dating them for years. If you think your best friend’s boyfriend of six years is terrible yet she is completely smitten, she should still be invited with him even though you find him to be painful.
