9 Wedding Planning Tips

These 9 wedding planning tips will help your planning run smooth. Make sure to follow the advice here to make your wedding planning fun and not a headache.

1. Stick to your budget
>Wedding planning is expensive no matter what the budget is. Make sure you have a solid budget that you can stick with, before hiring wedding vendors (photographer, DJ, florist, etc.) Plan how much you expect to spend on each detail of the wedding, include catering, wedding dress, and favors. Also, make sure you have a set backup amount of money for unexpected expenses. This is a guide to help you figure out average wedding cost. As long as you stick to a set wedding budget, you will not have to worry about not having the money to pay off your wedding photographer, wedding DJ, and other vendors. There will be no half decorated cake, half catered venue, or call backs to the guests to tell them that you do not have room for them (heard of this one a few times, it is very rude to invite guests that your budget can not handle). Wedding budgets will not set you and your partner (or your parents) into financial downfall. If you need wedding planning help, or if you have trouble with budgets, hire a wedding consultant. Wedding consultants help you plan your wedding and stay within budget.

2. Order your wedding gown and bridesmaids' dresses early.
Most bridal shops will need six to eight months to prepare a wedding dress / bridesmaid dress, to get the sizes in, to do all alternations, and to press before the wedding. Most wedding gowns are custom made and need to be ordered far in advance. Do not wait till the last minute or you will be lucky if your gown will be ready for your wedding. Remember, there are thousands of brides probably ordering from the same designer, for the same date. The same goes for bridesmaids' dresses and custom made tuxedos. Even choosing rental tuxedos in advance will better prepare the groom and his groomsmen. Do not forget wedding accessories!

3. Get marriage license from your county.
In most states you can get you marriage license 30 to 60 days in advance. To check your time restrictions, call your county's courthouse. Make sure that you let the county know the date that you're planning your wedding on. If you get your marriage license ahead of the days allowed by your state, it would be void. For example, you live in Virginia were state law permits you to get your marriage license 60 or less days before your wedding and you get it 61 days prior to your wedding, this will void the license. Also, do not try to get it a day before your wedding; some states require a 48-hour waiting period. If you are getting remarried, bring in your divorce paperwork. By getting your marriage license in the correct time and having the needed paperwork in hand, there will be no unnecessary worry. Get a Name Change Kit to help you in your wedding planning process.

4. Find and Book guest rooms early.
For some places in major cities, or special resorts, you may need to book a set amount of rooms up to a year in advance for your guests. Popular hotels, even smaller ones, book up fast. Make sure that you set up enough rooms for all your out-of-town wedding guests. Look into more then one place for guests to stay as well. Some guests may not have the budget to stay in a fancy hotel, after they paid for their trip there.

5. Inviting too many guests.
During your wedding planning, make sure to match guest numbers to reception and ceremony site size. Do not invite 200 people and guess that only half will show. Because if 150 decide to attend, and you booked a site for only 100, then you will need to call 50 people and tell them that you did not book room for them. This will make you look bad and disappoint those guests. If you try to squeeze them all together into the site that cannot handle that amount of people, the site owners will tell you. Each site has a set limit of how many people it can hold, in order to respect fire hazard laws.

6. Waiting till the last minute for beauty treatments. (To get other brides advice or professional advice visit the wedding chat board.)
Do not schedule beauty treatments at the last minute. Bleaching, tanning, teeth whitening, facials, waxing and much more can lead to breakouts, burns, or serious infections. Last minute haircuts are not recommended either. If you would like to get any beauty treatments done before your wedding, plan to get it done at least two week prior. You do not want to be the center of attention because your haircut looks bad, or because you burned in the tanning booth. Pictures such as these will haunt you for a lifetime.

7. Underpaying postage on invites.
Getting your invitations weighed before you purchase the stamps is the safest most cost efficient way to go. If you neglect to put sufficient postage on your invitations, they will be stamped with 'insufficient postage', waste more time, ruin the appearance of the envelope, and let your guest know why they are getting their invitation late. Getting invitations weighed may also save you money (i.e. postcard invitations), therefore saving money on your budget.

8. Ignoring church restrictions.
Disobeying church or Officiant rules can stop your wedding planning before it gets started. Make sure your wear the appropriate attire, complete pre-wedding requirements, such as marriage consulting, and that you ask your wedding Officiant if your day is a date that you can use in the church. Sometimes churches will not let you hold your wedding on holy days. Also, some churches do not allow flash, or no flash photography in the church. The best time to get these questions answers is when you start wedding planning.

9. Ignoring the weather. (For Local Weather reports visit The Weather Channel's Website.)
Couples that plan to have their wedding outdoors often ignore wedding day weather. To keep everyone happy during your wedding planning, make a backup plan. Your guests and you will be more comfortable in a nice climate. Make sure to also have cool temperatures, even if you must get an outdoor air-conditioner, large fans, and lots of bottled water.