My 10 - 8 Month Checklist - actually running relatively on time with this one! I am now officially just less than 8 months out from my wedding date :).
This should be the time you start locking in all of your big ticket items - the good suppliers really do book up fast! Think celebrant, florist, hair & makeup, reception entertainment.
Also start thinking about your decor & bridal party outfits. It's good to get in early to give your maids/men time to get their attire in.
1. Design & send out save the dates
Once your venue is locked in, tell your guests when the wedding is happening! Especially if some of your guests have to travel (we have people coming in from Melbourne, the UK & Russia). Design wise, have a think about what you want your invitations, other stationary & your wedding website to look like & aim for a similar design.
2. Confirm your venue(s), if you haven't already
Sign that contract (after reading it of course) & pay the deposit to lock in the venue. If you are having the ceremony & reception in different locations, lock them both in.
If you have an all-inclusive venue, that's great! If you have a DIY venue, be sure to also lock in your caterers at this stage as well (a whole blog post on this to come soon).
3. Choose your celebrant
If you aren't religious, finding an officiant for your big day can be a challenge. I actually found this part quite challenging to find a good one that will suit us. We met another celebrant before choosing ours, & she was just not going to work out with our very non-traditional approach to marriage!
Sticking points we found were:
- A lot of the young, fun celebrants are very expensive (think AUD$1000 or more)
- Travel costs for going 2 hours of the Sydney weren't included in the prices
Take your time & choose wisely - make sure you & your fiance(e) meet them as well, and have a good old chat over a coffee!
4. Choose your florist
We aren't having flowers at our wedding. No floral bouquets, centrepieces or anything else. The amount of shocked faces I see when I say that! Flowers are not a part of our lives - the only flower Mack ever bought me was made of metal. So we took this one out altogether. But if flowers are your jam, get in quick with locking in a florist - start researching them now, & aim to have one locked in at least 6 months in advance, if not now.
I will show you my bouquets at a much later date (probably after the wedding) - I love them!
5. Research and book hair & makeup
Hair & makeup was another massive challenge for me. There just aren't that many, especially in the Blue Mountains. And the ones that do exist are SO expensive. I even went to an expo looking specifically for hair & makeup, & there were just none that suited me/weren't expensive. It's important to me to have polished looks at my wedding, but it's not AUD$1800+ important. I found mine from a Facebook ad actually, & she is affordable even with additional travel costs to my venue. But I think $850 total is pretty reasonable to we locked it in!
6. Order wedding dress
If you are ordering a dress, remember it takes 3 - 6 months to come in (a general rule in Australia), so order with some time to spare, just in case. Have your shoes ready to go before you order the dress so you can order a custom length, if that is an option. I ordered mine a month ago, so around 8 months out.
7. Research invites and stationary
This goes alongside point 1 - think about the design you would like to go with so all of your wedding stationary matches. We are doing save the dates & invitations only - no menus or programs or other stationary. All good if you want all of the things, but remember this... the vast majority of your wedding stationary will end up in the bin. Spend money on the things you will use again, or that people want to keep! A wedding website is also a fabulous way to get the information out there without spending a fortune or printing lots of pages. Blog to follow soon on the wedding website options.
8. Choose bridal and groom party outfits
Give your wedding party time to acquire the outfits you want them to wear. Especially if you want them all to match. Mack & I are going for mismatched outfits and the shape is entirely up to them. I would much rather my girls choose an affordable outfit they will wear again, than spend a fortune on a dress they will only wear once.
9. Research reception entertainment
Good DJs & wedding bands book up early, so at least research what you want to go with, & lock them in as soon as you can.
10. Start thinking about decor / theming company
Decor can add up quickly, so I am a huge advocate for using whatever your venue has onsite for free (watch out for hidden costs on rentals!). If you're DIY-ing everything (or even just adding a personal touch to the already existing decorations), take your time to work out what will have the most impact for your guests.
If you are not creative at all & you don't have crafty friends, you might want to consider a theming company - this can be super expensive! But if big bod decor was high on your priority list that you made at the start, then maybe it is worth splurging here.
I picked a venue that is all inclusive - I will go to the ends of the earth to design & make things for someone else's big day. But for mine, I want it all done for me haha. We will be staying onsite & will be using the majority of the venue's decor & equipment. I have then made a small amount of decor to make it a bit personal & Mack will go crazy with LEDs (because festival chic vibes with fire & LED is the look we are going for), but that is it!
Do what makes sense for the two of you as a couple, not what everyone else is doing :)
Here you go for pinning - contact for the PDF version.
Hx
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