The credit crunch is affecting everyone and those about to get married may well be wondering what kind of wedding they can afford. But, if you don’t mind taking the time to do some of the work yourself, you might enjoy organizing and planning a creative, budget conscious, beautiful wedding.

Professional time costs a lot of money so if you are trying to save money and not hire professionals, be prepared to put in a lot of your own time.  If you are serious, however, your time can be used effectively to create the wedding of your dreams.  You know the kind of wedding that you are looking for, which is a step in the right direction.  From there, you can take a look at your budget and see what will work for your wedding.

The largest expenses will likely be the venues for your ceremony and reception.  As a result, these are extremely important decisions in the planning of your wedding.  One way to reduce some of the costs is to consider having both the wedding and the reception at the same venue.  This will depend on availability, weather conditions, religious beliefs, and other desires.  Many hotels, halls, and inns have ideal locations for your ceremony, but you will need to visit them and consider everything before making a decision.

Another tip is to have your venue provide as many things as possible.  For instance, many venues will provide some decorations, flowers, music services, etc for little to no extra cost.  Having one vendor for as many services as possible will likely be cheaper but will also make your life easier.  Coordinating a wedding with fewer vendors can be much easier and may reduce the risk of miscommunications.  In many cases, your best bet will be a small locally owned and operated venue.  If you know a sweet little place nearby, go in and suggest it to them, they might just be able to provide you with what you are looking for.

By far, the most useful wedding planning tool is the Internet.  The Internet can provide you with ideas, tips, and is a great place to shop for your wedding.  Set aside a few hours, don’t answer the door, put on the answering machine, and go to your computer. Consider yourself working because you are about to source some wedding items and save yourself thousands of dollars.  The first place has to be Ebay. Yes, Ebay. Ebay shops sell stunning wedding gowns, tiaras, and jewelry. These shops also have chocolates for favors, favor boxes, or the favors themselves.  Finally, you can purchase many of your wedding decorations including, pew bows, garlands and candles from Ebay sites.

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Organizing a wedding when you have a busy life can put exceptional pressure on you and if you’re lucky enough to be able to budget for professional help, it’s worth considering. Many event consultation specialists will be happy to arrange a free consultation with you to discuss your requirements, and will let you know what co-ordination services they can provide you with.

Most have complete packages that often include finding a venue that suits your numbers, dates, and budget, and they can source suppliers for you. Some even offer to mail your invitations and gift lists as part of their wedding planning services.

It’s wise to attend a few, carefully selected, free consultations before you commit to making a choice, ensuring that whoever is going to help plan your wedding will meet all of the expectations you have for your special wedding day. After all, this is one of the most important days of your life. Consulting friends and family is also a good idea, to see if they have any recommendations. Another port of call in your search for the right type of help should be the Internet, where you will discover a range of web sites that offer wedding planning services. Some web sites can recommend a variety of wedding planners and coordinators.

A good starting point is WeddingBells.ca.  This site provide numerous helpful tips, will help you find services in your area, and has a very useful forum where you can talk to other brides in your area.

You may have to pay from $75 to $150 an hour to some wedding consultants, other charge anything from 10% up to 20% above the cost of all vendors, but if you can afford it, hiring wedding planning services will take a tremendous weight from your shoulders, and let’s face it, everyone deserves the best wedding that they can afford.

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If there is ever a time in life where diplomacy is required more than usual, it is when someone in the family gets married. Often, so many people offer to help that you can end up feeling as though planning for the best day in your life is being taken out of your hands. Good, responsible planning will help overcome some of the personal issues that may arise whilst you’re planning for this most important event.

When others see that you’ve got good control over all of the elements that make up a successful wedding day you will find that planning your wedding becomes easier. Begin with a good budget planner before any of the other plans are laid down.  The more time you have for planning, the better because you will have more time to look for deals and because often the cheaper but good vendors are booked early.  This will allow you time to save and to search for the best offers.  Allowing for a good amount of time for wedding planning will help to reduce stress, which will help make the whole process a positive experience.

Another way to make sure you enjoy planning your wedding is to find things about the wedding planning that you enjoy.  For example, if you love to do crafts, but hate to organize then do a lot of DIY decorations and favors and spend some money on a professional wedding planner.  By finding things that you enjoy, you can have fun and save money in those areas and spend a little more money to get people to do the things that you don’t enjoy as much.

The most important thing is to keep your eye on the prize!  You are going to get married!  If you take the whole planning thing too seriously, you will get too caught up in the details and lose track of what is most important.  If your soon to be spouse is helping with the planning, make sure to set aside non-wedding related time.  You don’t want everything you talk about to be wedding related, so set aside time for wedding planning and time just to do other things.

Almost every bride will tell you that the whole wedding experience is one of the best times of your life, so have fun and enjoy the whole experience!

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So you are ready to get married, you have the man and you are excited for your big day, but are you ready for the stresses of planning a wedding?  When you start to get more and more into the planning, you may find yourself getting a bit overwhelmed.  When planning a wedding, there is a lot to do, but there are things that you can do to save yourself some time!

First, get organized! Take some time to look around the Internet, talk to some friends, and your family to find out the feel of your wedding.  You can find pictures of almost everything that you want for your wedding, flowers, cake, etc.  I don’t mean that you have to follow the pictures exactly or that you will be able to afford everything that you want, but this will give you a starting point to work from.  Having this kind of feel for the wedding can save you time because when you do have vendor meetings, they will know right from the start the types of things that you may like.

Once you have the feel of your wedding, you should make sure to keep everything in one place and be sure to stay organized.  Whether you use a book, software, or a dry erase board, the important thing is to know where you are at in your planning at all times.

Minimize the running around…use lists! Just like going to the grocery store, the best way to shop for your wedding or meet vendors is with a detailed list.  When going to craft stores, department stores, bridal shops, etc you should bring a list so you know exactly which sections you should be looking in.  It is far too easy to start looking everywhere and start second guessing things you’ve already decided on!  Also, when you go on vendor visits, be prepared.  You should always bring a list of questions with you.  Having a list prepared may reduce you having to visit the vendor again or can help limit the e-mails and phone calls!  Be forewarned, vendors are not only dealing with your wedding so getting in touch with your vendors can be difficult and takes time.

Use the Internet! By far, the best way to save time and money for that matter is to use the Internet.  Before visiting any vendor, use the Internet to talk to people in your area who may already have used this vendor.  There are numerous forums that allow you to get recommendations or opinions on almost every vendor.  So, if someone has had a negative experience you may not want to bother meeting with that vendor.  The only caveat is to make sure that you take what is said with a grain of salt because you may be looking at the review of a total bridezila!

Making the most of your time while planning your wedding will reduce some of the stress and make sure that you still get what you want.  Although I still think it is important to meet face to face with your vendors, you may not need to meet 100 photographers before making a decision.  Instead, you can use other tools to narrow down your list and maybe only meet with the top 3 that fit your criteria.  Believe me, there is enough stress and drama around your wedding day, you don’t need to complicate your life even further!

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Your wedding date is one of the very first steps in the wedding planning process. For the most part, the first question that a vendor will ask you is the date of your wedding. There really is no set timeline for the wedding planning process, but the following questions should help you decide on a date that will work for you:

• What kind of wedding are you having? If you are having a very simple wedding with only a limited number of guests, you may not need a year or more to plan; however, if you are having a 500 person traditional wedding the planning time will be much higher.
• On what day of the week do you want to be married? If you are looking to have a Saturday wedding, you will need to plan in advance, because there are only so many Saturdays in a year. The general rule is that a lot of popular venues book about a year in advance, depending on the area and the season. If you are having a Friday or Sunday wedding, the venues and vendors may not book up as quickly.
• Is there a day that has special meaning to you?  Maybe there is a day that has some special meaning to you.  If there’s a date that will bring special meaning to you, maybe you’d like to make it your wedding day.
• Are you into easy to remember dates?  If you are looking for dates that are unique or easy to remember like July 7, 2007 (ie. 07/07/07) or August 8, 2008 (ie. 08/08/08), you will need to plan even more in advance.  These dates are extremely popular for weddings, especially if the day falls on a Saturday.
• What type of planner are you?  If you are a procrastinator, you may not want to leave too much time for planning because you’ll just end up doing everything in the last week.  If you are a procrastinator, just make sure that all of the big items are set, the smaller things can wait until the end.  If you are someone who gets overwhelmed quickly, you may want to have lots of planning time because with so much to plan it is easy for almost anyone to feel overwhelmed.
• How willing are you to compromise?  If you are willing to compromise on your date, you may have more  booking options or may be able to work things out even with a shorter timeline.
• Is there a season that you have your mind set on?  Have you always wanted a Christmas wedding, or a fall reception, or spring nuptials?  If so, you may need slightly less time to plan than if you are having a wedding in the summer, as this is generally the wedding “high” season.
• Do you have guests coming from out of town?  If there are people coming from out of town that you really want to be there, you may not want to choose days that are very close to important holidays; however, if there is a long weekend that isn’t say a special holiday, it may be a great time for them to take a small trip.  In addition, if there are important people that are say teachers, or work in jobs where it is difficult to book time off, you may want to consider a holiday weekend or a time when they might be more likely to make it.  You will never be able to plan around everyone’s schedule, but having your “very important people” (ie. your wedding party, very close family members, etc) at your wedding may be extremely important to you.

Many people will tell you that one year is generally enough to plan a wedding, but there are a number of factors to consider.  The important thing is to choose a date that you are comfortable with for planning purposes and to find a date that works for you and your future spouse.

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