Indian Weddings are very sensitive and is an intimate affair, no matter what scale it has been planned for. It can either be small or grand. Unlike western weddings, there are a number of people involved in the planning of the big day. While taking care of the bride and groom’s desires and requirements, it is very important that the sentiments and wishes of the elderly are taken into consideration as well. Everything can be accomplished easily if the following things are kept in mind while planning the wedding.

1. Setting up a Date It is important that you fix the wedding date at least 6 months prior to the wedding.
It can be very exhausting if everything is kept for the last minute, as there can be a possibility that you can miss out on a lot of wedding chores while doing the same. Hence, it is necessary that you start planning your wedding 4 months prior to the big day, to avoid all the stress and to make sure you complete all the work beforehand and without any hassle.

2. Fixing up a budget and making a guest list.
The given terms go hand in hand as each of them has a significant effect on the other. It is mandatory that you fix up a budget that you intend to spend on the wedding and always keep a buffer of 3-5 percent. The buffer is kept mainly because there are a lot of variables in the wedding. For eg., A guest who RSVPed no, turns up, or the makeup artist falls sick and you have to arrange for someone at the end moment. Hence, it is always advised to keep a buffer. It is necessary that you plan and prepare your guest list, as your guests will affect the budget significantly. It takes a good number of days to plan the guestlist as all your family members and their feedback are involved, and you would not want to offend any family member or relative. It’s completely fine to update the guest list over a period of time, but you must have an estimate of the number of attendees.

3. Finalising the kind of wedding and the number of events.
While choosing between a destination wedding or a local affair, you must keep in mind the convenience of yourself and the guests with regards to travel and accommodation. You must also decide on the food menu for each of the functions and make sure you do a good tasting for the specific caterer as well. The venue must be sufficient to accommodate all your guests, not too big as it would seem empty and not too small as you would not want it to be congested and claustrophobic. After finalizing all the functions, rituals and fun events, you may finalize the venue for each, i.e open spaces or banquets available. As a wedding planner, if the weather forecast is positive, we always opt for open spaces, poolside venues or lawns as nothing beats the charm of natural lights, also the correct usage of lights and appropriate fireworks can create magic.

4. Theme Designing and Guestlist coordination.
It is necessary that you decide on the theme of the wedding as all your coordinations with the guests should carry the same theme from the beginning of the wedding. The theme could be something that the bride and groom share in common or that highlights the sentiments of the family. For eg., we designed an entire wedding on the cherry blossom season as the couple loved that time of the year, while another was on coral reefs as it was a beach wedding. As soon as you finalize the venue and theme, you should inform all the guests about the date and venue of the wedding by sending a save the date card to all the guests followed by the formal invitation. You may either customize the hard copy of invitations according to your theme or pick up the ready to go invitations available in the market.

5. Vendor booking and management.
This is one of the most crucial steps as you need to first identify the vendors who will play a vital role in your wedding, the ones you must prioritize and book and the ones who can be booked closer to the date. There are numerous vendors that you have to choose from and while choosing, you must have their work and their budget for comparison and efficient decision making. The basic vendors that you have to keep in mind that you will need essentially at your wedding are decorator, sound and light equipment vendor, photographer, priest, entertainment artist, dhol and horse vendor, makeup and mehendi artists. You may also opt for vendors like the choreographers, background dancers, anchors, trousseau packaging, etc

6. On the wedding day.
It is advised that you coordinate and confirm the arrival time and the deliverables by each of the vendors beforehand so that on the ‘the day’ you are stress free. You may assign the supervision of the work to different family members or relatives and sit back and take the day as it comes. No matter how much you plan, there will be times when you will feel like it is not going as per what was discussed or planned because there are lots of outcomes that cannot be predicted beforehand, for eg., the reaction of guests or relatives, climate, etc. A wedding when put together is a number of variables working together to accomplish one goal, give the bride, groom, and their families, the wedding of their dreams. Hence, you must trust your wedding planners and your planning skills as everyone is working towards one common goal.

While trying to achieve all this, do remember that this is a wedding. Marriage begins after. Hence, you must have a life outside planning a wedding. That’s where the planners step in to reduce the burden of yourself and your families so that you can enjoy every bit of it with your loved ones. You may dedicate specific hours of planning with them and rest can be utilized to accomplish your own work as well as quality time with your partner and family.