Planning a wedding is all consuming. Especially those final months leading up to the big day! My husband, Takumi, and I got married in December of 2018 and had a long engagement of 28 months.
During those months leading up to the wedding, I spent countless hours planning and experienced an array of emotions from anxiety and overwhelm, to bliss and happy tears. The wedding day itself was perfect and I really couldn’t have asked for a better day.
But reflecting back, I certainly had some takeaways from my experience that I’d like to share in hopes of helping your day run as smoothly as possible. These are my top 5 wedding planning takeaways!
Aim to get all your tasks done at least 3 weeks prior to the wedding date
Every married couple before you will agree, the weeks leading up to your wedding day will go by extremely fast!
As enter your wedding month, guests will ring you to tell you how excited the are, you’ll need to confirm details with your suppliers and final payments will be due. And trust me, there will be lots to finalize before the big day.
Getting your music playlists, seating chart, and any DIY projects done at least 2-3 weeks prior will give you extra time to take care of other tasks that will demand your attention during this period. I used an online wedding planner throughout the entire wedding planning process to keep track of all the tasks on my plate and even those I couldn’t do myself, which brings me to my next takeaway…
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate!
I can’t stress this enough. If you’re anything like me and have a tendency to pile onto a never ending to-do list and want to do everything yourself. I’ve got news for you… Unless you’ve figured out how to clone yourself, you simply can’t.
You’re going to be so busy on the day (and the days leading up to it) that you won’t be able to check if your guests boarded the bus, set up your photo booth, make sure your signage has been setup properly, and greet your guests as they arrive. It just isn’t physically possible for you to do these things, so start assigning tasks to people and delegate!
Remember, it’s your special day! Most people are more than happy to help you, so don’t be shy about asking.
Pack Your Bags, Early
If you’re travelling overseas or staying overnight at your wedding venue, make sure to pack your bags in advanced so you aren’t frantically trying to gather your things before making your way. The last thing you want is forgetting something important while you’re on the road or in the air!
Start making a list of things to take to the venue with you so you can check them off as you pack your bags.
Test Your Tech
If you’re planning on showing any slideshows or video presentations, make sure to test it before your wedding date. Even if you’ve nailed your speech or presentation at home, the equipment at the venue can act differently to what you own and really throw you off your A-game.
I’ve been to a wedding where the Best Man attempted to perform a custom wedding song for the couple (so sweet!), but the music kept cutting out every time he tried to sing. Everyone, including the venue’s staff, were completely baffled by what the problem was…
The Best Man, who was already quite anxious, was looking even more stressed as he stood awkwardly at the lectern. After about 10 minutes of running around, it turns out the venue’s audio system would automatically turn off the music whenever it detected someone speaking into the microphone. Who would have thought?
To avoid any technical difficulties on your wedding day, I really can’t stress this enough. Test your equipment!
If you’re hooking up to a projector, make sure you have the right cables to hook up your device. If someone is singing at the wedding, make sure you’ve tested the audio quality so the performance isn’t ruined by the sound of screeching through the speakers. And of course, make sure to charge all your batteries and bring extra cables and chargers to be safe.
Bring an Emergency Kit
You can’t prepare for everything that life throws at you, but it’s good to have an emergency kit in case something does go wrong. You can’t stop the rain from falling, but you certainly can tame those unwanted flyaways and keep yourself looking fresh!
Did you have any takeaways from your own wedding? If you’ve got any wisdom to share with other future brides and grooms-to-be, we’d love to hear from you!
