v  Decide on a wedding time frame: Do you want it to be a long engagement or are you keen to tie the knot as soon as possible? This is an important thing to discuss with your new fiancé so that you are both on the same page. Remember no timeframe is too long or too short as long as you are both happy with it.

v  Decide on a date: Picking the date has to be one of highest priority items on your pre wedding to do list. You can’t book your venues etc without having a date set in mind. Take your time to decide on this and remember that wedding season is between September and March. If you are planning to have your wedding during this time period setting a date as soon as possible is important.

v  Guests: Who should be there and who do we forget about?: I think this one was a big thing for us. We wanted a small group of guests at our wedding. However when we both started writing lists of who we wanted at the wedding we found that we had 100+ people. So it was hard to decide who we really wanted there and who just didn’t need an invite. Our guest list is now just over 50 people and we decided the best way to condense our list was the narrow it to the people in our lives that we had regular contact with. I will discuss this in a later post in more detail.

v  Celebrant???: Whether you decide to have an outdoor ceremony or you opt for a more traditional ceremony in a church with your priest or pastor, it is essential to secure your date ASAP especially if you are having your wedding during the September to March period.

v  Venue!: So where do you want to get married? Start looking at ceremony and reception venues that suit your budget and wedding theme (If you have already decided on this). If you are trying to do a wedding on a budget consider areas such as local gardens, and wineries outside of the city limits. Your local city council with have a list of parks and venues that you are able to hire at a small fee. Also look at venues that have furniture hire included to help cut on costs.

v  Dress Shopping!: It is never too soon to start looking for the dress for your special day. Leave yourself plenty of time so that you can find the dress that best suits you, and that you feel comfortable in. Take your bridesmaids with you and above all have fun!

v  All the Trimmings: Decide on whether you are going to hire music, photographers and videographers for your ceremony and start booking these. Also if you have a reception venue that does not supply catering, start looking at caterers.

v  Cake Cake Cake: Start looking for your cake artist. I say cake artist only people what this amazing people do is absolutely pure art. We found ours at a Wedding Expo that was being held in my town at the time and she was and continues to be amazing. Don’t forget to sample!

v  Snap Snap Snap:Book an engagement shoot if you are wanting to have engagement photos done, these can be included in your invitations for your engagement party

v  To Party or not to Party?: Decide on the venue for your engagement party and book a venue/catering. We opted not to have an engagement party because it suited us better. We had a very tight budget for our wedding so we cut a great deal of costs by not having an engagement party. Another way to lower your budget could be to talk to family and see if anyone is willing to host at their house or just to have finger food or canapes at your engagement party.

v  Vrooooom: Secure your transport for the day. You can save money on this by talking to friends or family about a wedding vehicle or even looking at your car hire venues in your area. We found that Hertz Hire is willing to deck out some of their beautiful cars in full wedding attire for a fraction of the cost of wedding car hire companies

v  Book your Wedding Night Hotel: Find a place that you know you will have privacy and a place to lay your head after a long day. You want to be comfortable and, if you are like me and have people staying at your house for the duration of your wedding, you do not want to be going back to your home on your wedding night.

v  Rent Me!::Reserve any rentals that are needed for the ceremony and/or reception: If you are needing to hire chairs and/or tables talk to some of your local schools. They are often willing to hire out the chairs they use for school plays etc for a fraction of the cost.

v  Meet and Greet: Meet with your photographer and videographer: Make sure that you feel comfortable with these people. They are going to be documenting your special day and you need to feel like you are on the same page as them.

v  Favor Saver: What are you going to have as favors? There are some excellent places to order favors online such as FavoursPlus and Favour Perfect. If you decide you want a more DIY approach now is the time to decide and start purchasing the essential pieces of they are not perishable items.

v  Rehearsal?: I think this is very much so a choice rather than a necessity. We are not having a rehearsal dinner as such. Our bridal party will be helping u with set up on the evening before out wedding and so we will be conducting our Rehearsal during this time and then just having dinner at a local pub. However if you plan to have dinner with your out of town guests the night before the wedding you should book your dinner venue during this time period.

2-4 Months Before Your Wedding

v  Om Nom Nom:Discuss details of your menu with your caterer: If you are having a wedding cake and are trying to stick to a strict budget a great option is to discuss using your wedding cake as dessert for your guests.

v  Operation Ceremony: Discuss and plan out your ceremony service with your celebrant/officiant. Decide whether you will be writing your own vows or having your celebrant/officiant organize this for you.

v  Mail Time: Mail your invitations if you haven’t already. I mailed mine at the six month mark but I had a lot of guests coming from all over Australia so I wanted to make sure they arrived in a reasonable time frame so that my guests were able to book flights and accommodation if they hadn’t already. I also supplied some Hotel suggestions with my invitations for my guests that didn’t know the area.

v  Guestbook: Purchase a guest book if you are planning to have one at your reception. You can also look at other options such as a Guest Tree or a photo frame filled with blank hearts that guests can write on.

v  Document Prep: Prepare the necessary documents if you plan to change your name. In Australia all of this is done after you are married and obtain your legal marriage certificate from Births, Deaths and Marriages once your Celebrant/Officiant lodges the paperwork. So you won’t need to worry about this part until after you are married and back from your Honeymoon.

v  Dress Fitting Version 2.0: Organise another dress fitting with all of your accessories to make sure that you feel comfortable with all of the bells and whistles that you will be wearing on the day.

v  Prepare a seating plan for your guests: There are actually some great programs that are out there such as Tablerr and Seating Arrangement that can assist you with organizing your seating plan.

v  Finalise, Finalise, Finalise: Your RSVP should be due back during this period. Finalise your final guest count with your vendors where necessary.

v  Prepare your words: Prepare your toasts/speeches for the wedding reception and rehearsal dinner if you are planning to have one.

v  Shoes Hurt if Not Tamed: Don’t forget to break in your wedding shoes. You don’t want to be hobbling around on your wedding day if your shoes are giving you blisters or pinching your toes. Spend half an hour to an hour twice a week walking around your house in your shoes to make sure they are broken in.

v  Packing all of your essentials for your wedding day such as your decorations etc so that they are ready to go.

v  If you have a rehearsal dinner planned it would take place during this last week.

v  If you are making any payments on the day, or need funds for tipping waiters etc prepare these in to envelopes that your Maid/Matron of Honor can take care of on the day.