Are you super organised? Or are you terribly disarrayed? Regardless of your personality type, there are some smart ideas for preparation and timing of your wedding, whether it be in Perth or the South West.  The right preparation will ensure that problems are kept to a minimum — reducing stress for everyone involved. Here are some tips:

A Planner

Keep everything organised.  Make lists, use checkmarks, Post-It notes, and here’s the thing …keep it all in one place.

Samples, swatches, receipts, quotes, and clippings should all go in a single location so that you aren’t scrambling to find receipts, quotes, and samples.  A wedding planner — the stationary kind — can be a lifesaver for anyone planning a wedding. You can find wedding planners at stationary or wedding supply stores or you can simply grab a binder that has some zippered pockets and keep everything all together in one place. You might also scan and save electronic copies of some important items so you have a soft copy as well as a hard copy.

Testing

Try things out. Ask to see samples of invitations before you order them from a catalogue. Ask to see samples of a wedding photographer’s work, even if it’s only via online portfolio, rather than simply booking a wedding photographer based on a referral from a friend. Taste some cakes. By taking the time to check things out carefully, there shouldn’t be any surprises with respect to quality.

Timing

Make sure you have enough time to do everything. Don’t expect that there won’t be last minute things to do or that things won’t crop up unexpectedly but do your best to put time buffers in place. Make sure that you order your wedding favours so that they’ll arrive at least several weeks in advance.  Set appointments with music, photography, and other service providers four to six weeks prior to the wedding date so that there’s time to make a change if you’re not happy with the arrangements. When working out timing for your wedding day always build in a half hour buffer. Everything will take just that bit longer on your wedding day. The hairdresser and the makeup artist will be doing their best for you and it might just take a little longer than at the trial. Outside the church your guests will want to congratulate you, build this time into the day so that you’re not rushing away from them. Allow about two hours for your wedding photography. This gives you time catch up with each other after the ceremony and relax with your bridal party which all helps to get great relaxed, candid photographs. Remember if you’re planning a late autumn or winter wedding the sun will be setting early. You’ll need to arrange a earlier ceremony time to allow time to have wedding photographs taken in daylight.

Delegation

You can’t typically do it all. Some brides are Superbride but delegation can be good — and necessary. But be careful about it. You don’t want to have to micromanage the people to whom you delegate wedding tasks, too but don’t take it for granted that things will just get done, either. Make a list of things you’ve delegated and be sure you check in with the sister, bridesmaid, parent, etc. who said they’d do something for you well in advance of needing it done. There are things you’ll want to do on your own. Choosing the reception venue and wedding photographer, although time consuming are best done by the two of you. But maybe someone else can take on a few of the smaller tasks to free up your time. Closer to the wedding day and on the day is the time to take advantage of help. Have a brother or dad collect the flowers, likewise the food you may have ordered for the bridal party to nibble on during the getting ready process. Have a bridesmaid deal with the hairdresser and make up payments and a groomsman responsible for the car and church payments. Hopefully you’ve chosen a reliable and organized matron or maid of honour. If not, hopefully you’ve got someone close to you that you can count on for help with your wedding planning.

Get Advice

There are great resources both online and in print that can help you with wedding planning. Wedding planners can be a great source of help and relieve the pressure on the day. Many planners will make themselves available for varying amounts of time, so you can choose to have help at the times you think you’ll most need it. Some people take a year to plan a wedding and others plan a whirlwind event within a few weeks. Checklists help, and organisation will go a long way in reducing stress and ensuring nothing that’s truly important to you will get overlooked.