Booked my wedding today for May ‘26!!

[worriedmammy1992]

Any tips? Advice? What do I have to plan?!

Congratulations! I would say have a rough idea of max budget to work out what you want to spend on each bit of the wedding, eg. Decor, flowers, dress.

Does the venue hire have anything included? If food is included you'll need to think about evening food options and canapés etc.

Do you want to do some decor yourself or want it all done, eg. Chair sashes and table decorations as well as other bits n bobs.

Rough idea of numbers for day and evening.

Colour ideas or theme?

Dj/entertainment options, eg. Live music.

Photographer/videographer.

I'd say get the dress early as it can help you visualise your idea for the day more.

I'm in the middle of planning my wedding and have found a book called 'it's your wedding' very useful - it's helped a lot with narrowing down what we want from the day.

There’s loads of advice out there. I’d recommend a tight timeline - no one wants to stand around for hours wondering what to do. Do your side/his side photos BEFORE the wedding to keep photo time to a minimum after the ceremony.
I also think it’s really weird inviting guest for only parts of the wedding- all or nothing. And gave an open bar. We had beer and wine out with spirits available but not on display. If some one asked they were served.
What i wish I had done is appoint someone reliable (not likely to get drunk on the day) who you can trust to help oversee things. I understand you can hire a wedding coordinator for the day - that might be an idea so your parents and wedding party can just enjoy themselves.
Things that went wrong which could have been resolved with this person in place: no mirror in the room I changed in - I had requested one but they forgot.
As I got ready at the venue and everything was happening in the same building I had no opportunity to go check that the reception set up was perfect. Some candies were not lit.
The caterers lost the revised seating plan which had all the vegetarians marked. So servers had to stand awkwardly asking who had the vegetarian meal (and at least one meat eater claimed one so a vegetarian went without).
I didn’t ask anyone to be sure to take the Order of Service and the personalised written menu with history of the venue. I asked the venues several times for a copy after the day but they never sent me one.
Make sure this person gives away the table centrepieces (if rental elements then just the flowers). They will be chucked otherwise.
My parents were to take the top layer of the cake but forgot which meant they had to go back to get it the day after.
Someone to take your wedding dress away safely.
All of the above a paid coordinator would have under control.
Also discuss with the band/dj what music you want first that you will start dancing to. We didn’t do a specific dance nor the father daughters thing but the band told us they’d start playing and we could start dancing a few songs in, which just meant people were waiting for us and in the end we just did it, rather than picking a specific song which I felt was awkward.
Also make sure there’s nothing else going on in the area on the day! For us the Lord Mayors Parade was going on right down the street! Our wedding was after, but the suppliers had trouble getting to the venue beforehand.
It goes by so fast! We didn’t do a receiving line but went around to each table to talk to everyone.

don know how you feel about this sort of thing but 6 months before start getting beauty treatments like facials, you’ll be glowing on the day!

Professional wedding videographer based in Newcastle 👍🏻

www.ljhfilms.co.uk

Totally get the panic — there’s so much thrown at you at once!

My biggest tip is just to take it one step at a time and not feel like you have to follow all the “rules”. Honestly, things like picking a date and working out rough numbers early on can help everything else fall into place.
I actually put together a super simple checklist to help keep things on track -nothing over the top, just the basics in a calm order. Happy to share, if it helps. I felt exactly the same 😅