The rule of thumb, when it comes to wedding planning, is “the earlier the better.” The earlier you start planning your wedding, the smoother the actual day is supposed to go.
The rule of thumb, when it comes to wedding planning, is “the earlier the better.” The earlier you start planning your wedding, the smoother the actual day is supposed to go. Plus, the earlier you start planning your wedding, the more likely you are to get the things you want.
Remember: wedding venues book up fast (some book up years in advance)! Wedding dresses—even when you’re buying off the rack—take time to alter and be made perfect. Florists need time to offer you details and samples. Cakes need advance design prep and delivery planning. You’ll need time to shop for gifts for your wedding party. Planning in advance becomes even more important if you plan on doing a lot of your wedding prep yourself.
There are some things, though, that you won’t be able to take care of way ahead of time. As the experts at Wedding Wire remind us, there are always some things on your wedding checklist that you’ll have to wait until the last few days before the wedding or even the day of the wedding to decide. Here are a few of them:
Seating Chart
Not every couple has a formal sit down dinner at their reception, and even if they do, they don’t always plan out the seating arrangements ahead of time. Sometimes, though, assigning people seats (at least for the meal) is one of the best things you can do. The problem is, you can’t put together your seating chart until you know exactly who will be at your wedding and all of the RSVP cards have been returned. More importantly, you can’t plan your seating chart until you know exactly what kind of life space your guests will be in on your big day. For example, you don’t want to force a couple who has very recently broken up to sit together! Waiting until a couple of days before the wedding helps prevent those awkward social situations from happening.
Table Place Cards
Much like your seating chart, you can’t print these out until you know who is coming (especially if you’re on a budget)! Even if you don’t have a seating chart planned, having place cards printed up for guests to take to their tables can be incredibly helpful—especially if the meal is catered. You can, for example, print pictures of each meal on the back of each place card to help servers tell who gets the fish and who gets the veggie option.
Your Hair and Makeup
Don’t even try to sleep in your wedding hairstyle and wedding makeup. Seriously. Just don’t. You’ll look like the Bride of Frankenstein. You can plan things out using photos!
Putting together wedding favors
A lot of wedding favors involve edible elements these days—little chocolates, candies, etc. The last thing you need is to spend three days bagging chocolate kisses only to have them melt all over your kitchen table on a hot afternoon. It’s better to leave these until a couple of days before the wedding and then make a party out of building them. It can be a last minute bonding activity for your wedding party or for your and your future spouse’s families. Remember, too, to keep the favors someplace cool until they are actually placed on the tables—just in case!
Paying Vendors/Services
Typically making sure the officiant and anybody else who expects to be paid on the actual day of the wedding get paid is the best man’s job. He hands out the checks. Your job is to write the checks but you don’t want to do that until the jobs have been performed in full. You can, of course, write the checks out ahead of time and keep them in a place that is easy for your Best Man to access (or give them to someone who can pass them to the Best Man, like your mother). That way if everything goes smoothly, he can hand out the payments and you don’t have to worry about it. If there are problems, withholding payment until the dispute is settled is the name of the game—which is why you don’t pay for the wedding day until the wedding day is over.
These are just a few of the things that need to wait until the last minute. Trust us when we say that more will pop up. But if you’ve done some planning and have a thorough checklist in place, don’t worry—nothing will get missed!
