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Weddings have the potential to be amazing and beautiful occasions. They can also sometimes be very stressful. Try not to beat yourself up too much when planning your own wedding–but make sure you take the time to consider some of the more sensitive aspects.
Who You Invite
As soon as you start to plan a wedding, the first thing you need to do is make a guest list. Talk to your future spouse about what they’re envisioning and try to come to a consensus. Once you know how many people you want to invite, you will know how big of a venue you need–and thus, can start looking for one as soon as possible. It’s also essential to make sure that nobody important in either your life or your future spouse’s life gets left out. Make sure to consider your extended family, as well as good friends and loved ones.
Meals You Serve
Food is also something you should start thinking about early. Most people expect to be fed at weddings–and fed quite well. If you don’t want to be responsible for serving an entire dinner, and instead want to rely on treats, that’s okay! But make sure you make that clear to your guests so that they don’t show up a bit too hungry. You should avoid foods that many people are allergic to, like nuts and gluten. If at all possible, consider asking people about allergies on the same form they’ll fill out to get an invitation–if you decide to go that route. You may want to think about having a local restaurant cater as well.
Needs of Your Guests
Just try and be thoughtful about how you plan everything. Are there certain things that have always bothered you about weddings you’ve attended in the past? How can you avoid such problems? For example, maybe you can avoid having the wedding go on for more than a few hours. You can also make sure that all of the seating arrangements are comfortable as well as aesthetically pleasing. Consider travel for everybody involved. Double and triple-check everything you plan by mentally walking through the entire wedding a few times to make sure nothing strikes you as inconvenient.
Communicate heavily with your future spouse. What expectations did you two have? What kind of vision do you maintain for your wedding day? Small weddings and large weddings can be very different events.
Check out this article on how to make sure your wedding photographer captures everything you want!