The best wedding tips (to remember when you are planning your wedding)

After the research I've done in the internet I was convinced the best time to book your wedding photographer/videographer is at least 8 months before the wedding. Last week I've learned that it is far to late! Photographers are currently booking into 2014! In fact, it's the best to book it as soon as you know your wedding date. 

I thought that maybe we all could exchange this kind of little tips that we've learned in practice here on this forum to help each other avoid bad surprises.

My wedding is not until 2015 and i would agree to book things early and you get them at this year's prices for some things. I booked my photographer in April this year and have got him at this year's price.  He is outstanding and worked on my cousin's wedding hence, why we have booked him.

I would advise that all brides get reccommedations off other brides as well as doing their own research and also we all like to get that little bit of help from people but to my own cost now, having a family friend do my invitations is turning into a nightmare.  Telling me what i can and cant have, telling me that she has total control over it all and even saying she wants to come to my venue.  no chance but I would recommend going professional on most things at least then there will be no arguments or others trying to take over

I would keep an eye on gold prices, we went and looked at rings last year, the lady told us that the prices would be rising so we would be best buying them then (we had picked the ones we wanted and where going to buy them anyway so wasnt a sales push) so we put a deposit down and when we went back in the January they had gone up by about 20% just like she said.

-It is perfectly possible to plan a wedding in 7 months (or less) and not have any problems finding suppliers.

-If something doesn't go quite to plan, don't stress, it isn't the end of the world. 

- Go into everything with an open mind.

- Send your invitations out early, there will always be someone who doesn't RSVP on time. 

ETA- And what Rachel said about gold prices. We got our rings in Feb (for our Aug wedding) and they went up in price twice after this so we were lucky.

I'm still planning, but I think really good advice would be to not micromanage the overly worry about the tiny details because in the end they won't really matter.

Also - don't get preoccupied with having everything PERFECT - this includes getting worked up about what guests wear to the wedding (including mothers fo the bride and groom), whether they wear black or white, etc.

Anytime you start getting stressed about something that seems super important, just sit back and think about the fact that you're getting married to the person you love.  And nothing -NOTHING- else matters.

In addition to what has already been said, I would suggest making to-do lists, especially as you get closer to the day and there are lots of little, but significant things that need to be done.

I am also still planning but I think I would say my tip is to haggle!! We're trying to keep within our budget but the first few things we booked went way over the price we anticipated, I have since been looking for alternatives on other things to bring us back in line with our budget and have found that if you just ask if a price is negotiable, it usually is.

And as others have said - dont stress over the little things...

Thanks for all your replies. After reading I've got one more tip: get a notebook and keep all wedding information (location, dates, names, phone numbers, contracts) in it. That should help with organization! :)

Talking as a wedding photographer, we tend to get booked up a year or more in advance for summer (April-September) Saturday dates but more like six months in advance for Fridays/Sundays and off-season Saturdays.

My guess is that it works in parallel to venues - if you need to get in early for a date at a venue then that date is likely to be just as popular with a good photographer.

Hope that helps !

Along similar lines to a notebook - my FMIL bought me a "Our wedding journal" for my birthday earlier this year and at the time I thought it was really cheesy however it is now my bible and I would highly recommend something similar to everyone! It has areas for planning, guests, the day, afterwards etc. So far the parts I have found highly useful include an area for listing venues as we viewed and rating / comments. Areas for listing suppliers names and details. Areas for listing guests names, addresses, whether they have RSVP'd, any diet requirements, area to record what they bought as a gift and tick off when you have sent a thank you card. As well as areas for table plans, on the day to do list etc etc, it really is great!

I would also recommend booking everything as early as possible as it seems a lot of other people do and so if you dont you will miss out!! We got engaged on christmas day and decided we would like to get married the following christmas giving us a year to plan, we found and booked our venue within the first 3 weeks of the year for our date of 28th december however all of the registrar times had already been taken except 10.30am and 4.30pm and so we are having a much earlier wedding than anticipated! My point being that yes, you can plan a wedding in less than a year, however be aware that a lot of people have been planning for a lot longer and may already have booked things that you want!

My tip is to make the wedding as personal to yourselves as you can, if you have a particular hobby incorporate it into your day somehow whether it's by the table names, a cake topper, whatever. Don't feel that you have to conform to the latest wedding trend, the wedding is about you & what you & your fiance want, not what the latest magazine says you "should" have. Also, it's not a competition, your wedding will be perfect as it's your day with your friends & family around you. Try not to worry about impressing other people

Ali

If you want different ideas look at what Americans are doing - yes most of it is over the top but they have some really good ideas

Think of how you use spaces and where people will go for each part - I have been to many a wedding people got stuck in a room where they couldn't sit down, or its felt empty as there have been to many spaces people are all over the place.

Ignore it when people say things around that's a silly detail/no one will use that - everyone loved my detail, and they weren't as expensive as it looked (slippers/flipflops/pashminas/cigarettes)

No one over used my free bar or drank more than if they were paying

Get a wedding book to keep all your ideas in. Carry a couple of swatches of any material with you just in case you see something perfect when you're out and about. 

I'm having a cape instead of a veil (29th December wedding) and couldn't find the right material, then when out doing something non wedding related (unbeliavable when planning a wedding in five months) I found the perfect ivory velvet but was only brave enough to buy it as I had my dress material with me.

I agree. We asked tog friends of ours to pencil us in for our date in 2014, we couldn't decide if we would rather have them just as guests, they told us a few weeks ago someone wanted to book them for the same day. We booked them there + then, we love their photography too much to pass on using them.

I do get bored of people looking at me funny when I tell them we have a venue booked let alone a couple of other bits... including OH until his friend said they had someone else asking to book the same date!

If you want something, and you're sure about it, it's not too early. I love a good plan + am enjoying planning one of the biggest days of my life so I'm going to carry on whether you think I'm too keen or not ;-)

Make sure your shoes don't hurt your feet.

Consider a dress that doesn't have a long train.

Both of the above will help you move around much easier, but having shoes that don't hurt would be my biggest tip.