Planning a Simple Wedding Should be Easy, Right?

Nothing can be further from the truth imagining that planning a simple wedding is an effortless job. It can be just as intimidating a task as planning a large wedding. It can also be a lot of fun, but if not performed competently, it can turn into a disaster in the blink of an eye. Even though things are done a great deal simpler, you still need to carry out the majority of the steps as when preparing for a big wedding. In addition, you may have to perform a lot more research to find the best way to have your wedding within your budget.

Before making any lavish plans or comprehensive timetables, the first thing you must keep in mind is your available budget and your guest list. You have to take care of all the detail -- many couples don't consider beyond the honeymoon when planning a simple wedding. You should also learn to take the "something borrowed" phrase to heart.

If you're planning a simple wedding it's best not to leave anything to chance. The steps are basically the same as for planning any kind of wedding. You should get together with your partner and begin to note down the main things that need to be prepared.

Then you need to perform the following steps:

1. The first and most vital thing to do is to establish your wedding date.
2. Make an initial guest list. Be ruthless with the guest list and rather invite only close family and friends.
3. Draw up your budget.
4. Use the list of items that needs to be done and that needs to be purchased and make a timeline from it.

Tips for planning a simple wedding

1. Photography

Get a photographer that shoots digitally, so there are no proofs to approve first. Just make sure that you can get the high resolution digital images from the photographer before you book him or her. The photographer needs to releases all right to the images, and provide all images on DVD without watermarks. You can then have the best photos printed very cheaply at a digital printing kiosk.

2. The reception venue

You may have to do a lot of research, but you should be able to find the ideal venue for your budget. First look at the usual reception halls but then proceed to consider places such as museums, historic buildings, botanical gardens, vineyards, art galleries, and zoos (some even have reception halls available.)

3. Wedding cake

Instead of having a traditional wedding cake, you can have decorated sheet cakes.

4. Invitations

Rather print your own invitations than having them done at a print shop. You can get invitation kits from a local store and print them out on your own inkjet printer - and they usually look absolutely professional.

5. The music

Use your iPod or mp3-player with pre-defined playlists and set it up to play through a hi-fi system at the reception.
by Amy Richardson