Intentional Wedding Planning: Before beginning any wedding planning with my full planning clients, we set a foundation for their planning journey and their wedding day. Dreams and expectations are discussed to begin to create an intentional and thoughtful day that is a reflection of the couple, within their budget. Weeks and months into the planning process, every engaged couple has experienced the all too familiar pressure to add elements to their day that they were not considering to begin with. Budgets are stretched and intentionality can be quickly lost.
While this experience is normal and a large part of discerning the feel of your wedding day, it is my job to bring clarity and intentionality to the planning process. Intentional Wedding Planning is just that: an intentional, conscious and clear choice made by each couple to create a wedding day that is unique to them, whilst remaining grounded and within budget.
How to Create an Intentional Wedding Day
What are your biggest values (in life generally)?
This is always a good question to ask, especially when you are wedding planning. Your values will be the foundation for your wedding day. Whether or not you have a faith will underpin much of the choices you make for your day. A Christian couple may value a large ceremony with faith-related undertones, whereas another couple may value something more intimate alongside a Humanist Celebrant. Only you will know what is best for you.
How do you want to feel on your wedding day?
Most couples would say they would like to feel joyful and happy on their wedding day, but there is always diversity in answers to this depending on personalities and values. While some couples want to feel peaceful and relaxed, others want to host the biggest party with their favourite people!
How you want to feel will impact many of the decisions you make. For example, if you want to feel relaxed on the morning of your wedding, I would suggest moving away from DIY styling of your wedding and instead, hiring a stylist. If you want a big party, a good financial decision may be hiring an excellent bar company, something that other couples may not choose to put finances towards.
What is a reasonable budget?
The key word in this question is reasonable, and this differs from person to person. For instance, you may have £60,000 in savings, but you may decide it is unreasonable to spend the full amount on your wedding. Alternatively, you may have £2,000 to spend on your day. Both ends of the spectrum require intentional decisions to be made about how that budget is to be spent and what is reasonable and achievable.
How does your wedding planning fit into other areas of your life?
Wedding planning does not, and should not, take over your life. This extends to your finances, your time and your thought life. Consider all the other life events you may be experiencing while planning your wedding, whether it be moving house, having children or changing jobs. Consider your normal routines and rhythms, like going to work, visiting family and resting. Your wedding planning should fit into your life, not take over your life, time or finances.
If your wedding planning is taking over your life, consider hiring a Wedding Planner. Whether it’s Full Wedding Planning, Partial Planning or Wedding Day Coordination, I’d love to help you to create a day that is personal to you.
Intentionally planning your wedding by ensuring thought goes into every aspect will help you to experience more peace in your wedding planning process and build a day that truly reflects you.
As a Wedding Planner, it is my job to connect you with suppliers who can meet your needs in your wedding planning. I absolutely love building you a team of excellent suppliers who fit your style and budget. For more information on Full Planning on Wedding Coordination, click here.
