Here are the tips that I got from a blog that would help your wedding preparations.

From Kathy in New York

1. Focus on the three things that are most important for you to splurge on. For me, it was the flowers, DJ/music, and the bar.
2. Be yourself! Don’t try to do something different just because it’s your wedding! For example, I got an acrylic French manicure because I thought it would be more “wedding like.” What I really wanted to do was keep my short nails and paint them red. Looking back, it was my only regret.
3. Hire a wedding planner day of. You don’t  need the additional stress. Have someone that will take care of everything, including your worries!

From Audrey in New York

1. Delegate everything that isn’t on your “most important list.” Most people are honored to help the bride. Say you have a friend who is an expert on flowers, if the person is willing they could manage getting the bouquet for you. I had 100 days to plan a black tie wedding for 200+ people in another city. Everyone I delegated something to reported back to me so I could make a final decision. It’s a win-win. They knew me and my taste and they were experts in the area that was delegated to them. It was a huge relief for me.

Start Where You Are: Starting where you are is really the basis of all wedding planning. How much money do you have that you can spend? What are the must haves and don’t needs at your wedding? Do you have any family traditions you want to keep? These are the basics. When you first get engaged, these are the things that you want to find out. You want to see what you can spend, see what you need and then start wedding planning from there.

Use What You Have: This is the one that has really saved us a lot of money. We are using the people and things that we already have. Do you have a friend who is a sweet photographer that would do your wedding cheaper? Do you have someone in your family that is a good seamstress that could make the bridesmaid dresses? Does someone in your family have access to a building, property, or area that you could use for the ceremony or reception? Figure out what you already have, either yourself or the people around you.

Do What You Can: This is a big one for us as well. What can we do to help and what do we need to send off to a professional? As it stands right now, we are going to have an outdoor wedding that we pretty much have to set up ourselves. We are going to go out the night before and the morning of and set up the location of our wedding. It is going to be stressful, but it is a whole lot cheaper than making others do it and then having to pay them or get them a gift.

1. TAKE TIME TO ENJOY YOUR ENGAGEMENT BEFORE DIVING INTO THE PLANNING…

2. DON’T BE SURPRISED IF HE WANTS TO HELP WITH PARTS OF THE WEDDING….

3. WHEN THINKING ABOUT WHEN TO HAVE YOUR WEDDING, CONSIDER YOUR BUDGET…

4. STAY ORGANIZED…

5. DON’T FORGET THE REASON YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED…

To read more about the 5 wedding tips, click here

Here are the three tips coming from a professional wedding planner in town.

Prioritize Your Big Day

When it comes to planning your wedding, you can cut costs. Which costs to cut are best determined by this simple exercise: Make a list of three (no more than that) aspects of your big day that matter most to you. Since no two brides are alike, your list of three will be unique to you.

Never Skimp on Shrimp (or whatever you’re serving!)

If showing your guests a great time is important to you, do not cut back on food and beverage. You don’t have to serve a four-course feast to impress your guests. If your budget doesn’t allow for a lavish meal, you can still satisfy guests with a fun breakfast buffet, an all dessert blow out, or a mashed potato bar—just be sure quantities are plentiful. Many guests will remember your wedding as a hit event simply by enjoying plenty of food and drink, whatever kind it may be. That said, it is better to have more than enough of a few great dishes than to have tremendous variety in limited quantities.

 Look Good without Busting the Budget

Here’s a personal anecdote that many a bride can learn from. Background: I adore fashion, love good clothes, and I don’t mind springing for expensive pieces. I practice the cost per wear rule: How much does it cost, divided by how often I will wear it = cost per wear. Two-hundred dollar boots that I’ll wear three times a week all winter long are worth the money. When my wedding rolled around, I abandoned my rule in the name of bridal vanity and plunked down a lot for my amazing gown and accessories. I don’t regret it, even with the terrible cost per wear ratio; however, since my wedding, I’ve dressed brides of all budgets and have seen them look like runway models in gowns that cost as little as $20 (not kidding!) and as much as $1,000. The reality is that you will wear the gown for one day, and you can look just as stunning in a less expensive gown, without sacrificing an ounce of style or beauty.

You can read the full article here

Here are 4 steps for selecting and accomplishing your first goals:

1) Start with the goals that excite you the most

If you start with goals that you feel you “have to do” or, worse, someone else wants you to accomplish, you will procrastinate and not get anything done. But when you start with something that excites you and makes a big difference in your life, you will quickly reach your goals.

2) Write them down, in detail with due dates

I’m frequently surprised by the number of wedding planners who keep their goals in their heads. Writing them down will help you clarify what you want and putting goals onto paper can make you feel more committed to getting them accomplished.

3) Schedule your tasks

Determine the tasks you need to perform to get your goals accomplished and schedule them on your calendar. Since you are starting with two to three goals, your list of tasks should not be overwhelming and your calendar should not be overbooked before you even start each day, which can happen if you are trying to do too much at one time.

4) Review your accomplishments

At the end of each day, review what you have done towards your goals and adjust your schedule for the next day, if necessary.

When you focus all of your attention on just a few goals at a time, you are able to have more clarity about them and will find them easier to accomplish in a shorter period of time.

1. To-Do That Can Wait: Choosing Your Bridesmaids

Of course they were some of the first people you called after the proposal, but hold on before asking all your besties to be in your wedding party. 

Drama has a habit of popping up in the early stages of engagements, so wait for the initial “Oh my god — you’re-engaged!” phase to die down before asking your girls to be bridesmaids. 

A few weeks after your engagement, you’ll have a better idea of who’s excited to dive into wedding planning with you and who might have a better time at your wedding as a guest.

2. To-Do That Can Wait: Buying Your Dress

Browse through magazines and online galleries to your heart’s content, but consider holding off before actually purchasing your wedding dress. After a few weeks of looking at blogs and trying on dresses, your taste might change in a surprising way (same goes for your accessories). 

But don’t sit on the decision for too long — you don’t want to find yourself a month from the wedding date without a dress. We recommend buying your gown six to eight months before your wedding.

3. To-Do That Can Wait: Your Seating Chart

You’ll want to figure out a rough estimate of your guest list so you can plan things like your budget and reception venue, but don’t worry about deciding specific seating assignments yet. That can wait until after you’ve received your RSVPs and finalized your reception setup (venue, table sizes, etc.).

4. To-Do That Can Wait: Picking Your First-Dance Song

Your first-dance song — and all of your wedding music — is one of those details that you can tweak right up until your wedding day (especially if you’re hiring a DJ). So there’s no need to stress.

5. To-Do That Can Wait: Choosing the Bridesmaid Dresses

Your wedding party attire is one of the biggest, most impactful ways to carry out your overall wedding style. But, as with your wedding gown, it’s likely that your theme or colors will evolve during your planning process. 

So save bridesmaid dress shopping for when you’ve decided on a final look and feel for your wedding (you don’t want to have your maids buy one color or style and then later change your mind!).

6. To-Do That Can Wait: Planning Your Honeymoon

More and more couples aren’t jetting off on their honeymoons right after their wedding day, so it’s okay if you need more time to plan carefully — even if that means waiting a few weeks after your wedding to go. 

If you do want to leave for your honeymoon the day after your wedding, book your travel plans six to eight months in advance.

7. To-Do That Can Wait: Choosing Your Flowers

Book your florist early on (you’ll want to pin down the best person, one whose overall style matches yours), but you don’t actually have to specify what flowers you want until a few months — or even a few weeks — before your wedding. 

So start setting aside photos of wedding flowers that you love (and have a conversation with your florist about which blooms will be available for your wedding date), but don’t worry about narrowing it all down just yet.

8. To-Do That Can Wait: All Those Little Details

Tiny details, like your linens, table settings and escort cards, don’t need to be dealt with until well after the bigger decisions, like your reception venue, are made. 

If you’ve got the itch to plan right now, focus on the fun stuff, like tasting appointments with your caterer and cake baker or choosing your wedding colors.

9. To-Do That Can Wait: Buying Anything Edible

You might have already found the perfect chocolate wedding favors, but don’t buy them just yet. Plan to make the purchase of anything edible as close to your wedding date (no more than a month in advance) as possible to get the freshest goodies for your guests.

10. To-Do That Can Wait: The Legal Stuff

You should be getting manicures and showing off your ring — not getting paper cuts on your fingers from all the documents you’re filling out. Changing your name, combining bank accounts, updating tax forms . . .  that can all wait until after the wedding.

Noeeva, the mobile wedding planner platform, launched the initial release of its iPhone app, allowing brides to plan and bring their entire weddings with them at all times on the popular smartphone, for free.

Isn’t it gorgeous that you can actually plan for your wedding using your mobile phone? It is now convenient for the bride to decide for her wedding while she is on the go.

Noeeva’s first product is a comprehensive mobile wedding planner app, currently available for Apple’s iPhone and iPod devices, that combines a mobile marketplace with planning tools and a social sharing platform.

To those with iPhone or iPod devices there, get ready for your personalized wedding planning! Even if you are not yet soon to be bride, you can still plan for your dream wedding for it is free!

Here are the different first steps(I got from an article) you should take when starting a plan of your wedding.

• Tone: The foremost thing to decide is the tone of your wedding, do you want it to be formal, casual or a theme wedding. At this time it is best to also decide whether you are going to have a religious ceremony or a secular one. The best way to decide is to sit down with your partner and discuss about the type of weddings you both would like to have.

• Budget: The next thing is the budget. Start looking at your finances and calculate how much you can afford to spend on the wedding without spending all your savings on it. You can talk to your parents and ask if they want to contribute to your wedding and how much. The most important aspect is to decide the debt you are comfortable taking for your wedding. It is strongly advised to the young couples to avoid debt as much as possible. At this time you can open a new account that could bring you airline offers, cash back or even other incentives.

• Attendants: The next step to wedding planning is making a list of the guests you want to invite. This is one of the most important decisions of planning a wedding. The length of the guest list will help you decide how big of a reception hall you will have to book, how much food you need to order, where you should have the ceremony, etc. if your budget is small, try to keep the guests list short and the wedding short and simple. This way you won’t need any wedding planner and hence you can cut down the cost.

• Venue: You should start looking for the venue once you are done with the guests list and know how many people you are going to invite. This should be done well in advance, as the halls are always booked a year in advance. This will help you get better dates, time and the cost of the venue you planned for.

• Support: It is better to plan your wedding with other’s help. It could be professional, publications or even your friends who have planned their own weddings. If you can afford an extra cost, think about hiring a professional wedding planner or a consultant. This can be very helpful if you are busy with other work and don’t have time to match the details of the whole event. This can also be a great help if you have no idea about free wedding planning. A wedding planner might be able to set up your ideal wedding and also save your money. You can also talk to other couples who have planned their weddings through networking sites. You can also use online wedding planning checklist to stay on top of your to do lists.

1) Don’t meet with a potential client and say, “here’s what I’m selling”

When you meet with a bride, don’t just repeat what is in your brochure and on your website. Listen to her, learn about her wedding, and find out why she wanted to meet with you. You’ve got to get her talking before you can figure out how you can help her and get her to hire you.

2) Don’t close the door if a potential client doesn’t hire you right away

It could be that the timing may be wrong or a bride might not believe she has the money right now. Stay in touch with your her through your ezine or an occasional email or postcard that includes some wedding planning tips so that she remembers you. She may decide to hire you later, or give your name to a friend to is ready to hire a wedding planner.

3) Don’t try to follow everyone’s advice

When you start your wedding planning business, a lot of people are going to give you their opinions and feedback, many of whom have never been in the wedding and event planning business. Some of whom have never even had a business. Listen to experts in your field and do your own research. Then follow what you believe will work for you.

4) Don’t put off evaluating how your business is doing

When your business is up and running, don’t keep doing the same things over and over if they’re not working for you. Take the time to figure out different ways to be successful. For example, if you run ads on wedding websites, take a look at your statistics and see if your investment is really working for you. If it is, you might want to find other sites that can bring you similar success. If it isn’t, you might want to spend more time and money exhibiting at bridal shows, keeping up your blog, or finding new wedding professionals to network with.

Wedding Planning involves a number of items. To start, you should have the exact date of your wedding so that the rest would just follow. Second is you should have the list of your invited guest on your wedding, choosing the theme of your wedding then deciding on your wedding gowns and suites for the groom, and etc. All these items should really be finished within a limited period of time. Therefore, good wedding planning is of great importance, which to an incredible extent is dependent upon whether you might have found the right planner.

To find the right planner for your wedding ceremony, you can try the following tips: (These tips are being compiled from the different wedding planning articles)

1. Watch videos of marriage ceremonies organized by the planner.

Eager to present you with their services, all planners will give many promises try to make you believe that they are exactly the right planner you are looking for; having said that, what are more convincing are not their words, but their past deeds. After they describe to you what forms of services they can provide, ask for a handful of videos of former ceremonies they have organized. If you like the videos, you can be assured with the quality of services they will provide you.

2. Tell the planner of your ideas about wedding in as much detail as possible.

Every individual is one of a kind, you included. You may have your very own cultural background, artistic tastes, envisage with the ceremony, amount of dollars to dispose, etc., together with your partner. Therefore, your marriage ceremony should really be one of a kind and designed only for you and your partner. If the planner listens carefully to your ideas about the ceremony and make detailed inquiries about them, that means he or she effectively understands his or she responsibility; if not, he or she will not be your best planner.

3. Visit as many planners as possible.

It might be tiring to visit 1 planner after another; having said that, only by visiting enough planners can you compare their strong and weak details. After all, you’ll incredibly possibly have only 1 marriage ceremony in your life time. Therefore, visit as many planners as possible and opt for the right one for you. Article Source and related