How to Plan a Wedding: 8 Tips for Organizing Your Wedding
According to some estimates, 2022 will be a record-breaking year for marriages, and all couples are planning their weddings to be as unique as possible. Depending on how you envision it, there are steps to take for wedding planning. Inspiring ourselves through our favorite celebrities, for example, may provide us with ideas on how to make our day as meaningful and loving as we have always desired.
1. Plan your wedding in your own home.
A home wedding is one of the most comfortable wedding event planning options. If you and your fiancé are the kind of couple who prefer a private ceremony, think about planning for a home wedding. You can manage your space and instill a sense of familiarity into your wedding, making it one-of-a-kind and unforgettable, whether it takes place in your living room or in the backyard.
If you’re looking for ideas for your at-home wedding, consider the lovely Ariana Grande, who married Dalton Gomez in 2021 and chose this style of ceremony. The singer wanted a private wedding, so only 20 of her closest friends and family were invited. Even if you are not in the same location or have a limited budget, your lover and those close to you will make everything special.
2. You can walk down the aisle with your mother by your side.
For planning your own wedding, you can make your own rules and choose whatever makes you feel cozy on that special day. The bride’s father, or another male figure, traditionally escorts the bride down the aisle. Many people cannot do so because they have lost a loved one or have a father who is no longer a part of their lives. Thus, some people prefer to walk down the aisle with their mothers.
When Priyanka Chopra married Nick Jonas in 2018, her mother was by her side as she made her way down the aisle. This only serves to show that you are not required to follow this tradition and that it can still be very special if you have a special female in your life who will walk with you to your soon-to-be spouse, such as a mother, an aunt, or a friend.
Another notable case in point is the royal wedding of Meghan Markle, who defied many conventions when planning her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018. Meghan, whose father was absent on the wedding day, chose to travel by carriage with her mother Doria Ragland to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where she was escorted down the aisle by King Charles.
3. Mini Wedding cakes.
The wedding cake should be on your list of must-haves for the marriage, but a recent trend has people opting for multiple small cakes rather than one large one. Small wedding cakes can be both elegant and cost-effective. Furthermore, many bakeries are completely adaptable and offer mini wedding cakes that are just as lovely and delectable as any cake.
If you’re planning a wedding, you might want to consider making the cakes smaller so that you can offer your guests a variety of flavor options. Not a teeny-tiny pastry, but teeny-tiny cakes that look exactly like a regular wedding cake and roughly equal the serving size of a traditional slice.
One of our favorite celebrities, Gwyneth Paltrow, married Brad Falchuk in 2018 and followed this wedding advice by opting for smaller cakes. Following the ceremony, the couple’s wedding menu was made public, along with the remark that in choosing a cake, the couple couldn’t decide which kind to serve, so they made a compromise and served both of their choices.
Paltrow and Falchuk chose 45 individual carrot cakes for the bride and 45 chocolate and vanilla cakes for the groom. As you can see, opting for small cakes can also fulfill both of your desires as a couple while avoiding unpleasant fights right before your big day.
4. At your wedding reception, serve food buffet style.
The food you serve has a big impact on your budget and the wedding itself. The best choice is to choose a simple, inexpensive meal and have it served buffet-style. Buffet-style food service has been a staple at wedding receptions for a good reason: It’s an economical and effective way to feed a large group of guests with various food options all at once. Buffet food is also easier to prepare and serve.
If you decide on a buffet style for your wedding, stick to a theme and a certain type of food. This will give your food service and overall choices the appearance of being well thought out and organized. Whether you stick to a traditional menu or design a unique themed menu, when planning your wedding, there are countless ways to transform a wedding buffet into an incredible dining experience.
Lea Michele and her husband Zandy Reich kept their wedding menu as simple as possible. While they served their guests a full sit-down meal at the reception rather than a buffet, they served it family-style, giving everyone the impression that they were having dinner at home.
Moreover, they opted to serve a variety of Italian dishes and portions of pasta, as the pair stuck to the Tuscany theme while planning their wedding. “I wanted it to feel like we were in Italy,” Michele confessed. “That’s where my family’s from, the food that I grew up eating, and so I wanted to have a Tuscany-Italian vibe, with family-style pasta, big, long, family tables”
5. Tie the knot during the winter season.
Aside from the summer months, the winter season is one of the most popular times of year to marry, with many couples enchanted by the idea of a romantic winter wedding during the Christmas and New Year holiday seasons. Even though getting married in the winter may seem inconvenient because of the cold and the possibility of rain, think about the advantages of it when planning your wedding.
Off-season weddings have benefits like more available dates at your venue, lower prices, and less worry about the weather because you will probably hold your celebration indoors. We can find inspiration for winter weddings in woodland scenes, strings of lights, festive greenery, and seasonal treats.
Many of our favorite celebrities have said “yes” during the winter months, and we might take some of their wedding advice to make our ceremony as cozy as possible. To set themselves apart from the stereotypical bride wearing a corset and skirt, some of them have chosen long-sleeved gowns accompanied by a snowy location to make everything look even more romantic.
Kate Upton and Justin Verlander exchanged vows in an opulent Italian ceremony in November 2017. She illustrates a major fashion advantage of getting married in chilly Tuscany at the location where they held the ceremony: long-sleeved lace bodices.
Other celebrities who planned their wedding in the cold months are Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra, who tied the knot on December 1, 2018 with 2 sumptuous ceremonies in India. The bride declared shortly after the wedding. “We are taking beautiful traditions that we both grew up with and we are personalizing them in a way that makes sense for us.”
6. Personalize your wedding gowns.
Customizing your wedding gown is an excellent way to make your big day as unique as you want it to be while also fully expressing your personality. Add embellishments, straps, embroidery, outerwear, or sleeves to make your dress stand out. Let it express what you want people to see about you and cherish the pics of a gown you will always remember as being the most special one.
Whether you want a custom veil, extra coverage during your ceremony, or a second look for your reception, personalizing your dress will make everything more special and romantic for you and your partner. However, to better plan your wedding and draw inspiration, you can look to some of the celebrities who have also chosen customization for their wedding gowns.
Hailey’s Bieber wedding dress, which featured a long veil, is among one of the most gorgeous ones. When Hailey Baldwin shared images from her 2018 nuptials with Justin Bieber, her custom bridal veil went viral. Her all-over lace wedding dress by Virgil Abloah was the perfect complement to the embroidered veil that read: “TILL DEATH DO US PART.”
7. A weekend-long wedding celebration.
Even though it might seem like a costly option when planning your wedding, having it over the weekend could extend the duration of your special day. Nowadays, a lot of couples prefer multiple days of celebration to just one. This enables couples to truly share the joy of their marriage with their friends and family and to spend more quality time together.
Of course, there are both pros and cons to a weekend-long party, creating a spectacular 3-day weekend wedding celebration requires a lot of planning and organization, thus, before considering this option, take into account that you need guidance for your wedding.
Events spread out over the course of the weekend give your guests something to do as well as the chance to network and experience new things. In addition, organizing a wedding over a long weekend gives you more freedom to be inventive with the venue and flow of the celebration, making it much more unique.
The marriage of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, which occurred in August of this year, after their reconciliation, is a marvelous example of a long weekend wedding. The lavish 3-day wedding took place on Affleck’s sprawling estate: it was a small gathering of family and friends, with a rehearsal dinner on Friday and a wedding ceremony on Saturday.
Lopez had the option of wearing 3 different dresses to the event. In addition, the renewed lovers provided guests with personalized chocolate boxes and tote bags. “I wanted each day to have its own personality but fit the setting we were in for the weekend: the vibes were down-home, rustic-chic,” their Wedding Planner declared.
8. Opt for minimalist bouquets.
When planning a wedding, less is more, especially for the attire, decor, and flowers. Aside from celebrities, single-flower bridal bouquets are becoming popular among brides who prefer an understated but stylish look. As they enter the church, an increasing number of brides carry bouquets made entirely of one type of flower. The result is simple, but it has a timeless yet modern design.
Though conventional, romantic wedding bouquets will always be trendy, it’s been interesting to see how contemporary brides take the traditional floral accessory and make it simple and monochrome. We’re talking about floral arrangements that are simple but stylish. Consider monochromatic bouquets, which are made up of only one color of blooms, or made entirely of roses.
Flowers, ornaments, and bouquets should be at the top of your wedding to-do list. However, if you want to be inspired by other celebrities, look no further than Meghan Markle’s floral arrangements or Reese Witherspoon’s simple bouquet.
Some sources claim that Harry personally selected the flowers for Meghan’s bouquet, which included a bunch of sweet peas, lilies of the valley, and jasmine. However, Witherspoon’s bouquet is very simple, consisting only of white roses, and it perfectly complements her overall romantic look.
Do you have any other suggestions for wedding planning? What type of wedding did you have?