1. Number of guests. You have to decide upon the number of guests. Why is this important? It affects your venue choice. Some venues will only take above 80 guests while others can cater for 1000!2. Book a venue. This is the most difficult because of availability and variety. There are so many venues to choose from and when wedding season starts you may battle to find a date! Wedding season in South Africa is from September to April. Most venues will give you discount when choosing a week date and even more discount if you choose a date between May and August. Wedding season brings me to another important point, weather. Depending on your budget, March to April is perfect because it is not too warm and it falls in the South African autumn. You may think of autumn is rainy but this is a safe part of the year regarding rain. Usually the rainy season ends in March (summer rainfall region) and starts in December. The winter rainfall season starts in May and ends in August. Once again, decide on where your venue will be. When choosing a wine farm in the Cape you will have to think of the weather as it is more unpredictable in that region than in the north of the country. The important question to ask is: Will it rain? Once you have decided on the venue you will need to pay a deposit to secure it. Make sure what is included and what not. Here are a few questions you should ask:
- How many people do you take? (more or less than a certain number)
- What is included? (tables, chairs, table cloths, cutlery and crockery, glassware etc)
- What is not included? (décor, bar, DJ, flowers etc)
- Do you have a rain plan? (when choosing an outside venue)
- Do you have your own catering? (find out if you can bring in you own caterer if you have a cheaper option and ask for menus if not)
3. Draw up a budget: This is VERY important. Try and stay within you budget. You can add your honeymoon, invitations, transport, fittings etc into the above budget to have a sense of the total cost of a wedding. Also, start saving NOW. The more money you save the more things you can pre pay when the day arrives.
4. Draw up a guest list. This is a whole new article and can be a real nightmare! Follow the simple rule of only invite people you have seen in the last year. By seen I mean actually had a face-to-face conversation.
5. Decide on and mail invitations. You can either have these printed or you can make them yourself. This saves a lot of costs especially when adding some decorative elements. By delivering invitations by hand saves on postage and you will also not run the risk of invitations being lost.
6. Set up an RSVP list. Try to have an idea of you seating plan when drawing up your RSVP list. You will save time by doing seating as people confirm attendance.
Don’t let your wedding day arrangements take over your life. You will have very high expectations of something which should be easy and smooth. Be prepared that something always goes wrong! That way you won’t be disappointed if something does go wrong. Let family and friends help. They can take a lot of pressure off you. Make time for your partner. He/She may not be a part of the arrangements but may feel very left out if all you can talk about is the wedding day.
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