Clueless and need a starting point

Hello and welcome to hitched ?

As you've already read budget is the best place to start and then decide how many guests you are going to want to invite, from there you can start looking for a venue ;-)

There is a budget planner on hitched that has a generic list of things to budget for that might help you!

We started with a rough budget in mind but that was tied in with the venue size and therefore number of guests too. It's kinda linked. Once we worked out a rough guest list, we got our numbers, this helped us pick venues of a certain size and from their rough quotes, worked out what was achievable. After that we visited the top few venues on our list and found the one for us. They had a package deal which meant we could also have canapes and things that we would consider extra or at least not a 'must have'. Once venue was found we liked, we got a date. From there it was church, TOG then transport in that order. I suggest they are quite high on your list as they have the most packed calendars in my opinion.

I would say the basic 'essentials' are:

-Venue

-Catering (wedding breakfast and buffet if you're having an evening party)

-Bride's dress

-Groom's suit

-Registrar

-Rings

-Music, e.g. band or DJ (but some couples provide their own using an iPod or whatever if they're on a budget)

-Rings

-Flowers

All the rest of the stuff like bridesmaids dresses, usher/best man suits, decorations, favours, honeymoon, hair and make up etc, are not 'essentials', but if it's something you want and you can afford it, go for it.

Good luck ?

Welcome to hitched

Ok, so starting point is budget but I understand that's difficult when you don't know what you want!

I would start with your numbers - write down who absolutely has to be invited to the day, who you'd ideally like to come to the day (but could be evening guests) and who you'd like to invite to the evening. (Or, you may decide you want everyone there all day).

Then start having a look at some venues that you like and get some quotes. Your venue (inc food and drink) is likely to take up the lion's share of your budget so once you have an idea how much that is likely to cost, you should find it easier to plot out a rough budget.

Hope that helps a bit!

Hi all and thanks for the advice.

I was starting to have a little panic (not a good sign so early on) but you have given me some good starting points. Think deciding on rough numbers then going from there will be a great help and once I find the budget thing on here i'm sure that'll help me out even further.

You will no doubt see more messaged from me on here the more I panic te he he, hopefully when I get into it and start planning more concrete ideas I will stop panicking, it's all still a bit alien to me ?

Thanks again guys.

Hiya and welcome to hitched!. Generally best to look into venues and photographers intially as they get booked up pretty quickly if in peak season, some even as far as 2016.

In case you hadn't found it yet...

Briliant, thanks. Will start this tonight ?

Ask as many questions as you want to. That should make it less daunting ?

Hello

2016 would give you loads of good time to plan and save up!
I started on here, browsing for ideas (found things I wasn't even aware I needed for a wedding haha) and got writing my lists. Everything we'd need like togs / entertainment / cake maker etc. And also guests lists for daytime and evening. I googled loads of things from my area like togs and got lots of quotes and see whos style of work we liked etc to narrow it down and get a good idea of what we wanted.
I haven't been to any but I've heard wedding fairs are really good to get ideas and maybe find suppliers or the odd bargain.
It seems like loads to think about really but this site gives loads of good tips & planners etc.
We booked first the venue, then church and then things like tog & dj etc. Slowly but surely getting deposits down and buying the odd decoration here and there and we've done ok so with the time you have you'll be absolutely fine!

Thanks for the rest of the comments, I've found them very reassuring. Let the planning and odd purchases commence. I already know it'll be here before we know it xx

We started with our rough idea of numbers so we could automatically discount venues that were too small or two big. Once we had a short list of the ones we liked the look of we started getting quotes for prices. Again, we narrowed down the list by taking off the ones that were too pricey or that weren't offering value for money. Then we arranged the appointments. We only visited 3 venues in the end. One we discounted straight away because it had very little atmosphere. We were torn between the other two but in the end it came down to a flight of stairs! The layout was just impractical for us and our guests.

Once we knew how much that was costing we had an idea of realistically what the day might cost. We made a list of priorities and started getting quotes. Once I'd researched what I liked I got 3 quotes for everything. Any more probably would have made my head spin and fewer meant I couldn't find an average price.

I'm in the early stages of planning myself and much like what alot of contributors have said my main priority is sorting out a realistic budget. That also includes determining the most fitting way of going about things. My fiance and me are kinda idiosyncratic and shy away from things that seem impersonal. Funnily enough an article on the main site about DIY invites(https://www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-planning/budget/save-money-by-creating-your-own-wedding-invitations_559.htm) made me realise that our wedding can be personable and within a budget. It also inspired me to sign up to this forum and see what other gems are on offer.Now I'm taking my first tentative steps into planning the events by running a few spec designs here(http://print24.com/uk/) to see what sticks. In short your already on the right track cos you're using the resources available to you (i.e. the Internet and networking) to figure out what kinda wedding you want and you should go about doing it.