Planning Stress, Help!

Like I always say to couples who are feeling overwhelmed by wedding planning, just remind yourself that to get married, you need the paperwork, the officiant/registrar, and two witnesses. Literally everything else is optional!

Stop thinking in terms of what you 'ought' to have at a wedding and start imagining how you want to mark the moment when you make this lifetime commitment to your other half. For starters, do you want a secular ceremony or a religious one? If it's secular, you are looking at registrars, hotels, stately homes etc. If it's religious, then you need to be contacting your local religious leader/place of worship and then thinking about where you will have your reception, if you want one. Once you know the type of ceremony you want, start thinking about who you want to be there for it. Do you want it as low-key as possible with just your witnesses or do you love the idea of gathering all your loved ones for a massive party? Or maybe something in between.

Once you know how many people you want, it's time to start working on a budget. There's no point in looking at intimate venues that hold a maximum of 30 if you want 300 guests. And no point in considering 5 star hotel if your budget is more local pub! Budget can be the trickiest thing to sort - balancing what you would like with what you can afford, especially if you don't want to delay the wedding for too long while you save up. But once that is sorted, you can start planning the details.