How to Plan Your Perfect Wedding Day - A 6 Step Framework

Good morning! 🌞 

We are officially one week away from our due date! (Unless we already had her, which might’ve happened since I scheduled this newsletter a few days in advance). We are beyond excited to welcome our baby girl into this world. Please pray for us during this time!

With that, the newsletter and content might drop down for a little bit while we learn how to take care of a newborn, but we’ll be sure to share all the details once we’ve got it “under control.” 😉 

☕️ With that, grab your coffee and let’s dive into this week’s newsletter.

How to Plan Your Perfect Wedding Day

Last Sunday, we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. We sat down for over an hour, flipping through the nearly 2,000 pictures we have from the day. It was the perfect day.

We also reminisced about all the planning that went into that day.

Most couples get caught up in the planning and become overwhelmed by the vortex of anxiety they’ve created. They overthink what actually needs to happen in order for the wedding day to be a success. This leads to last-minute planning that usually results in chaos.

This also makes it really difficult to focus on the beauty of the sacrament of marriage… the whole purpose of the day.

Everyone wants their big day to run smoothly and be perfect. But most couples fail to put strategies in place well beforehand to ensure this happens.

Here’s our 6 step framework for creating your perfect wedding day.

1. ⛪️ Book your church first

This one might seem obvious, but some couples skip over this step at first.

The day is all about the sacrament of marriage. Everything else flows from that.

Get the church booked within a week of engagement and then plan the day around that.

It’s important you do this first because some parishes are booked out 9-12 months in advance.

It also makes it much easier to plan events for the rest of the day when you know for sure where the wedding will be.

2. 🔢 Create a Master Sheet

Planning a wedding requires numerous documents.

Your budget, programs, save-the-dates, invites, guest list, etc. The list goes on.

These kinds of deliverables should be easy to locate, access, and edit at a moment’s notice.

To ensure we had everything in once place, we created a file called “The Master Sheet.”

It was a Google Sheet that had EVERYTHING. It had a tab for our rehearsal invite list, ceremony/reception invite list, wedding day schedule, Mass parts we chose, links, checklists, and more.

This made it easy for us to go back-and-forth between tabs as we discussed different aspects of the day.

When we made changes to anything, we HAD to make sure it was updated on the Master Sheet.

This also made it very easy to copy-paste a tab once we had a template we liked.

Furthermore, we could easily come back to this sheet in the final few days to make sure we had everything taken care of. Peace of mind.

Find a software, create a template that works for you, and use it. The key is to start with an organized filing system from the get-go. It’s much harder to reign everything in after a few months.

3. ✏️ Decide your priorities

Every couple and every individual within a couple has their own priorities when it comes to the wedding day.

Talk through these on day one.

Your priorities will drive every conversation you have moving forward.

Your priorities affect the rest of your planning.

For example, a couple that wants a ton of flowers and no hosted drinks is going to have a completely different looking budget than a couple that is the opposite.

Fleshing out your priorities early also helps you correctly order your checklist right away.

A videographer is a must-have? Great. Book them in the next week.

Are you going to need a reception venue? How big? Is it important that it has certain features? If so, start scouting them out now!

4. 🤑 Finalize your budget… and multiply it by 1.25

Just like your priorities inform your budget, your budget will inform everything else you do.

Create a detailed budget (I recommend using Google Sheets or Excel).

List out every possible line item you can think of.

If you setup your wedding website on “The Knot,” they have a very helpful checklist of items to think about.

Once you think you have your final number, make it 125% of that. Weddings are expensive and it’s important to plan for the unexpected expenses that are inevitable.

5. 🗓️ Schedule a weekly meeting

To ensure nothing slips between the cracks, you should be discussing wedding plans weekly.

DON’T do this while on dates.

DO carve out 30-60 minutes a week that is dedicated specifically to wedding planning.

We like using Google Calendar.

Be intentional about when you plan and when you don’t. Wedding planning can get stressful. Be there for each other. Don’t forget to keep dating!

6. 🙏 Pray

Begin each planning meeting in prayer.

Invite the Lord into your planning. Ask Him to guide you as you select your readings, create your invites, meet with your photographer, and everything in between.

Weddings are a beautiful way to give witness to your Catholic faith. Craft a beautiful day to make the Lord known to all your family and friends!

Keep Him at the center of it all.

BONUS: Canva is your best friend

Canva came in so clutch for us. We designed our save-the-dates, invitations, and programs all in Canva.

We also order prints and envelops directly through Canva.

It was super affordable and quality.

Highly recommend using Canva for all your graphic design needs.

If you’re currently planning a wedding, we are praying for you!

Planning a wedding is a lot of work, but when done right, it is a fun, fruitful experience that results in a beautiful wedding day.

Any questions about planning a wedding? Don’t be afraid to hit reply or DM us on Instagram!

In Christ,

Mitch + Tay