Planning a wedding, whether it's a full blown affair with hundreds of guests or a small intimate gathering of family and close friends, is never easy. Wedding planning can be frustrating but it needn't be if you avoid the four mistakes listed below.
Budget, budget, budget.
In real estate it's all about location, location, location. When planning a wedding it's all about the budget. Before you do anything else, go over your finances and determine what you can afford to spend on a wedding. Notice I said what you can AFFORD, not what you WANT to spend; there's a difference!
If you're paying for your own wedding you can allocate the budget any way you see fit. If your parents are paying for it, they'll have their own ideas about where the money should be spent. To make things more manageable, make a separate budget for the reception which can eat up a big chunk of any wedding. Beside each amount, note who is paying for it. As you plan your wedding, note what the actual expenditure is. Stick to your budget and chances are you won't overspend.
Losing control of the guest list.
Once you've drawn up your guest list, stick to it without exception. If you've decided that you don't want children under the age of 12 at the wedding, or that any single people you invite will not be allowed to bring a guest, than that's your right and it's perfectly okay. After all, it's your wedding and you want to enjoy yourself. But you have to be firm and refuse to make exceptions. Doing so will cause you to go over budget, not to mention the hard feelings you'll cause when you make an exception for one person and not another.
Having a 'Buy The Dress' party.
I went to one of these once, and it was a total disaster. Rather than being a fun occasion it turned into a shouting match between the bride's mother and the groom's mother. Needless to say, the bride to be was mortified. Yes, THE dress is important, so take along one, at most two, people whose opinion you trust absolutely. Whether that's your mother, your best friend or your cousin, as long as they can be honest about how you REALLY look in that dress you love.
Forgetting why you're getting married
With everything that needs to be done, it's all too easy to let the wedding planning and the wedding itself overshadow the reason you're getting married in the first place; your partner! Don't forget that you're a couple, and set aside plenty of couple time. Romance shouldn't be put on the back burner just because you're busy planning for a day that's still months away!
