Wedding is the most important day for a bride or groom. Every young groom or bride wants to have a dream wedding surrounded by their loved ones and look their best. But our big fat Indian weddings if not planned properly can be utter chaos and a nightmare to the couple and their parents. Successfully planning and implementing your/your child’s dream wedding involves a lot of preparations. Not just preparations but timely preparations are required to have a relaxed run up to the marriage. Lack of planning and preparation can cause undue stress for the soon to be married couple and they will eventually miss out on the fun and happiness in those final days before the wedding. This article points out some tips for future brides and grooms to ease out their wedding planning.
To have a well planned and relaxed run up to the wedding one needs to start the preparations at least 6 months prior to the wedding date. However, in the Kerala context, this is a luxury not many couples enjoy. Though with changing times more and more couples choose to take wedding planning upon themselves and hence prefer to have sufficient time to plan their dream wedding. Those who are not fortunate to have the luxury of time will still need to follow the same steps and order but in a compressed and much tighter timeframe.
While planning a wedding, the first and the foremost thing one needs to do is decide on the church and book the reception hall. With very few wedding halls available these days it comes as no surprise when families decide the wedding dates based on hall availability and choose to postpone the wedding due to non availability of halls.
At this stage the parents and the bride/groom needs start to preparing the list of invitees. Considering how big Kerala weddings are, this needs to be done with ample time so that you do not end up missing out on near and dear ones. With our Malayali families scattered all over the globe, our close yet distant loved ones need time to plan their leaves and flight bookings to Kerala. Be considerate and let them know the dates as soon as you decide.
Five to six months prior to the wedding one needs to start preparing the wedding invitation cards. The modern day bride/groom who opts to design a wedding card will need this time to work out the design, choose the paper, get the printing and cutting done without letting the whole process get on your nerves. Do send out your save the dates by email. As for the personal distribution of invitation cards, do it 2 months prior to the wedding. This is keeping in mind an average Malayali family that gets about 10 wedding invitations per month and are more likely to forget or misplace your invite if done too much in advance.
The second most important thing for the bride/groom is the attire. More than the groom the bride needs to decide on the attire early so that she can decide on the rest of her look based on the attire she decides to wear. For e.g. if the bride decides to wear a wedding gown she need to decide the makeup and jewellery that goes with the gown after she decides on the gown. So to decide this the bride needs to fix her wedding trousseau at least 3 months prior to her wedding. Considering that there are some makeup artists good at traditional saree look and some others who do the contemporary bride’s gown look better you need to have a clear idea of your wedding attire before booking the makeup artist. With the lack of good makeup artists who don’t overdo the look, there is a huge demand for the good ones. Also, if your wedding is not in Ernakulam or Trivandrum, you will most likely require the artist to come down to your wedding venue. Keeping all this in mind contact your preferred makeup artist at least 3 months prior to the wedding. A bride will also need to start shopping for her accessories like wedding jewellery, shoes etc after she finalizes her wedding look. Getting your jewellery customised will also take time. So do your shopping at least 3 months in advance to avoid the rush. Grooms have a bit of breather in this as there aren’t many accessories associated with him.
Three months prior is also the right timeline to decide on the photographer. With the demand for candid photography, it is best that the bride and groom meet the team in person and explain their requirements. Hire a team that not only understands your requirements but is also creative and has their own ideas on how to get something unique that you will cherish for the rest of your lives.
Two to three months prior is the best time to decide on caterers and the menu. It is also good to find a cake artist who specializes in personalised wedding cakes. Start early as these cakes draw inspiration from the bride, groom, wedding attire and wedding theme, and hence take time and require planning. This is also the right time to finalise the decorators for the church and reception hall. While planning the menu, decor etc keep in mind the theme and time of the wedding.
One month prior to the wedding is when the bride and groom should arrange for final fittings for their wedding trousseau and start pulling back from all the hands-on wedding planning and start to relax and rejuvenate. Enjoy the mood and get some tender love and care. You need to glow on your wedding day and the inner glow takes time.
The important aspect while you do your wedding planning is to do your bookings well in advance so that you get the best vendors or the vendors who you want to be available for your wedding. Understand that there are many weddings that taking place at the same time and hence you should book well in advance to find the vendors of your choice available.
Though this timeline is based on the assumption of at least 6 months to prepare for your wedding, brides and grooms without the luxury of time need not worry. Due to the time constraint you will need to start off on fifth gear but nothing is impossible with the support of our big Indian families. When you are crunched for time, your mantra should be delegate. Do not take it all upon yourselves only to be exhausted and out of energy on your wedding day. Just delegate your family members to follow the steps and enjoy a tension free run up to the wedding.
Whether you have 6 months or 1 month for your wedding planning, what is most important is to enjoy the process and most importantly look your best. Both bride and groom needs to keep aside time for grooming and beauty treatments. This way you can be present yourself in the most admirable way for the most important day of your life