Planning an Indian or a South Asian wedding is really really hard.
My name is Poonam and I am the founder of South Asian wedding blog and wedding
planning service The Maharani Diaries. Before I begin don't forget to give this
video a thumbs up if you love it, hit the bell to be notified if you want to see
more videos on this channel and let me know in the comments below what your
thoughts are on this particular topic.Ookay so let's get straight into it.
You're engaged! Congrats! As a former bride I know how hard it is
To plan a wedding. To begin with you feel so much joy and elation and then the
real stress starts to kick in. My advice is to enjoy your engagement for as long
as you can and then get stuck into the nitty-gritty of wedding planning. So
whether you hire a wedding planner or a wedding coordinator, it's entirely up to
you. A planner will take away all the stress and the guessing for you by
pretty much doing everything from the beginning right through to the end of
your wedding. A coordinator operates a little bit differently and sort of comes
into the picture in a more limited role. A coordinator will guide you in the
weeks leading up to your wedding and also on the day. They'll help you with
your vendor and your supplier lists and also keep track of things usually two to
three months out from your wedding. Both the wedding planner and a coordinator
can save you time. The timeline that I have come up with basically breaks down
your wedding over 12 months. Realistically speaking though, an Indian
or a South Asian or any wedding for that matter can usually take more than 12
months of planning. This depends on a few things including venue availability and
the scale and size of your wedding. But I hope that the timeline and
wedding checklist that I have created for you can guide you and give you the
kickstart that you need today. It will not only save you time but it will
become your go to guide when it comes to planning your wedding over a 12-month
period. Speaking of which, that checklist is in the description below so don't
forget to grab it at the end of this video. To simplify things, I like to begin
with the top 5 tasks and these are, defining your vision, setting a budget,
making a guest list, setting a date and picking your venue. So let's begin with
defining your wedding vision. Your wedding vision is basically your theme.
Think of your wedding vision as a beautiful Pinterest board full of ideas
and images that reflect you. It's great fun and relatively easy exercise to do,
so get started on this straightaway. Firstly choose the best words that
describe your personality and style. It could be 'alternative,' 'vintage,' 'rustic' or
even 'modern.' These descriptive words can help you define the overall vision of
your wedding. As mentioned you can turn to Pinterest to get those creative
juices flowing. Secondly think about the venue and the location. Is your wedding
going to be intimate or grand? Colours could also be a deciding factor here, so
you can turn to websites such as Pantone, again Pinterest and there are so many
different types of mood boards available on Pinterest.. You just type in "mood
boards" and loads of colour palettes and choices will come up for you in the
search engine. Last but not least the all-important priorities. What are the
3 things that you just have to have at your wedding? Is it
the quality food? That signature cocktail? Beautiful flower arrangements and decor?
Or is it the modern type of stationery that you choose? Perhaps one of you wants
a champagne tower or a live musician like a violinist or a pianist. Next is
setting a budget. I agree setting a budget is such a draining task
Without setting a budget though, you can't go any further with your wedding
planning. How much are you going to spend and how much you're going to put aside
for every aspect of your wedding? The average Aussie wedding in Australia
is around $65K which is just for one day. Be mindful of the fact that your wedding
will probably run over a few days, so it's important to break down every
single day and event. Something that brides and grooms don't do is break down
the costs of the pre-wedding events as well as the post wedding events. Your
outfits, your pre-wedding cocktail parties, your bridal shower.. All of this
should fall under your budget. Gather all this information, insert it into a
spreadsheet and then you can share this with your vendors. For instance your
wedding planner.. and they're gonna love you for this. It makes the job so much
easier for your vendors and yourself if you are prepared with a breakdown of
your budget. Okay so the next step is the guest list.
Creating a wedding guest list is another frustrating task. I know the guest list
usually depends on a number of questions that you need to answer for yourself. The
first question is, which we just covered before, is.. What is your budget?.. and Who do
you want to invite? So if you have a rough figure in mind based on the type
of venue that you are choosing for each of your events, then it makes this task a
whole lot easier and less challenging for you. The best approach to
begin with is to split up the numbers with your families. So say supposing you
have a 200 guest limit, you and your partner can choose to invite a hundred of
your closest friends and colleagues and then between each set of parents that
leaves 50/50. Also create an A List and a B list with the B list being your "maybe"
guest list. Send out your save the dates.. (at this point digital invites makes more
sense) and then this gives you an idea as those numbers start coming in you can
gauge how many people will be probably coming to your wedding. Next step on the
checklist is, setting a wedding date. Depending on how traditional your
background is, then setting the wedding date
can be quite symbolic. The important thing to keep in mind here is special
occasions, major events and any festivals. You want to also ensure that there's no
conflicting dates with other family members weddings or events. The season,
the days of the week.. all of this plays a big role and factor when it comes to
choosing the wedding date. Winter months could generally be a lot more cheaper as
well as weekdays too. Venue selection. Here in Australia we know how tricky it is to
find a venue that can be accommodating for our type of weddings especially when
it comes to things like the catering and the fire ceremony. There are also a
number of venues in particular here in Sydney that book out two years in
advance, so you will need to get in fairly quick. Bear in mind that it won't
just be one venue. Unless you want to have all your
festivities at the one venue.. in that case it makes the process a lot easier
You will though probably have multiple events and so picking places and
venues that have enough room is a good idea
The alternative also is to host some of the events at your home. This can
obviously be a little bit more intimate and that way you can adjust your
invitation lists accordingly. If you found these wedding planning checklist
tips super helpful, then I'm inviting you to download my free wedding planning
checklist. That's right FREE! It's in the description below. Tell me what your
thoughts are, I'd love to hear from you. I hope you enjoyed this video. Once again,
don't forget to give it a thumbs up if you love it, hit the bell to be notified
every time I publish a video. I look forward to catching you again next time.
Bye for now.