Congratulations on your Engagement - amazing news! Getting engaged is the beginning of your own unique journey into becoming a Mrs and I’m so glad that we will get to help you along your way!

No matter what type of wedding you are planning – glamourous and sparkly, or laid back and bohemian, your wedding will be the ultimate display of you and your partners’ love – a total celebration of what you have together. So, make sure that you enjoy every moment between now and your big day – it really is such a special time.

When you’re ready (and you have soaked up all of the engagement cards, well wishes and champagne!), you can make a start on planning what kind of wedding you want to have. First up should be deciding roughly what will fit with you and your fiancés wishes the best – and what you would like to achieve. Will you be wanting a Barn Wedding or a Hotel Wedding? Something quite lavish or something quite simple? There are no hard and fast rules – choose a wedding style that says the most about you as a couple. From there, you can then start to think about your budget and how much money you will need for the wedding that you are imagining to take place.

I would recommend getting a copy of our Wedding Planning E-Course for Brides to Be – it has a fantastic way of guiding you through all of the bits to think about whilst planning your wedding and ensuring that you will be able to stick to your budget. You can get your course emailed straight to your inbox ready to help you with your wedding planning here.

Pulling together a wedding budget is a great thing to get done and out in the open with your beau – think about where you will be pulling your budget together from – your savings, your families helping out, an extra job? There are lots of ways to finance a wedding and the more upfront you are with your partner in the early stages of your planning means that there will be no need for upset further down the line.

Be ruthless in your honesty about how much you have to spend, which will of course influence where you hold your wedding, how many guests you invite and what you will spend on your dress, amongst all of the other elements you would like to include. If you feel overwhelmed at any point, just check in on our Real Life Budget Weddings on the Blog for some true stories on weddings with set budgets – there should be some really helpful points there that will help you realise your potential with your own wedding budget!

And if you would like an awesome way to track your wedding budget, I have created a really useful Wedding Budgeting Spreadsheet which contains all of the areas that you need to think about – from Catering to Venue Costs and everything in between - you can get your copy here! The lines are all pre-populated with everything that you could possibly need to think of, so you won’t worry that you have forgotten a thing!

Over the next few weeks, I will be going into the different parts of early wedding planning to help you plot your way! In the meantime, keep in touch on our Facebook page and on Twitter and Instagram @Budgetbrideco!

Happy Wedding Planning!
Laura x