12 Responses to “What is the very first decision you should make when planning a wedding?”

1. diamondcollector says:

   April 23, 2011 at 1:53 pm

   the most limiting factor is when is the church and pastor available.
2. Philly K says:

   April 23, 2011 at 2:17 pm

   This is how I’m doing it and it seems to be perfect for me.

   1. Destination or Local
   2. Venue Location & Date
   3. Dress
   4. Officiant

   Then after that it will all be pretty easy. I am not doing a priest as my officiant so I have some flexibility for that but soon after you have the venue then you want to book your DJ, photographer/videographer, flowers and cake bakery.
3. Rachel-waiting for 11/21/09 says:

   April 23, 2011 at 3:15 pm

   Guest list!

   So many factors depend on what your guest count is … it’s hard to set a budget without knowing how many people you are feeding, etc. A LOT of things you will need to book for a wedding are priced on a per guest basis, so you should decide on a general number now, first.

   Your budget is the #2 thing you should do, before you really start getting prices, but it goes hand in hand with your guest list number.

   You don’t have to have every single name, chair, table assignment, but a rough number (100, 120, 300, etc) is really important to get venue, catering, cake estimates.

   Good Luck and Congrats!
4. cris says:

   April 23, 2011 at 3:38 pm

   the budget!!! personally, that should be the most important factor because all other elements of the wedding are dependent on it. the number of guests, the dress, flowers, local/destination, even the time and date of the wedding (hey, lunch is cheaper than dinner and weekdays are cheaper than weekends) all depend on your budget.

   Good luck!
5. Sara says:

   April 23, 2011 at 4:23 pm

   Budget! Without that, nothing else can be decided…
6. TotalRecipeHound says:

   April 23, 2011 at 5:15 pm

   Before you make a decision, you have to ascertain facts. Time of year and roughly the number of guests are absolutes because they determine a lot. Also, it helps you determine what is important to you.

   I wanted a courthouse wedding with just us and my husband wanted a wedding with 150 people. We agreed on roughly 30 guests (finally) and from THERE we could gather information to decide when and where. We decided we were not going to charge stuff so EVERYTHING including engagement ring and honeymoon had to come out of the savings account. That helps to clarify as well – if you don’t have the cash, you focus on what is important to you.

   If you are religious, almost the first thing you need to do is contact your pastor or priest. Many Catholic priests won’t even let you set a date for the wedding unless you’ve gone through pre-cana. If you don’t plan to have a church wedding, none of that is of any consequence as you can get an officiator for virtually any day of the year.
7. *Miss_Autumn* says:

   April 23, 2011 at 5:59 pm

   You can’t do anything without knowing what your budget is. You need a ballpark guestcount to figure out what venues best suit your needs. Then the first thing you need to do is look around for a location. Pick 2 different dates in case the venue you want isn’t available on the first date you want.

   The first thing you should do is figure out how much money you have that you are willing to spend, how many guests you want that you can afford, when you want to have it. Sit down with your fiance and decide what is most important to you and what you are willing to cut out.
8. angelhaiku says:

   April 23, 2011 at 6:40 pm

   Well… in hindsight, I wish I had considered budget first and not how pretty I wanted my wedding to be.

   I’ll be paying it off for the next 6 years.
9. Paulina says:

   April 23, 2011 at 7:02 pm

   In my opinion…

   1. Budget
   2. Date/time of year
   3. Who to invite & who to have in your wedding party
   4. The location of the wedding
   5. The theme or colors
   6. Your dress
   7. Your menu
10. nova_queen_28 says:

    April 23, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    Alot of those things go hand-in-hand.
    You need to explore all at the same time and make your decisions from there.

    If you would like a destination wedding, can you actually afford it? Or maybe there is a less expensive time of year that you can afford it (off season)? If you want a local wedding, is your church available at that time?
    These decisions all come about together.
11. MissE says:

    April 23, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    Date!
    Next budget and place.
12. Meg D says:

    April 23, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    In the process of planning a wedding, budget concerns often is a source of disagreement for a couple. They may have different ideas about what kind of wedding they want, and about what they can afford. To make the wedding a truly happy occasion, it is important that the couple discusses financial constraints early.

    Set A Budget And Save For It

    The first tip is — discuss finances before the wedding plans begin. Everyone involved in the decision-making process needs to understand exactly how much money is available for the wedding.

    To maximize that budget, you should start saving early for your wedding. Advance planning and saving will allow you to maintain or even exceed your budget, comfortably. And that will make wedding planning easier and more fun.