Congrats–you’re engaged! It’s finally time to sort out all the details and personalize your big day. Now, what comes next is enough to overwhelm even the most organized person in the world, but don’t stress, planning your Wedding can be easy and rewarding by following the basics listed below.

Envision your big day with your partner

The wedding planning process is an excellent opportunity to bond with your partner and learn about their dream wedding ideas. If you find your vision for the big day is all over the place, you can organize your thoughts and settle on your wedding theme by creating a vision board. Vision boards are a great way to help narrow down what you want, and help vendors and wedding planners understand your ideas so they can bring them to life! To get started, you can keep it old school and DIY your wedding plans with magazine clippings and glue or go the tech route and create a digital wedding vision board online. Either way will help get you organized and bring you one step closer to your dream wedding. Once you’ve settled on a wedding theme, you are ready to get into the details of figuring out which vendors and venues fit your style and budget!

Draw up (and stick to) a wedding budget

Taking a hard look at your financial situation can be uncomfortable, but it is a necessary step when it comes to planning your wedding since so many decisions are based on your budget. Start by figuring out what you have to spend, including outside contributions from family or friends, and then stick to that number.

With your budget set, get together with your fiancé and review your vision board. After taking a look at what your ideal wedding consists of, write out a list of must-haves that are worth the extra cash. Maybe a must-have is flying in your dream photographer from another country. Or getting a custom dress made by your favorite designer. While these things might be worth it, you might not have the funds to make them a reality. Don’t stress. If something is important enough to you and your partner, look into other financing options, like funding your wedding using a personal loan. This option allows you to afford the luxury wedding expenses you would otherwise have to give up. Plus, paying for your wedding using a personal loan can be a lower interest alternative compared to putting the expenses on your credit card.

DIY or Hire a Pro?

With so many decisions and details to coordinate, turning to a pro to help with planning your wedding could be the way to go. You can locate local wedding planners near you to help relieve the pressure of missing deadlines and appointments and keep everything organized for you. Leaving some of the responsibilities that accompany a wedding to the pros isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it gives you more time to swoon over your soon-to-be Mrs. or Mr., and you are left with picking out a lot of the fun stuff–like cake and wine tastings, yum!

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