The current Coronavirus pandemic is having a huge impact on everybody in our society for different reasons. Planning a wedding during this time can be especially stressful (as if wedding planning wasn’t stressful enough!) but it is important not to let the uncertainty deter you from moving forward with your plans, as demand for venues and suppliers will increase drastically for future years as many 2020 weddings are being re-arranged.
Looking on the bright side, you may find that you now have a lot more time on your hands as lockdown continues, so why not use this time to be extra productive and ultra-organised to ensure that your wedding planning goes as smoothly as possible!
Here are just a few wedding planning tasks which are great use of time during lockdown.
1. Create a budget spreadsheet
Whether you are in the early stages of wedding planning and want to control your budget from the start or you are part way through organising your big day and feel that you are losing track of your budget and your current spend, it is a wise idea to create a wedding budget spreadsheet.
In the spread sheet you should set your maximum budget, break this down by category and keep a record of everything that you spend. This will allow you to make confident and comfortable purchases without that post-purchase anxiety!
Within your spreadsheet you can also make note of any deposit and final balance due dates to ensure that you don’t fall behind.
Don’t worry if you are not a spread sheet pro either as there are some great ready-made templates on Excel. All you need to do is fill them in!
2. Complete your guest list
The guest list is well known as one of the most stressful tasks when planning a wedding. With pressures to invite almost everybody from former colleagues to aunts and uncles that you haven’t seen since your 10th birthday party and the often uneven balance of bride’s guests and groom’s guests it isn’t hard to see why this task has such a reputation.
If current circumstances mean that you have a lot more time to spend with your partner then take advantage of this opportunity! Sit down together with a nice drink and some snacks and take your time to talk through and finalise your guest list.
You will be surprised how much lighter you feel once it is complete.
3. Create a wedding website
Creating a wedding website may sound like a big and daunting task but thanks to the wide range of companies offering free and super easy templates to suit your needs (Read our previous blog post on the best sites out there) this task is a lot easier than you may think and also quite fun!
From your very own wedding website you can provide your guests with all of the essential information they need for your big day such as times and locations, collect RSVPs, publish your gift list and lots more. It is a brilliant and effortless way to communicate with your guests and will leave them pretty impressed too!
Plus, you have just added another string to your bow during isolation!
4. Complete Your Seating plan
Once you have your guest list finalised and you have collected your RSVPs through your wedding website you can then move on to completing your seating plan.
This is one which takes more time than you realise, so now would be a good time to crack on with it!
Essential things to remember when creating your seating plan are; ensure that children are seated on the outer edges for easy high chair access and regular toilet trips and also ensure that your nearest and dearest are close to (and facing) your top table.
Start your seating plan with a pen and paper as there will be lots of crossing out and alterations to be made as you go and then once you have your finalised plan you can either scan it in or re-create it on any basic computer programme and email it over to your venue.
Believe us – Your venue will love you for getting this over to them in a timely manner!
5. Get crafting
Last but not least, why not use this time to get creative! Something that we rarely get time to do as adults.
Crafting your own save the dates, invites, table favours and even venue décor can be really enjoyable and even relaxing which wouldn’t go a miss in uncertain times like these.
Not only will this allow you to put your own personal stamp on your big day but it can save you a lot of money!
Lots of arts and crafts materials are available to buy on Amazon or eBay and can be delivered safely to your door with the need for signatures now being wavered and the social distancing measures which have been put in place by delivery services.
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