The wedding bells are ringing on the horizon. The moment you have been waiting for so long is so close that you could almost taste it. Your heart must be fluttering like crazy right now, but you must know that there is still so much to do.
Besides getting the wedding party planned, you will need to have cake and wine tastings too. You’ll be deciding on a theme and a venue, and hope that you can do everything with the budget you and your groom have set.
You also have to send out save-the-dates and invitations after finalizing the guest list. But that isn’t until you settle on a date, time, and place for your wedding. So much planning and decision-making go into a single wedding day, but it’s worth all the effort because it usually only happens once in a lifetime.
Before you get overwhelmed with all the tasks you have to accomplish to get to the much-awaited wedding day, you first have to make the most important decision yet: finding a venue. The wedding location is directly affected by your theme or motif, so you have to finalize that as well.
Traditional Church Wedding
This is probably the go-to option for most weddings, especially for couples who value saying their marriage vows in the presence of God. It’s a very traditional setting wherein either the bride or groom, or both of them, belongs to the congregation of the church where the wedding will be held.
It is also common to have a traditional church wedding paired with a reception held in a banquet hall or a hotel, where the rest of the traditions take place. The bride and groom’s first dance as a married couple, throwing the bride’s bouquet, and removing the wedding band will all happen after the ceremony and in the reception hall.
Outdoor Wedding
A lot of soon-to-be-married couples who like a unique ceremony opt for an outdoor wedding. This can take place in a meadow, barn, or countryside venue of your choosing. It can also be done the traditional way, except that it’s being held outside of the church or a place of worship.
Having an outdoor wedding will also add more deciding factors to the planning. It can include the chairs the guests will be sitting on, the design of the aisle, and if you want to have a decorative arch for the main ceremonial stage.
Another important aspect of planning an outdoor wedding is taking account of the weather and its temperamental nature. If you want to have the perfect wedding outdoors, you’ll need to have contingency plans in place in case of rain or storm.
Themed Wedding
Couples who are both huge fans of science fiction usually opt for a themed wedding. If you want to have a superhero-inspired wedding where you dress up as heroes or villains from a comic book, you can. And if you wanted to dress like the people in Game of Thrones and draw decorative inspiration from the infamous Red Wedding, you can too.
That’s one of the best things about planning a wedding — it can be done in whatever way the couples choose. You can even dress up your entourage in sea creature-inspired outfits if you want the theme to be underwater.
A themed wedding can still follow the nature of a traditional wedding because the theme usually just affects the decorations and the outfits that the bride and groom choose. With this option, couples can really go all out and have fun with their wedding.
Destination Wedding
Despite being one of the most expensive options for a wedding because of logistical concerns, destination weddings are becoming more common. Destination weddings are often held in another country, a faraway beach, or a hidden island where the couple wants to have their ceremony.
This type of wedding is also one of the most intimate, with guests being limited to no more than 20 people. The reason is that the cost of getting to the location and accommodation can be high. But oftentimes, another wedding reception is done at home to cater to the guests who were not present during the ceremony.
Having a destination wedding can also be an opportunity to hit two birds with one stone. Why is that, you ask? Well, since you’re already in an exotic destination, you can plan both your ceremony and honeymoon to take place there. You can extend your stay in that location after your guests have gone home and savor the alone time.
No matter how and where you decide to have your wedding, know that it will be perfect as long as you’re there with the love of your life. You might need to align your wedding dreams accordingly and try to contain them within the budget you have because realizing your dream shouldn’t break your bank.
You must also know that a wedding symbolizes the beginning of your life as a married couple. Therefore, you have to do the planning together and learn how to compromise with your groom. You can’t always be the one to make the final decisions, because that is reflective of the life you’re going to live as you grow old.
