Now that you’re engaged and you’ve finally found the person whom you want to send the rest of your life, it is time for you to start making plans for a big (or small, if you like) engagement party. Things can easily go wrong, but you should be fine if you ensure that you don’t make any of the following mistakes:
Making the guest list come second
I get it. You’re super excited to be engaged to the love of your life and you just want the whole engagement to go on without a hitch. You can’t wait to start with the “save the dates” and the “hope to see you here” greetings. You also have to choose a lot of little things like your flowers, decorations, etc. However, while you might not know it, one of the most crucial elements of your engagement ceremony is drafting the guest list. A lot of other elements of your ceremony will be determined by the guest list but not limited to the seating arrangement and how much you’re going to pay for certain services.
The solution: Make sure that before anything else, you draft a guest list in order to know just how many people you should be expecting. It might take you some time, but make sure to have his loose end tied as soon as you can.
Booking a venue really late
One of the things you need to get cleared as early as possible is the venue of your ceremony (I mean, it’s not like the ceremony will occur on the street, you know). Your venue will determine a lot of other things as well (including decorations, how many people you should expect, etc.), and you need to make sure that you have it booked as early as possible.
The solution: Also, you need to understand that weddings and engagements get organized basically every season, and it’s possible for your desired location to be booked when you’re eventually ready. To avoid any of that, make sure to have the venue booked and ready to go.
Doing it all on your own : You want to go all Bride-zilla, don’t you?
The truth is that we all get tempted to do things on our own. When I was engaged and we decided to hold a little ceremony to commemorate my getting hitched, I thought that it was just a small-scale affair and that I won’t really need any help. Needless to say, I was very wrong. Thanks to my zeal for everything to be perfect. I ended up biting far more than I could chew and before I knew it, I was almost gasping for air. Please, learn from my mistakes
The solution: It might seem like a funny expense, but you really need to invest in a planner. They can help lighten the load and make sure that certain aspects are taken care of (Especially those parts that you’re unfamiliar with yourself).
Going over your budget: No matter what it is that you need to do, you need to ensure that you’re operating within a budget. This is why you have to do a lot of financial planning. Ensure that you’re not spending more than you should, and make sure that before you splurge on anything new, you weigh its effects on your overall finances.
Also, but is always recommended that you put a little money aside for emergencies when planning your budget. As much as you can try to guess the prices of things, it is also possible for slight price changes to try to offset what you already have planned. To avoid getting caught by surprise, make sure that you always have extra cash to fall back on.
Dahunsi Oyedele
