Advice for planning your wedding - from past couples who have been through it all!

Ask professionals for their advice

"Get a spreadsheet on the go! Lots of good templates available online, just stick to your budget and your guns and take a bit of advice from professionals you trust."

Use a wedding planner

"As we don't live in the UK and didn't want the stress of trying to organise the wedding from Spain on our own, we found The Wedding Arrangers who have taken all of that stress away for us."

Find suppliers you love

"Plan early and it's largely stress free. Don't attempt to string 1000 paper cranes with 2 weeks to go. Weddings takes a village. Accept help, allow your skilled friends to do their thing. Find suppliers you are really excited about and trust them to make it the best day ever. Accept that the last month of wedding planning will see floods of money leave your account. Potentially don't try and buy a house 2 weeks before either. House stress and wedding stress is a little too much at once!"

Be in the same country

"My advice is not to plan a wedding from a different continent!"

Be organised about it

"Do your research, think of your budget and plan and do as much as early as possible. Everyone mocked us for being so well organised (I am an Office Manager, it was never not going to be organised) but it meant we got to enjoy all the planning, all the DIY and the countdown to the big day without being stressed out of our tiny little minds!"

Be decisive

"Our advice for future couples planning a wedding is to be sure about what you want and to stop when you find it - be decisive and be organised. We planned this wedding in 5.5 months, and it's not as hard as some people make out, so long as you are willing to be realistic and stick to a budget!"

Be chilled about it

"Our advice for any couples planning their wedding would be not to rush it. We’ve loved getting everything ready for the wedding, and have tried our very best to keep everything chilled. At the end of the day as long as we’re both there we know we’re going to have an amazing time whatever happens!"

Go with your gut

"Our advice would be to do what you genuinely want and don't be overwhelmed with choice anxiety. If you see something you like that you'll be happy with, just jump on it - don't worry about something better constantly being around the corner; that way lies madness. Also try to put familial pressure to one side as much as you can. We've been very lucky and our families have been hands-off, which makes it a whole lot easier when there's only two people's expectations to manage."

Don’t sweat (or spend money on) the small stuff

"KEEP IT SIMPLE and don't spend money on stuff you'll chuck after or that no-one will notice (we skipped bridesmaid flowers and fancy invites - Vistaprint baby!, Nat's mum made the cake, TK Maxx was a massive help and we really shopped around and borrowed where we could. We also DIY-ed where possible and had lots of lovely people help out - your mates probably have amazing skills that could help you, ask for their help as a wedding present!) Don't sweat the small stuff - You're marrying your BFF and that's pretty awesome."

Remember the only important thing

"Advice for future couples getting married - don't sweat the small stuff....if you have your registrar booked that's all that matters as at the very least you're getting wed! Get yourself to Hobbycraft and make as much stuff yourself as you can - we had lots of fun being crafty."

Keep it true to you

"Advice for future couples... Be more organised? Be organised at all?! We have planned this in less than 8 weeks and it’s been crazy, as neither us have had time off work, I’m pregnant and Nick has started a new job. However, it’s important to realise what’s really important. This will differ for each couple but for us it’s about staying true to who we are. Even if we’d had all the money and time in the world, I think our wedding would have just been a slightly fancier version of what we have. There would still have been silliness and animals everywhere and minimal tradition, because that’s who we are as people."

Only invite people you like

"Advice for future couples: blow the budget, it’s the best day of your lives ever, remember that! Guests may stress you out so only invite the people that are really important to you, not some random that you're probably never talk to again in 10 years time."

Don’t stress about tiny details

"Our advice would be to remember the bigger picture when stressing out about the tiny details which seem massive but really are not. Also... make a super spreadsheet with everything in it and share it between the two of you."

Listen to each other

"Advice to a couple: Don't lose sight of what you want to do. Know that there may be difficult decisions and conversations but be open with each other and receptive to different ideas. Ultimately it's one big party - you can't fail to have a good time!"

Don't stress - it will all work out

"We are probably laid back in our approach to planning our wedding. For us it is about the marriage (who would have thought?) and the wedding is just the celebration of the marriage. So that means it - the planning and the wedding - should be fun and happy. My advice would be to not be stressed about the wedding planning, it will all work out. I was fortunate to come across amazing people to work with (Anna included) as I pieced the wedding details together."

Have fun with it

"Enjoy it! It's not supposed to be stressful."

Don’t spend time on these things

"Advice for couples preparing for the wedding is to just relax and don't let the small details stress you out. Work out what you really care about and what you don't (ie. table cloths and chair covers aren't worth spending any time fussing about for me, so just forget about those and focus on what does matter)."

Remember it’s your day

"Just relax! Do what you want, do't worry about what other people have done or might think, and just remember it's your day - so make as much of the planning as fun as you can."

Use your mates

"Use your talented friends!! And make sure it is fun and enjoyable planning by doing what you love and making it personal!"