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Please have a read of the forum rules, check out the brides checklist (this will help you get started in planning) and add your date to the wedding calendar, all at the top of the forum - if you have not already. 

Enjoy the site!

Hi Mercedes and welcome to uk bride!

Like Erin has said start with your budget and the brides checklist is good to reference too, when we booked ours we discussed how long it would take us to save then set a date, next thing after venue is big things like photography, band/DJ, videography, those were most important to us so we booked them quickly any questions just ask were all happy to help xx

Getting your venue/budget sorted is the first step! We kind of did it backwards in that we viewed our venue first, decided we loved it and wanted our wedding there, and then sat down and worked out our budget around that... although it does help massively that my parents are splitting the venue bill between them! Which is also another thing - do you have any family members that are likely to help with the costs which would affect your budget?

Also sit down and work out how many guests you're likely to have so you know what size of venue you'd probably be looking for. Again, this links into the budget, especially if you have to pay per head.

When we'd got the venue booked we wanted to book all the "big" things and things that we thought were more likely to get booked up quickly - DJ, harpist, magician, photographer. If we were having transport we would have done this at this stage too.

We then started chipping away at other things and paying deposits on things such as a cake, hair and makeup, etc.... I ordered my dress at the 12 month mark, have had my shoes for ages, have had bridesmaids dresses for a good while now.

Now with just over 10 months to go we're in a really great place with just suppliers left to pay off and little bits and bobs to arrange like guest books, decorations, post box, favours, etc. I think it definitely helps to spread the cost and the stress!!!

Spend lots of time on p1nt3r3st and 1nst@gr@m to get lots of ideas, it definitely really helped me xx

Hello and welcome :-) I think almost everything has been mentioned, how about looking up what wedding fairs are going on in your area and attend some of those to see what's available to you? xx

Hello, welcome to the UKBride family. Budget and venue go hand in hand when you start off, as you need to book your venue in order to set your date, and you need to know how much you can afford. It's also worth at this point getting a vague idea of the numbers of guests that you want, as some venues will have limited space, and some will charge per person. Once you've confirmed your venues and date, you can start booking other things.