Tips For a Last-Minute Wedding: A Guide for Couples Who Are Determined to Get Married in the Next Few Weeks or Months
It's not always easy to plan for a wedding in the months that precede it, but when you have just weeks or days before your big day, it can be downright stressful. With this guide of last-minute wedding tips, I hope to make some of your planning process easier and help you prepare for the big day without too much stress! Read on to find out more about what you can do.
Personalize Your Ceremony
When you're short on time, it's tempting to just go through the motions of your ceremony and marriage vows. Instead of picking something generic from a book or website that doesn't mean anything to you as a couple, personalize your ceremony by writing your own vows or including other elements that are important to both of you. Don't make your ceremony too long, unless required by your religion and/or beliefs. From my experience, people like it short and sweet and it makes it easier for you by a ton to get through a shorter ceremony.
Forget Big Details
Since you're short on time, ditch the big wedding details that aren't important to you. For example, if your significant other isn't into flowers or cake, then don't worry about it! It's not worth stressing over something that doesn't mean anything to either of you. Go for a theme instead and stick to the details that both of you have a connection to and will actually enjoy.
Make Your Reception a Party
Do all the things you've been dreaming of when it comes to having fun! You can have any kind of reception or party that you want within your budget. While there are recommendations on how to host a reception, remember that it's all about you and you shouldn't listen to someone how to plan your wedding if your vision doesn't align with theirs. My most favorite weddings I have attended always had a "party" feel to them. People were drinking, dancing, chatting, and just enjoying each other's company. While for each of these weddings there was an itinerary, it was flexible and no one was stressing out if something was skipped or ran late. Your mental health is more important than cutting a cake at 7:15pm.
Figure out who you want to have at your wedding
If it's just immediate family, then only invite them and keep the list small. However, if you're hoping for friends to join in on this celebration - don't limit yourself! Now, you probably have to have a limit of people present at your wedding to manage the costs. If that's the case, don't feel bad that you can't invite everyone. Just select the essential people and send your wedding photos & films to everyone else to enjoy the moment with you from the comfort of their home.
Create an itinerary that is realistic for what you have planned
Creating a tight itinerary that has everything written out by a minute will put an enormous amount of pressure on you and will prevent you from enjoying your day. Just have an outline of what's happening when and where to give everyone a sense of direction and enjoy the ride.
Hire essential vendors
If you have a wedding planner, they will be able to take care of this for you. If not, make sure to hire a photographer, videographer (if the budget permits), DJ, and a catering service as soon as possible so that there is one less thing to worry about.
Send save the dates as soon as you know the date and venue
This is probably one of the most important tips on this list because if you don't, people will simply not be aware of your wedding and may become unavailable by the time you reach out to them.
I hope you enjoyed this list and found it helpful.