The big day is approaching, and more than ever the stress related to weddings is making itself known. It might feel like there’s no way to be sure of what you’re doing, and you could have a million and one questions about your special day. Should you have tried designing your own wedding invitations or was it the right move to go with Inspired Design wedding invitations? Do you have the right kinds of foods for all types of dietary requirements? Is everything to your specifications, and does it also suit your guests?

You could stress about these things until your hair falls out, but that could negatively impact your wedding, so to prevent that from happening we’ve forged a list of 6 tips for planning your special day. 

First up on the chopping block is the music for the day.

Many couples like to hire wedding bands to play for them, and this is definitely a more traditional approach to your musical setup for the day. The band plays for a couple of hours and you get some good renditions of your favourite songs to remember your day by. This is better in some ways than a recording being played through speakers, as it adds some life to your big day, but it also costs quite a lot of money - money which could be better used on a honeymoon - to hire a band, so choose wisely. 

Next up is food, and this can be a matter of life and death for some people, depending on their allergies. Before you hire a caterer, make sure to find out the allergies of every person on your invitation list and make notes of all of them, as well as food preferences for vegetarians, vegans, and pescatarians.

Some people think of this as being less important than the allergies of others, but these dietary restrictions will affect the enjoyment your guests get out of their day, so keep it in mind all the same. Finally, there should be enough cake for each person and slightly more than needed for seconds and leftovers for the bride and groom in the post-wedding week. 

The dress code is entirely up to you, as the organiser/betrothed, you get to say what is and isn’t acceptable. Generally, formal wear is the traditional choice for weddings, but non-traditional weddings can often be very beautiful and memorable, especially if focused around a theme.

Themed weddings can be any theme you can think of, but the dress code can change with it, so an old-fashioned carnival-themed wedding can have colourful and classically 1920’s style clothing as a dress code, or a beach-themed wedding could have a blue colour scheme as the dress code. 

The location for your wedding is essential, as it decides the surroundings you are placed in all of your photos, as well as the feeling of the day itself. Hours away from the city, far out at a small church in a beautiful slice of countryside might be perfect for you, or a city-based park service could be exactly what you want. The location should be considered based almost solely on what the bride and groom want the location to be, but if something is challenging or dangerous as a location it might need to be reconsidered, such as a floodplain in flash-flood season. 

The season you hold your wedding during is crucial because it decides the weather you’ll endure for your big day. Summer, Spring, and Autumn are all very popular as wedding seasons, and many large chapels and national parks are booked out for years and years in advance in such places.

Winter is a cold and rainy option, but there are clear days of crisp beauty in winter, and snowy locales really burst with natural splendour when the snow blankets the ground before a wedding. As with everything, it’s up to you, but be ready for a long wait if you’re looking at the biggest, most amazing chapel in the city, right in the middle of spring. 

Finally, contingency plans are just as important as everything else on this list, because, with events that are under a tight time frame and involve so many people and so many things, there will definitely be things going wrong from the first moment of the day. Make backups for everything that you can afford to make a backup for, and trust that everything will go the way it goes on the day, and you’ve done all you can to prepare. 

Weddings are fun, happy, gorgeous events that bring two families together for a day of good food, great company, and love. Trust that no matter what you decide to go with, yours will be incredible.