Well, this is all very exciting, isn't it! Congratulations if you've recently gotten engaged... or if you got engaged a while back. You're getting married. This is big.

We want to talk to you about the joy of wedding planning. All the little bits that follow your engagement that keep you firmly on that 9 shaped cloud. Check out the related articles at the bottom of this post too for even more inspiration to start your wedding planning journey. You can also listen to the latest episode of our podcast... yep we have a podcast. It might just become your new best friend. 

All the feels

How do you want your wedding day to feel? Sure the aesthetics are important to a lot of couples but your guests will remember how your day made them feel over what colour flowers you had or if you hand made your favours or not. Will it be fun and high energy? Will it be romantic and sentimental? Maybe it will be a combination of all of those things. Either way, you and your guests will never forget the vibe of your day so it's important to get it right and be true to yourselves. Getting married is all about you as a couple so your day should reflect that.

Short vs long engagement

What are you going for? Either way, we have all the advice you need to plan for getting married. We have seen some cracking weddings planned in a matter of weeks on Rock My Wedding and we've seen those that have been in the planning pipeline for 2 or 3 years (and some for a lifetime... We see you, the little person with the pillowcase on your head practicing your vows or being the celebrant your teddies. If you're that person then here we are! Finally.).

Long or short engagement you can use our helpful wedding checklists to decide on the things you want to include. It's like a wedding pick and mix - we've given you all the choice and it's up to you to well, choose. You don't have to have everything. Have the bits that make sense to you. Contrary to popular belief you don't have to have flowers, for example. Maybe they just aren't your thing. And that's fine. One thing you'll learn about Rock My Wedding is that we always have and always will push you to have your day your way. We even have a book of the same title. You should probably get that if you didn't get it already as an engagement gift.

Wedding gift list

Yep - we love a gift list. 99% of your guests will want to get you a gift because humans are kind and caring and thoughtful and they want to help you mark your big day with more than their presence. They want you to have long-lasting memories that go beyond the wedding day and help see you well into your marriage. Your gift list can be compiled throughout the wedding planning process - dip into it whenever you're feeling overwhelmed for a bit of light relief. You can add incredible brands to your gift lists these days but you can also add experiences, subscriptions, honeymoon funds, charity donations, and more. We bust the myths around wedding gift lists in this article and you can check out our unbiased gift list review post to choose the one that is best suited to you here. Get yourself registered and have fun building your gift list.

Your ceremony

We're seeing now more than ever before couples really going to town with their ceremonies. Long gone are the days of having to stick to the registrar you're assigned when you register that you're getting married. Wedding celebrants can bring a unique twist to your day and keep it truly personal to you. Where you can we want to encourage you to write your own vows. Choose those readings that really mean something to you as a couple, whether that's a poem, a funny reading, maybe your favourite song or something totally alternative. Your ceremony is the only thing you have to have to become married. Everything else is just aesthetically appealing noise. That's not to say we don't like it loud, we just want you to know that you can focus your energies on the bit that really matters. Your commitment and the moment you say I do. you can find out more about what happens at a typical ceremony here.

Pre-wedding celebrations

Those hen and stag do's are so important. They are, hopefully, the one bit of the planning process that you don't have to plan yourself. Relinquish control and hand over to your best boys and girls to throw you the celebration of a lifetime. Whether that's at a yoga retreat, a trip overseas or a staycation at a country house with a hot tub and bottomless fizz, it's a chance for your wider team to meet each other before the big day. And it's a chance for you to get excited about having all the people you love in one room. It's a precursor to the final celebrations.

Did we mention shopping?

I mentioned the big things at the start - there's shopping for your venue, shopping for your outfit, shopping for your food (yep, catering guys = all the food tasting!) but what about the little things you might want to shop for? This whole journey of wedding planning is like a mini experience and you can make as much of it as you want to. Choosing jewellery, spritzing all the perfume samples in your local department store, having cocktails whilst deciding what to get your best girls as a thank you for everything. Those little bits are the most satisfying.