Selecting your wedding date, venue, and temple

Choosing when and where to get married should probably be right up there at the top of your to do list after getting engaged. These are a couple of the more important things to plan right away because other people depend on this information. Your guests, venue owner, and temple need to know this, so they can plan for your big day.

Your Date: Most of the time you start here, with the day. It comes first because your venue and temple will need to know when to plan on you. However, if you are already set on your venue or temple, then you may want to call them first and find out what availabilities they have. Some may be booked many months out, that’s why these are important things to plan early on in your engagement. As far as looking for a date to accommodate your guests, many people choose to marry on a Saturday, the main reason being that most people have Saturdays off of work and are available to attend. If you do choose to have it on a day other than Saturday or Sunday, make you let your family and friends know early so that they can ask for time off and arrange to be there.
One other suggestion is that you try to not get married too close to a major holiday. If you get married too close to Christmas, Thanksgiving, or New Years, your anniversary may get swallowed up and forgotten by all the holiday spirit in years to come. However, if you are getting married between fall and spring semesters of school, this may be unavoidable. Just do your best to make sure each year that you save time out of the holidays for you to celebrate your anniversary.

The Venue: As I mentioned above, venues can fill up fast and early! Get this done ASAP. Some things to think about when booking your venue are when you plan on arriving and how long you plan on being there. Some people need a venue all day for the ceremony, photos, luncheon, and reception. Others may just be using it for a few hours in the evening for a reception. Either way, know how long you will be needing it. If you only need it for the reception, make sure you account for the time you will spend taking pictures after your ceremony and travelling to get to your venue location so you don’t pay for time you don’t need. Also, don’t be afraid to leave early if you are tired, or choose to have an early reception. The wedding day is long enough as is, don’t delay your honeymoon any more than needed by staying out and dancing till midnight.
               
Cultural Halls: Take it from someone who had their reception in a cultural hall, there is no good way to hide that you are standing in a basketball court. Pictures and décor are both hard. My suggestion if you’re on a budget is ask someone to let you borrow their backyard. If you do decide on the cultural hall, take time to plan how you will dress it up and perhaps add lighting so not all of your pictures will be yellow!
               
The Temple: Some temples are more popular than others… like the Salt Lake City temple. It is often booked months ahead of time. Most others are pretty easy. Just make sure that when you call to book it that you schedule a time that will allow you enough time to get ready in the morning. Most temples expect you to be there about an hour early. If you are doing a session before hand then they will expect you about three hours early. So, if you are planning on hair and makeup in the morning, plan a little later wedding time and you might actually be able to get some sleep. That is if you’re not too excited to sleep…
 
Good luck planning your wedding! 

Comment below any other ideas that you have!