How to plan a Catholic wedding

How to plan a Catholic wedding

How exciting!!! You met the person you want to marry, and now you’re engaged! Now what?

In this post, I plan to map out your wedding planning journey as a Catholic couple. Because let’s face it—your Catholic wedding timeline and what you want to plan is going to be different from other couples who are not marrying within the Church.

Figure out your budget. Know how much you want to spend on what; this also requires a little research to know the average cost for things such as the reception hall, photography, food, decorations, the wedding dress, etc.
Make your guest list. When you know roughly how many guests you want to invite, then you can start searching for a reception hall that will accommodate all of your guests.
Set the date. This will be a little hard because you need to find a reception hall and a church (mostly likely your parish) with dates that line up for both of them. You can first talk with your church for the dates they are available without committing to a date, and then go find a reception hall that has a date that lines up with one of the days your church can have your wedding.
Send out your Save the Dates. I highly recommend using this opportunity to find your wedding photographer. Some photographers offer in their wedding packages an engagement session for free, this way you can spend less money and build a relationship with your wedding photographer before your wedding! You can use Canva to design your Save the Date and save some money as well. Save the Dates should be sent out 8 to 12 months prior to your wedding.
Create your wedding website on The Knot or Zola. You can have your guests RSVP on the site as well as write your love story, hotels for friends and family to stay at and places for them to visit, links your registries, and FAQs!
Send out your wedding invites. A couple of sites to use for designing are Minted and Zazzle, or you can design your invites on Canva and print them out yourself. If you decide on Minted, they print the guest’s addresses on the cards for no extra charge as well. Send out your wedding invites 6-8 weeks before your wedding.
Figure out the vendor services you want to use and what ones you don’t (such as a videographer). Then, go ahead and find your other vendors. This can be a little tedious, but it helps your whole day fall into place! Find a photographer, caterer, DJ, videographer, florist, bakery, hair and makeup, wedding dress, and rentals company.