So… you’ve just got engaged! You’ve let everyone know! The next question they ask is so when do you think you’ll have the big day! 

Being in the UK we knew there’s no guarantee sunshine, and we really don’t feel the weather is going to effect our wedding, we’ve been to so many great weddings in October, a great month with beautiful autumnal leaves! (Also October falls out of wedding season *WIN for costs*)

We spent a long time thinking about places we could get married places we’ve been and loved, places near my parents (traditional) and his. We personally loved the idea of choosing somewhere that meant something to both of us, Brockenhurst Hampshire, where we first met at college! Once we had a rough idea of the location, out came the spreadsheets!

Google sheets has literally been my wedding planning best friend! I initially started looking at locations in the area that put on weddings- all put into a list with links so that me and josh could sit down one evening and think about what suited us and what type of wedding we wanted! It was also a great way to see costs and grasp some idea of a budget (I had no idea where to start with that) and how many people they could cater for. Once we narrowed down our options we contacted the relevant wedding venues to ask to view them. 

Something we really hadn’t thought about was guest list and how many guests we could/wanted to invite and keep the cost at a reasonable amount. And that was the first question we had back from the venues. “What’s you approx number of guests”. At the the time I chucked a ball park figure out there. Don’t do this. Spend some time on the guest list, make sure your happy with it! We underestimated how many people we we would invite and therefore lost negotiating deals!

Don’t forget most of all to enjoy it – I can tell you now this this was the funnest spreadsheet I’ve ever done!

Photo taken in the middle of our viewings