The big day is fast appro­aching and you still don’t know where to start? In this guide, we will take you thro­ugh the wed­ding pre­pa­ra­tions step by step. This way you will be able to focus on the impor­tant things with peace of mind.

Get­ting enga­ged and what hap­pens next

After a plan­ned or sur­prise enga­ge­ment, once the exci­te­ment has sub­si­ded, you start plan­ning your future path toge­ther. The first step sho­uld be cho­osing a wed­ding date. Will it be a distant one, and will you spread out the pre­pa­ra­tions over time? Do you want to maxi­mally acce­le­rate the next stage of your life toge­ther? The cho­ice, above all, sho­uld be up to you. Don’t be annoyed by the gol­den advice of all-kno­wing aun­ties – they really mean well! Calmly talk about your plans and set boun­da­ries – it’s not worth argu­ing.

Cho­ose a date that means a lot to you or one that suits you both. Some­ti­mes cho­osing toge­ther requ­ires com­pro­mi­ses. Do you want to get mar­ried on a holi­day or, on the con­trary, in the cold win­ter? Do you pre­fer the week­end or is the day arbi­trary? In times of pan­de­mo­nium, a Fri­day wed­ding has become a popu­lar option, allo­wing for a lon­ger rest after the cere­mony or a three-day party. Or do you want the let­ter ’R’ in the name of the month to bring you luck? Con­si­der all the options and mark your cho­sen date on the calen­dar!

A good venue

If you are plan­ning a party, the next step is to cho­ose a venue. Din­ner for your clo­sest family mem­bers doesn’t have to requ­ire an extra venue. You can orga­nize it at home, pre­pare the food in advance or order a cate­ring service. You can com­ple­ment the meeting with your loved ones in your own four cor­ners of the house by, for exam­ple, wat­ching pic­tu­res on a pro­jec­tor. If you want to avoid pre­pa­ra­tions or the guest list is a bit lon­ger, a din­ner in a restau­rant will be a good cho­ice. Cho­ose a restau­rant accor­ding to your and your guests’ pre­ferences. Con­si­der whe­ther your belo­ved grand­mo­ther would feel com­for­ta­ble in a bar with jazz music. Do you pre­fer an expen­sive and ele­gant esta­bli­sh­ment or a local pub with Polish cuisine? Check the ope­ning hours and ask about the possi­bi­lity of booking a sepa­rate room to ensure your pri­vacy.

For lar­ger wed­dings with dan­cing and enter­ta­in­ment, you will need a spe­cially booked wed­ding hall. When cho­osing a hall, con­si­der the price first. This usu­ally inc­lu­des the ren­tal cost and a „plate”, i. e. a pre­de­ter­mi­ned price for each guest. Size does mat­ter here – a lar­ger party will cost signi­fi­can­tly more. Ask if the deco­ra­tion of the hall is inc­lu­ded in the costs or if you have to pay extra or hire your deco­ra­tor. Check online reviews of the venue, bearing in mind that custo­mers rarely rate the venue when they are happy, and almost always when some­thing has gone wrong. Make sure that the menu offe­red takes into acco­unt people with food aller­gies and those who exc­lude cer­tain foods. These days, it’s a good idea to plan your wed­ding menu for vege­ta­rians or people with celiac dise­ase.

Souve­nirs will stay fore­ver

The fun lasts a while and the memen­tos of the day will accom­pany you for a life­time, so it is worth taking care of their quality. If you want to cap­ture the big day, deter­mine whe­ther you pre­fer to opt for a video or just wed­ding pho­tos. Often the pho­to­gra­pher and vide­ogra­pher work toge­ther, so ask about a pac­kage deal. This expe­rience allows them to work bet­ter toge­ther and cap­ture all the impor­tant moments.

In the pho­to­gra­pher’s offer, you can often find a photo booth or a photo booth with gadgets, where guests can take funny pic­tu­res. If your pho­to­gra­pher doesn’t offer one, you can look for a sepa­rate offer to hire a pho­to­bo­oth. A che­aper option is to pre­pare the frame and buy the gadgets – funny glas­ses and inscrip­tions on sticks, color­ful wigs, or hats. All you need to pre­pare the frame is thick card­bo­ard and strong glue. You can design the ele­ments your­self in a gra­phics pro­gram and have fun doing it.

Let’s dance!

A good party can’t go without music and dan­cing. This is the deci­sion that most often cau­ses misun­der­stan­dings. Take into acco­unt the music pre­ferences of all your guests and their wil­lin­gness to party. The cho­ice is huge and you are only limi­ted by your bud­get and ima­gi­na­tion. You can cho­ose lively, high­lan­der hits, roman­tic bal­lads, or club music.

The music can be pro­vi­ded by a band or a DJ. Live music per­for­med by a band allows invo­lving the guests more in the fun under the stage and to order addi­tio­nal dedi­ca­tions. The cost of hiring a band varies depen­ding on the region of Poland and the expe­rience of the arti­sts. Usu­ally, a che­aper option is to hire a DJ. A good DJ will enco­urage the guests to go out on the dance floor and par­ti­ci­pate in addi­tio­nal games. The wed­ding best man can also invite the guests to the games. This is an addi­tio­nal per­son paid by the bride and groom, who wat­ches over the wed­ding plan and the good mood of the guests.

And I vow to you…

At this stage, you have alre­ady cho­sen your venue and service. This is impor­tant as this is often where the most distant dates are. If you have con­fir­med that your date is free in the hall of your dre­ams and at the pho­to­gra­pher of your cho­ice, it is time to order the venue.

The cho­ice is not limi­ted to a church or regi­stry office. Out­door wed­dings are gro­wing in popu­la­rity, so if you dream of get­ting mar­ried on the beach or in a beau­ti­ful gar­den – ask the offi­ciant about the possi­bi­lity. Get­ting mar­ried in front of an offi­ciant invo­lves less paper­work – ID cards and shor­te­ned birth cer­ti­fi­ca­tes are eno­ugh, and the vows are con­fir­med by the signa­tu­res of two wit­nes­ses. You can alre­ady ask your cho­sen people at this stage if they will agree to this honor. In the case of a church wed­ding, the cler­gy­man of the church in question will survey with you and let you know what docu­ments and cour­ses will be requ­ired – this can vary from deno­mi­na­tion to deno­mi­na­tion and dio­cese to dio­cese.

All in the Family

It’s said that family is best in pho­to­gra­phs, but most family mem­bers would pro­ba­bly love to cele­brate this impor­tant day with you. Ana­lyze how many guests you can afford and who is most impor­tant to you. If your parents are hel­ping with the wed­ding costs, you’ll pro­ba­bly have to take their sug­ge­stions into acco­unt, but that doesn’t mean you have to go along with them alto­ge­ther – after all, if there are family mem­bers who wish you bad or are acting like a bull’s eye to you, it’s not your respon­si­bi­lity to give them ano­ther chance to play unfair games.

Maneu­ver the tables in such a way that you have impor­tant people close by who can help you in une­xpec­ted situ­ations during the game. You don’t have to sign every seat – this is a very time-con­su­ming acti­vity. Addi­tio­nally, you may not be fully aware of hid­den anti­pa­thies or friend­ships. It is more conve­nient for you and your guests to make a gene­ral list of who is sit­ting at each table. This will give you con­trol over the room plan, and allow your guests to cho­ose a chair next to the people they want to have a great time with.

Lift to heaven

Wal­king to church in a long column of guests, with the bride and groom at the head, has long gone out of fashion. Guests don’t feel like mar­ching, espe­cially in shoes desi­gned for dan­cing. Car­ria­ges are also less and less fre­qu­en­tly cho­sen, due to incre­asing urba­ni­za­tion and unple­asant smell. The most com­mon and very conve­nient idea is to rent a car. Auto­Ve­tus ren­tal in Kra­kow deals with the reno­va­tion and ren­tal of vin­tage cars. The offer inc­lu­des a beau­ti­fully resto­red Austin Healey 3000 BJ8 conver­ti­ble, a red, fast Mase­rati, or an ele­gant Hud­son Hor­net known from NASCAR racing.

At Auto­Ve­tus, you can easily enqu­ire about a free date thro­ugh the form on the website. The offer inc­lu­des the ren­tal of the car, its deco­ra­tion, a chauf­feur, an occa­sio­nal num­ber plate for the wed­ding, and access to the venue.

Atten­tion to detail

If you’ve made it thro­ugh our list, the only thing left to do is to cho­ose the deta­ils. This is a time-con­su­ming task and the cho­ice of various acces­so­ries is endless. You have to cho­ose your wed­ding dress and suit, acces­so­ries, sta­tio­nery, and other ele­ments that will com­plete the fun. You can always cho­ose the help of a wed­ding plan­ner, but pre­pa­ring the cere­mony your­self will keep you on your toes and pro­vide you with many memo­ries.