There are lots of things to consider for your wedding but it need not take long to plan, writes Christchurch marriage celebrant Kineta Booker.

So, you just got engaged at the top of Conical Hill, and you’re very happily walking back down to the Hanmer village, hand-in-hand with your brand new fiancé, admiring your sparkling new diamond, whilst planning your whole wedding in your head, when he turns to you and says “You know we don’t have to get married right away, eh?”

Not how it went for you? Oh, maybe that was just me.

So, I ignored him and six months later we were married.

I know what you’re thinking, isn’t “obey” in wedding vows. Not ours.

And, besides, he wasn’t my husband at that point.

Six months to plan a wedding? Yes, it can definitely be done.

  • Chat with your partner about what their vision is. Discuss budget, number of guests, anything they specifically want to include
  • Get yourself in front of a computer. Open a new document – this is where you’ll download all your ideas onto. This can be anything from flowers to dresses (for wedding dress inspiration you can start here) and everything in between! Delete what you don’t need as you go along. You don’t want the file to become crowded with old ideas
  • On Facebook there are some great groups for engaged couples. It’s a community of people with a big thing in common – weddings! They’re either recent brides or brides-to-be. Check out Wedding Discussion Group – New Zealand, and Christchurch Brides NZ Ideas, Advice & Support
  • Pinterest is a good place to find themes and get great ideas, but beware – you may come away with too many. Find what you’re looking for and get out
  • Venues: What are you looking for? BYO option?
  • Photographers: Do you like their work? Fit your budget? Make sure you spend plenty of time researching photographers as you want the perfect fit for your wedding. Don’t be afraid to ask for samples of their work. Some photographers will have an online gallery you can check out. For example, olgatopchii.com has various galleries for different events, making it easy for you to do your research.
  • Celebrants: Are they available? Do you click?

Once you have all the main things organised, everything else will fall into place quickly. And the ideas shared on brides’ online forums, in real time, makes organising a wedding in a shorter time frame easy to do with like-minded cheerleaders doing the same thing.