Organizing a wedding can be a complex and time-consuming process. Here are some general steps you can follow to help ensure that your wedding goes smoothly:

1. Set the date (at least the month: dates depend on preference and Wedding venues availability). For a typical wedding in Sicily, the months of June, July and August are the highest demand ones, with skyrocketing prices for accommodation, flights, suppliers. To top it off, the summer temperatures are unbearable, reaching sometimes 45 degrees celsius. Your wedding during these months can cost you up to 50% more. So when's the best time to celebrate your wedding? April, May, and September are great months to get married, as the temperatures are pleasantly warm (Sicilians still go to the beach and swim during these months), there is more choice of venues, accommodations and you can get big savings in terms of budget.
2. Choose your wedding party and determine the size of your guest list. This will help you plan the logistics of the event, such as the number of tables, accommodations and travel means you should book. It's important that whether you will be covering those expenses for the party (or part o it) or not, it's good custom to recommend accommodations and travel for your guests, to make their journey as smooth as possible. To make communications easy, a wedding website is a very good way to keep your guests informed, provide booking links to travel and accommodations or recommendations about the journey.
3. Set a budget. This is a tricky one, because it's difficult to give estimates without having details about your project. The size of your guest list, your preferred venue, the choice of catering, flowers, open bar and the date all impact on the price of the wedding. To give you roughly an idea of the budget you should consider: around £25000 is a low estimate to have an unforgettable wedding in Sicily, with around 60 guests, with the high estimate being as high as you are willing to spend! So get in touch with a planner, and tell them your plans and projects. They will be able to give you a rough estimates of the cost, as well as helping you in get better deals with suppliers, and share with you ideas on how to make your wedding one to remember.
   
4. Select a venue for the ceremony and reception. This is a very exciting part of planning, there are so many stunning venues to choose from! Wedding Venues in Sicily are some of the most incredible you have ever seen. Imagine a wedding at Tonnara di Scopello, at the Greek Theatre in Taormina, or in the Greek temples in Agrigento. Or what about a rural castle on Etna, an aristocratic palace, or a vineyard lost in the hills. There are many Wedding Venues to choose from. For this part, a wedding planner comes in handy, as you can get local recommendations, someone to physically go to the venues and inspect them and bargain a good price for you. For a list of my top 10 Sicilian Wedding venues, click here or check the blog at the bottom of the page.
   
5. Plan the details of the ceremony and reception, including the music, flowers, decorations, and food. This will help you create a cohesive and memorable experience for your guests. A mistake that I see a lot of couples make, is that they allocate a lot of the budget for the visual elements and decorations, but they tend to save on a very important part of the wedding: entertainment. Entertainment is the life of your wedding, what sets it apart and makes it memorable for your guests. Do you enjoy a party where the music is bad, none is dancing or having fun? Neither do your guests. Make sure you allocate a part of your budget to make sure that your guests are entertained during the whole time. You will be overwhelmed with emotions, happiness, lots of people wanting to talk to you and your job should not be to entertain the whole crowd. It's your day, you should enjoy knowing that everything and everyone is being taken care of by a professional.
   
6. Assemble a team of suppliers, such as a photographer, videographer, caterer, and florist, to help bring your vision to life. This will help ensure that you have all the necessary resources and support to make your wedding a success. For this step the help of a wedding planner is crucial. Ask them for their list of vendors. Ask for photos or videos of previous work and see if you like them.Chances are they have been working with them for a while, so it means they appreciate the quality of the work they provide and can get competitive rates.  This step can save you thousands and countless hours if you had to look for suppliers yourself.
   
7. Communicate with your guests and keep them informed about the event details, such as the date, time, and location. This will help ensure that everyone knows what to expect and can make the necessary arrangements to attend. For this step the best way to go about is to create a wedding website. We know, when people think about wedding website they think it's a time-wasting non-sense. For some I have seen in the past, I quite agree. However, if made well, they can be a game changer. A good useful wedding website contains: information about the location of the wedding, the wedding venues, the wedding timeline, travelling information (if guests have to travel by plane), transportation (to and from the airport, wedding venues, etc.), recommended accommodations for the wedding, a news board to keep your guests updates and a contact form for your guests to communicate with you and share dietary requirements or special needs. Quite useful isn't it?
   
8. Take care of any necessary paperwork, such as obtaining a marriage license and arranging for any necessary permits or licenses for the event. We have a full blog article about that you can read here
   
9. Plan for contingencies, such as bad weather or other unexpected events, to help ensure that your wedding goes smoothly even if something goes wrong. When choosing your wedding venue, always ask if they provide a "Plan B" option and how many guests they can accommodate in the "Plan B". A lot of wedding venues have large gardens, courtyards, terraces that can accommodate easily 300-500 guests. That's great! But sometimes, their indoor arrangements can only cater for 30-50 guests. Not ideal right? So make sure you obtain this information when planning to choose a wedding venue. Depending on the season this is more or less of a concern. If you're planning your wedding in the middle of the summer, then there are low probabilities of rain. On the other hand, if you're planning outside of the summer, you might want to plan for this eventuality. In Italy we say "Sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata" which translates into "Wet bride, lucky bride"
   
10. Relax and enjoy your special day! Remember to take a moment to soak in all the love and joy that surrounds you, and cherish the memories you create on this special day. Needless to say, but when it comes to this I can never stress this enough. The wedding day planning and organisation can be phenomenally stressful and overwhelming. You don't want to be stressing about the suppliers not preparing on time, the appetisers not being served at the right time or the guests being left without their drinks right? For that reason even if you end up planning the wedding yourself, having someone who makes sure everything runs smooth on your wedding day and looks after all the details is fundamental. Hire a planner even just for your wedding day. So you can enjoy the good company, support and love of your family and friends. And, maybe, a few extra glasses to celebrate. Cheers. To your upcoming wedding!