There is no simple answer to this frequently asked question, except – how long is a piece of string.
To plan a New Zealand wedding is very much like finding the perfect partner; it takes as long as it takes! With all that considered, planning a wedding can be a very joyful and pleasant experience regardless of it taking two weeks (yes, this is possible and our team has done it in the past) to two years. The result is always the same, for love and commitment be celebrated.
To put some numbers around the length of planning a New Zealand wedding, couples embark on a journey of planning their weddings over an extended period of anywhere from approximately six months to two years. This length of time roughly equates from about 250 to 500 hours.
Before you lock down a wedding date, there are a few things you should consider:
Your career and lifestyle
Are you time poor due to your commitments in both your career and lifestyle? Do you have family commitments and activities that take up a lot of your time? Then it would be advisable to consider taking an extended time to plan your wedding. Once you start drilling down into the planning of your celebration, you and your partner will quickly discover that this is another big time commitment. Ensuring the details of every aspect of your wedding day is just how you would like them to be will take effort and energy. Unfortunately, your fairy godmother may not be on hand to wave her magic wand.
A handy resource is a dedicated wedding planner book.
A planner will be a valuable tool to help keep all your research, communication and things like budget, contracts and the all-important wish list together in one place.
Here is a link to our preferred wedding planner book, along with a 12 month subscription to Together Journal – our favourite wedding mag for inspiration.
Support
Who have you got in your back pocket on your wedding team? Do you have family members or friends that are part of your tribe and can be called on to pick up, drop off, set up, pack down, advise, troubleshoot and remain your friend and talk to you at the end of your wedding day. True story, I know a bride who did not speak to her new sister-in-law for nearly two years after her wedding due to the massive amount of stress and tension created in planning her wedding. Are you going to rely on your tribe, or could you potentially damage the relationship? Can you do the planning of your wedding solo?
Finances
Have you got a budget set and funds to make this a reality? Do you have savings or funds from other sources that will help turn the dream into a reality? Or do you need to allocate time to reach this target? How long would it take to get the sum you feel you need to pull off all the details of your perfect wedding day? While these may be challenging and uncomfortable questions to answer, they are essential in planning your wedding.
Flexibility
Do you have flexibility around your wedding date? Can you hold off if it means securing your perfect wedding venue? A factor you will have to consider with wedding venues and other in-demand vendors being booked up due to the Covid fallout. With couples having to reschedule due to challenges withholding their wedding in 2020 and 2021, there is a shortage in the calendar for popular weekend weddings. If you’re committed to having a mid Summer or Spring wedding at a popular venue over a weekend, be prepared to extend your wedding planning until the following year. The positive of this is giving you lots of breathing space to get all the details ticked off. However, if you are ready to roll, consider a mid-week wedding date, and you will likely be able to shorten your wedding planning stint considerably.
Personal Preferences
Are you a queen or king bee, super organised and love to get all your ducks singing happily in a row? Do you thrive on setting tasks and getting them ticked off, and do you know that you’re going to execute a plan efficiently? Or are you of the nature that things can move at a less zoomy pace? You find the idea of researching and sending emails overwhelming, and your not looking to eat into your precious downtime. Either way, taking on the task of planning a wedding is a very personal journey and will be directed by your natural approach to life. This, in turn, will help with the question of how long will it take, and are we there yet?!
Regardless of how your individual and couple circumstances present themselves, planning a New Zealand wedding and the timeline it will take is a very personal situation. The one confirmation that I will give is that it will have its ups and downs; there will be moments of wanting to pull your hair out and maybe toss your computer out the window. There will also be beautiful moments when it feels like it is all coming together and the vision is truly taking shape. These are all the joyous (and not so joyful) moments that make up the beauty of planning a wedding.
If you choose to go the DIY route on your wedding planning journey, there are many resources and advice out in the world to help you along the way. I have every confidence that you will get it done and bask in the enjoyment of achieving. As one of these mentioned resources, join our newsletter of helpful advice and tips. I share my approach to planning a wedding and the fluff that is best to avoid. You can Sign Up here to enjoy my approach to planning a great wedding and celebration.
If you need a bit more support and would like to have a professional wedding planner stand by your side and guide you through the planning process, reach out, and I promise a soft landing!
Happy days x
