The end of wedding season is when the best planning starts

When the final summer wedding marquee has come down and the last band of has packed up and gone home, public opinion would assume that wedding industry takes an exhale and slows down for winter. But inside the industry, quite the opposite happens.

What’s happening behind the curtain?

Timelines. The cyclical nature of wedding planning means that couples getting married in 18 months are choosing their venue in September, in the weeks after everyone else’s wedding has just finished. Suppliers are already filling next year’s calendar while high season is still being packed away. Marquee companies, bands, florists, (all the good ones), are taking bookings for a summer that’s still a long way off. The rhythm is there, and the window of opportunity gets increasingly more slight.

This is the part that catches first-time planners off guard. The industry doesn’t slow down after the last wedding of the season. It moves straight into planning the next one, and the couples who start here get first pick of everything: dates, venues, suppliers, structures.

Why this time period counts more than spring

By spring, a lot of the best dates are already gone. Venues that can only host one wedding a weekend fill their prime Saturdays a whole year or more in advance.

By starting in autumn instead of spring you get options. A chance to compare venues properly instead of settling for whichever one still has the date free. Time to be able to flit back and forth whether you want a marquee or a venue wedding.

Decisions you’ll want to consider about your wedding in this window

So you know you have the advantage, you’ll want to have a good idea of the following:

• The venue or the structure, since both book out furthest in advance
• The overall format of the day, formal or relaxed, seated or standing as
• A first review of your budget, before it gets tested against firm supplier quotes
• Your supplier team, particularly for anyone in high demand

None of this needs to be finished by Christmas, it  just needs to be started. Starting now is what keeps every decision you make later, from being made against a shrinking set of options.

When to begin wedding planning

If your wedding date is in Summer 2028 and it feels too early to think about, this is exactly the right moment to start. The couples who plan well aren’t the ones who plan the most, they’re the ones with the most amount of time to plan.

We have organised many an event with only a few short weeks notice. Some where we had to pull many favours to bring in the best suppliers to make the events what they were. That’s a position we count ourselves lucky to be in, but one you may not find yourselves so conveniently in.

If you are looking for the best of the best, with a team of suppliers who work seamlessly together, that is what our network is about. We’d love to learn more about your wedding plans, dates and ideas for your celebration.