Five Months Prior To Your Wedding Day

At this point in your wedding planning, it’s starting to get down to some of the more detailed aspects of your wedding. Lots of these offer opportunities to cut costs and keep your budget in check. Don’t feel pressured to take on lots of the things typically associated with a wedding. They’re included here, to enable you to make a decision on whether you want them as part of your special day, or not.

This month, the focus is on:

• wedding invitations
• transport
• babysitters
• gifts and donations

E-Options

If you’re having wedding invitations, design them and, if required, order them and any other printed materials you’re planning to have. Consider e-options such as Paperless Post.

Arrange Transportation

Arrange transportation for your wedding day, if you need it – will you arrive in a limo or classical luxury car, or catch an Uber or a tram to your ceremony? Or will you both be there to greet guests as they arrive and forego the need for – and expense of – a stylish arrival? And do you need to arrange transport – eg a bus or minivan for your guests? If so, now’s the time to think about it.

Babysitter Arrangements

Do you need to arrange for babysitters near the wedding? Or will your wedding be a child-free zone? Don’t forget that parents often look forward to occasions which as weddings as a great excuse to get away and have an “adult” weekend away from their children. But some may need your assistance in getting babysitters – particularly if they’re from overseas or interstate and know no-one they can trust to look after their young ones while they have a fab time at your wedding.

Gifts

It’s time to talk gifts! Often LGBTI couples have lived together, sometimes for many years. If that’s you, you may feel like you’d prefer your guests to not give you gifts, especially if lots of them are coming from overseas or from interstate. But some guests will want to give you something, anyway! Perhaps, on your invitations, indicate whether or not you’d like gifts – and suggest what type of gifts you’d like. It may be money – it can help to tell guests that you’d like some money towards your accommodation when you head away on a celebratory trip as a married couple.

Donations

Alternatively, rather than ask for gifts, you may wish to ask your guests to make a donation to one of a range of LGBTI organisations that are in Victoria, supporting our community, such as JOY 94.9, ACON, Thorne Harbour Health, Switchboard, Twenty10, Headspace, National LGBTI Health Alliance, Bisexual Alliance, Transgender Victoria.