Where to Start Planning Your Wedding, A Practical Guide

The Moment Everything Begins

You’ve decided to get married. The excitement is immense, congratulations pour in from every direction, and suddenly you realize: where do we even begin?

The truth is, most couples feel completely lost in the first few weeks. Not because there’s too little information, because there’s too much. Pinterest floods you with visual inspiration, Casamentos.pt shows hundreds of vendors, friends and family offer contradictory advice, and you haven’t even defined what you actually want yet.

In my experience as a wedding videographer, I’ve accompanied dozens of couples throughout their entire planning process, and the ones who arrive at their wedding day most relaxed are always those who started with method, not impulse.

This is the guide I wish every couple would read before making their first decision.

Step 1: Set the Budget Before You Dream

The most common mistake is visiting venues before knowing how much you can invest. It’s like walking into a car dealership without knowing whether you want a compact or a sports car.

Sit down together and define a realistic overall number. Include everything: venue, catering, drinks, decoration, photography, video, music, dress, suit, invitations, favours, honeymoon. The Knot has budget calculators that help distribute the total across each category.

A practical rule I often share with couples:

• Venue + catering: 40–50% of the budget
• Photography + video: 10–15%
• Music and entertainment: 5–10%
• Dress, suit and beauty: 8–12%
• Decoration and flowers: 5–10%
• Contingency margin: 5–10%

These numbers aren’t rigid, but they give you a framework for negotiating and comparing without losing control.

Step 2: Choose Your Style and Scale

Before contacting any vendor, ask yourselves two questions:

What kind of wedding do we want? An intimate dinner for 50 guests with a vineyard view? A big party for 200 with a DJ and fireworks? An elopement with just the two of you on a beach at sunset?

What is our visual style? Rustic and organic? Classic and elegant? Minimalist and modern? Bohemian and colourful?

These answers will automatically filter venues, decorators, and even the type of video that makes sense. A documentary, emotional wedding calls for a different setting than a disco party. And that’s perfectly fine, what matters is that the wedding is yours, not a copy of someone else’s Instagram feed.

Step 3: The Venue, The Most Important Decision

The venue defines everything else: the number of guests, the type of catering, the logistics, the light for photos and video, even the energy of the day.

What to look for during a visit:

• Natural light in the late afternoon (golden hour between 5pm and 7pm is the most beautiful time for outdoor ceremonies)
• Separate spaces for ceremony and reception (allows more natural transitions)
• Acoustics, a lake, a garden, or a chapel can completely change how vows are captured on film
• A rain backup plan (covered spaces that don’t compromise the aesthetic)
• Parking and accommodation logistics for guests

Always visit at least 3 to 5 venues before deciding. And bring your phone camera, after seeing several, the memories blend together.

In the Oeste and Alenquer regions of Portugal, for example, you’ll find quintas with lakeside ceremonies, estates with panoramic views over the Tagus river, and centuries-old manor houses. Each one gives a completely different tone to your day.

Step 4: Build Your Vendor Team

Once the venue is booked, it’s time to choose the people who will build the day with you. And here’s my most honest advice: don’t choose based on the lowest price. Choose based on trust.

The order I recommend for booking vendors:

1. Catering (if not included with the venue)
2. Photographer and videographer, top professionals book out 12+ months ahead
3. Music / DJ / band
4. Decoration and flowers
5. Celebrant (if the ceremony is civil or symbolic)
6. Dress and suit, fittings take time, order early
7. Invitations and stationery
8. Extra entertainment (samba, magician, photo booth, etc.)

For each vendor, ask for portfolios, read reviews on Zankyou, and if possible, speak with other couples who’ve worked with them. Word of mouth is still the best reference.

Step 5: Create a Realistic Timeline

Stress on the wedding day rarely comes from big problems, it comes from micro-delays that accumulate. The bride who takes an extra 30 minutes on hair and makeup. The grandfather who gets lost on the way to the venue. The dessert table that isn’t set up when guests arrive.

A well-crafted timeline prevents 90% of the unexpected.

Work with your wedding planner or venue coordinator to create a detailed schedule for the day. And share it with every vendor, photographer, videographer, DJ, florist. Everyone needs to know when they’re supposed to be where.

In my experience, the best weddings aren’t the ones that had zero problems, they’re the ones where the team was prepared to handle them without the couple ever noticing.

What I Wish Every Couple Knew

Planning a wedding is a project that spans months. There will be moments of doubt, arguments over details that seem absurd, and at least one night when one of you will say “let’s just run away and get married alone.”

That’s normal. And it’s also part of the story.

What I ask of you, as someone who films these stories every weekend: don’t let the logistics steal the emotion. Set priorities, delegate what you can, and remember that the wedding day isn’t an event to impress guests, it’s the day you celebrate the decision to build a life together.

Details matter. But what will last forever in the video are your eyes when you first see each other that day. That can’t be planned. It just happens.