Thinking About Tying the Knot Next Season? Here's Where to Start

It's been a little while since I last sat down to write for the blog — life (and love, as it turns out) has kept me rather busy. But I'm back at my desk this week with a cup of tea and a very happy reason for it: I've started meeting with some gorgeous couples who are planning their weddings for the season ahead, and it's put me in exactly the right mood to talk about it. There's something lovely about this time of year.

The next wedding season feels like it's just over the horizon, and for couples who are engaged (or about to be — no judgement if the ring only went on last week and you're already Googling venues), it's the perfect moment to start putting the pieces together.

So if you're in that gorgeous, slightly overwhelming early stage, here are a few things I always encourage couples to think about first.

## Start with the feeling, not the florist

Before you get swept up in colour palettes and seating charts, sit with your partner and ask: how do we want people to feel when they leave our wedding? Joyful and boisterous? Quietly moved to tears? A bit of both? That feeling becomes the compass for everything else — your vows, your music, even your order of the day.

## Book your celebrant early

I say this with love, not self-interest (well, maybe a little self-interest): celebrants, like great venues and photographers, get booked up fast once a season starts moving. If you've got a date in mind, reach out early so we can start dreaming it up together while there's no time pressure at all.

## Your story is the whole point

The weddings that stay with people aren't the ones with the most elaborate flowers — they're the ones where you can feel, in every word of the ceremony, that this couple and no other could have written it. Start jotting down how you met, the moment you knew, the daft in-jokes only you two share. Nothing is too small or too silly. It's often the small stuff that gets the biggest laugh — or the biggest lump in the throat — on the day.

## Think about who stands beside you

Who do you want speaking, reading, or simply standing close during the ceremony? Family dynamics, blended families, treasured friends — there's no one right way to do this, only the way that feels true to you.

## Give yourself room to enjoy the planning

Weddings can very quickly become a checklist. Try to protect a little space in the process for the two of you to simply enjoy being engaged — because that bit doesn't come around twice.

If you're newly engaged and starting to think about next season, I'd love to hear your story over a cuppa.

There's nothing I enjoy more than the first conversation with a couple — before a single detail is decided, when it's all still just pure excitement.

With aroha,

Kathryn x