The first thing you should focus on is your wedding budget. Talk to your partner and discuss how much you can spend or are prepared to spend. While this isn't exactly romantic to plan out, the money allocated for the wedding is essential, and you must ensure you have the funds for it.

On average, a UK wedding costs £17,500. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to spend that much on your wedding reception, as more people are beginning to realise. Spending your joint finances should be a mutual decision, as you don't want to get an angry letter from the venue or caterer at the end of the ordeal.

While you may want to get swept away with wedding inspirations, some perspective is crucial in ensuring you don't go bankrupt getting married. Look at your outgoing finances and see what isn't likely to change in the coming months.

Some consideration about your joint income and the essentials you must have at your wedding is where you should start. Remember, you can always save money on transportation or the wedding guest list if costs are getting tight. 

When it comes to planning your wedding, you can rest assured knowing there are many places to find inspiration for wedding themes and designs. Obviously, you can still host an event with your personality sprinkled throughout while looking at other examples to get ideas

There are countless Instagram and Pinterest pages on the web to help you get inspired - taking bits from different aesthetics and merging them to create your dream day.

This part of the wedding timeline should be fun, taking different parts and brainstorming. If you work with a wedding planner, the more details, photos, inspirations and options you can provide, the better. 

You and your partner cannot decide on a theme until you have done your research. After browsing the internet, hopefully, you have found whether you want a traditional, simple wedding or a big, grand wedding.

You don't need to have everything agreed upon, but if you have a good idea of the theme and the party products and accessories you'll need to bring it to life, then you are doing just fine. As with the previous steps, this starts with your imagination and finding inspiration.

No amount of expert advice can help you secure a theme for your wedding, nor is there a right one to pick. This is your special day around loved ones, and the theme must represent you and your future spouse. 

No wedding plans are complete without the perfect ceremony and reception venue. You and your partner may not have the same venue in mind, which can cause conflict between the two of you.

This is one of the most important factors to organise as many popular venues will require booking months in advance. Hopefully, by this point, you have determined a budget for your big day, meaning you should factor this into your venue research.

There may be other venues that work to your budget that you hadn't yet thought of - the wedding industry is full of surprises

 The venue you select will also inform your wedding dates (as you have to work on the availability of the location) and the number of wedding guests you can invite, so have a rough idea of the ideal date and guest list you are looking for. 

While it may not be the most romantic aspect of your engagement and wedding planning, seeking wedding insurance is definitely something you should not forget.

With the average UK wedding costing £17,000 and upward (with some couples spending easily double that), you should invest in insurance for circumstances out of your control. Wedding insurance will protect you if the venue unexpectedly closes, the wedding falls through due to illness, or something else catastrophic happens.

The last thing you want is your day of joy to be ruined, and you lose on your money. Small weddings will not necessarily require insurance when it's a less formal gathering of family and friends, but larger weddings will require insurance to protect themselves financially. 

All marriage and civil partnerships must be registered and legalised, which involves signing marriage licenses. This must be done as soon as possible after your ceremony, so don't forget.

Some denominations such as Jewish, Quaker and Anglican may have a Vicar, Priest or Minister with the correct authorisation to make it legal during the ceremony, killing two birds with one stone

 If you are not religious or are from another religion not mentioned, you will require the person performing the ceremony to be licensed to register marriages or have a civil registrar on-site. 

You may already have an idea of your desired wedding party size and members, but if you don't, you should start planning as soon as possible.

Typical weddings will have a maid of honours, bridesmaids, ushers, flower girls, page boys and a best man. Many couples choose their close friends or family members to fill these roles, but you can ask whoever you desire.

Remember that they are typically asked to help plan important pre-wedding events like bachelor and bachelorette parties, so choose wisely. 

Ensuring you have the ideal guest list for your dream day is a bit overwhelming, especially when considering the bride and groom's joint family. If you have decided on your venue, your guest count may be limited by that.

Most of the time, you have to prioritise parents and close family, but you don't want to offend anyone by not inviting them.

While the key people in your life, your loved ones, may attend your wedding without a doubt, you have to ask yourself what happens with your colleagues and other people in your life. 

Your wedding suppliers will take the most of your time and budget to organise, so many people outsource a wedding planner to help with this factor. Suppliers will cover everything from photographers, videographers, florists and caterers.

If you would like any flowers, music, entertainment or more at your wedding, you need to get started immediately with planning suppliers as they will book out fast.

Hair and makeup, wedding cake makers, photo booths, food trucks and decoration vendors will be included on this list. 

Finding and buying wedding dresses is one of the most exciting parts for many people. 

Wearing the gown of your dreams while walking down the aisle is a minimum requirement for most people, and with waiting lists sometimes six months and longer, get planning as soon as possible.

Groomswear, suits and ties can be organised a little easier, but tailored fits and finding matching suits for the groomsmen will require time and effort.

Most couples choose to do this separately, but you can do this together if you would like to organise it all in one day. 

At this point, you will have organised most of the wedding, but you still need to outline the entire schedule. This should be written, re-written and finalised between all essential parties.

The reason why you need a schedule is to relay to all the suppliers, as the catering team, DJ, and of course, the guest list needs to know when they should arrive! As the wedding day rolls on, it may become harder to stay on track.

Having scheduled dinner time and moment for your first dance will help keep everything moving smoothly. 

Before sending your invitations to your guests, you should decide on the wedding gifts you would like to receive

 Everyone attending your wedding will want to buy you a gift but will find it challenging, meaning you can make it a stress-free environment if you provide everyone with a list of what you're looking for.

Depending on the wedding size, you can get a lot more personal with guests and inform each one individually what gifts you are your partner would like. 

Now it's time to make your wedding dates official by sending out formal invitations and save the date cards to your guests.

Save The Dates allow your guests to know about the wedding well in advance and book the time off, ensuring they can come. This is also your chance to inform your guests of all nearby accommodation, travel routes and the final details of the day.

If you have budgeted correctly, you can choose to book your honeymoon before your wedding date.

As with all the other details about your special day, you must plan ahead and book before the location and hotel disappears. Your honeymoon should be one of the best events of the wedding period, so you can always hire a professional team to plan it for you.

Although you may have invited all the people you want, not all of them will be able to attend. Once you start getting RSVPs back from your invitations, you need to start working on a table plan.

Seating together people, so no arguments or disagreements occur, is challenging, especially when two families come into one room together.

Engagement parties are a great way to find out who works well together, so you could even start planning it as early as that. The sooner you have a general idea of the table arrangements, the better. 

Your maid of honour and best man should have planned your stag night and hen night (bachelor party and bachelorette party) on your behalf, but you should always check the budget and time requirements covers the nights.

While making a to-do list for such a night may seem boring, taking away some of the fun, you want to ensure that it all runs smoothly. 

Once you have organised the bigger details, you still have time to make the final touches before you are legally married. If you have been using a wedding planning book, taking note of all planned events and factors, your event will be a roaring success, and you don't need to worry.

You can take the time to ensure the process of transporting the wedding rings is finalised, your thank you letters have been picked, and you are ready for your day. It's meant to be fun, after all.