13 months seems like ample time to plan a wedding, but time literally flies. We enjoyed our post-engagement bliss for one month before locking in a venue. We had attended many friends’ weddings and had a fair idea about Sydney wedding venues. The only challenge was trying to coordinate auspicious dates with our pundit and the availability of our preferred venues. As a result of the to and fro, and because we wanted to celebrate both my South Indian Hindu background and Dilshan’s Sri Lankan Buddhist faith, we ended up having our Hindu wedding on a Sunday and our Buddhist wedding on the following Friday. A Friday Reception worked out well in hindsight as a nice gate-opener to the weekend. Securing suppliers for Sundays and Fridays is generally a lot easier than Saturdays. The gap between the two events worked well in terms of planning unique elements for each event.
We prioritized all the major wedding decisions using a checklist we found online. We retained all the key decision making on the major wedding items – venues, outfits, photography, and décor, whilst delegating smaller tasks to family and friends. Tasks we delegated include transport, place cards, wedding favors, wishing well setup and pre-wedding events. We left all the ceremonial ritual aspects to our parents. As a couple, we made final decisions on smaller tasks as necessary.