Just Engaged and Proposals

Where do I start with planning?!

I am newly engaged and am completely clueless as far as the process of planning goes. Sure, like every other girl I've been all over Pintrest planning my dream wedding but now that I actually have to do it for real I have no idea where to start. Should I go check out venues first? Make my guest list? and when should I start looking for dresses? Helppp lol 

Re: Where do I start with planning?!

  • I'm in the same boat but to start the process: Pick a date and set your budget and then go from there. I'm overwhelmed too. LOL.
  • Budget, date, venue. Once you get your venue set all your other decisions start to fall in line because you can start making sure everything has "the look" your going for.

    I think there is a wedding planning timeline on this website somewhere, or buy one of the wedding planning books at the book store. It's been nice for me to have a timeline in front of my face to keep me on track.

    Have fun with it and remember there are lots of good people on these boards that give great advice when you get in a pinch!
  • ShallowSeasShallowSeas member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited December 2013
    I agree with PPs...

    1. Date
    2. Budget
    3. Venue
    4. Bridal Party
    5. Colors

    When I started planning a month ago,  we set the date right away, came up with a budget after talking with our families, chose our venue and put a deposit down, asked our friends/siblings to be in our bridal party, and picked out our colors. After that, we came up with a planning timeline to help us get things done on time. We have been doing small things here and there. We had been researching what type of centerpieces I wanted, and once we decided on that, I looked online to find sales. Our wedding is 8 months away but we already have the centerpieces and invitations because Hobby Lobby was having a 50% off sale on those items.
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  • 1. Budget and guest count will literally determine everything else about your wedding. Do those first.

    2. Venue(s)

    3. I'm going to disagree a bit and put date after venue unless you just HAVE to have a certain date. Otherwise go in with a season and try to stay flexible with venue availability.

    4. Don't pick your bridal party until about 9ish months out. Friendships can change; if you lurk a bit, you'll see hundreds of posts by brides wishing they hadn't asked someone to be a bridesmaid and are now stuck.

    5. Big vendors: caterer, florist, photographer - followed eventually by littler vendors

    6. Start trying on dresses about 9 months out. Bridesmaids you can probably do about 4-6 months out, depending on the salon and designer.

    I used The Knot's timeline and edited it up (e.g. deleted out stuff you don't have to do/have like an engagement party).

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  • We had been talking about wedding for a while so we have a date and colors and sort of the vibe/theme we want. We have a flexible budget (10-15k) and a rough guest list which we have started polishing (it will be about 115-130). We have strated calling venues to go visit and have estimates. Dresses it depends. If you want a designer dress id say the latest you can purchase your dress is ~6 months so they have enough time to make it ship it and fit it. If not you can wait less. I will be looking for my dress asap because come july i will be starting medical school and i wont have any free time to go dress shopping.


  • We first discussed the kind of wedding we wanted to have. Then we set a budget and made a potential guest list. Then we looked for venues that met our needs/numbers. Those things should absolutely be done first. As for dress shopping, it depends on you. I started shopping for a dress right away b/c I believed it would take me forever to choose a dress. It turned out not to, and I had my dress a year before the wedding. Once you find a dress, make sure to stop looking!

    Congrats and happy planning!
    What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14
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  • I am in the same boat.

    So far we have a Date , a "Budget", and colors.
    The GL is whats gonna be hard because my FI has a HUGE family.

  • @Sunshine312 - who is paying? You can say goodbye to those distant cousins if you pay for the whole shebang. How many people can you afford to host?
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  • @PDKH We are with a little help from both sets of Parents. I keep telling her we need to get down to what I refer to as our core group. Closest friends, closest family, no little cousin's baby daddy's nephew
  • set a budget
    pick a venue
    look at dresses/pick one out

  • Budget, vague idea of what you both want (huge wedding vs. small ceremony), guest list. Your priority should be to know that you can properly host the number of people you INVITE ( not how many you think will attend). Picking a venue is much easier if you know how many people you will be hosting; even if you have a vague idea- don't let yourself fall in love with a venue that can only hold 75 if you want 150 people.

    Also, take into consideration what you want for your ceremony. If you have religious requirements or preference, consider distance between ceremony and reception locations, in addition to avoiding a lengthy gap between ceremony and venue.
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  • We just got engaged on Nov. 30th and of course I just jumped back into my pinterest wedding except I started deleting pins I knew I didn't want as part of my day and started pinning more realistically. We set a date (which DOES take time and figuring out), now we're going around to venues and visiting them and talking with a planner. It's only been a month but we've decided to do a bit at a time. Venues, mock guest lists, what you want/don't want then you can go into more intracate details as you get closer to your date. Hope that helped!

     Just can't wait til July 11th, 2015!

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  • I agree with all PP's but I feel like one emphasis was left out. Create a guest list, not firm but at least get a general idea of how many people will be attending, before you do anything venue related.  It is really hard to look at venues when you don't have a good idea of who will be attending. The very first thing my FI and I did, before setting a date, budget or even start looking at venues, was create a rough guest list.  It increased by about 20 people once we showed our parents and learned friends and missed relatives had to be added, but at least it gave us an idea of who had to be invited.  Don't get caught up imagining the perfect wedding when it might not even be possible because of the guest list.  For example, I always wanted a very small wedding approx. 50 people. But after talking with my FI we realized there was no way we could have a wedding that small.  Suddenly, my entire vision for the wedding changed and my planning changed entirely.  
  • Thank You all! At least now I know what direction to head in with my planning :)
  • iI already picked my colors. iI just goyt engaged 12/24/13, but we have been together for 6 years.
    we have a baby and other children. 

    we picked the day already to. 3/6/15. we will celebrate my 40th at the same time. lol
  • I also just got engaged on NYE and I'm also lost! Everyone keeps mentioning setting a budget, but I find I have NO IDEA what things cost! I'm blown away by how pricey everything is! It's hard to figure out what average cost of dress, food/reception, etc is..
  • I also just got engaged on NYE and I'm also lost! Everyone keeps mentioning setting a budget, but I find I have NO IDEA what things cost! I'm blown away by how pricey everything is! It's hard to figure out what average cost of dress, food/reception, etc is..
    That's my biggest issue! I don't have siblings so I'm the first one to plan a wedding so I am totally clueless as to what things cost, who's supposed to contribute, etc. So it's really hard to come up with a number that I don't want to pass.
  • This book explains EVERYTHING about how to plan and organize the wedding: "How to Create the Ultimate Wedding Planning Binder - And Other Helpful Wedding Planning Tips

    It goes through every major thing you need to hit while planning and how to organize it all to make it easier to plan without missing details. Very helpful. 
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