has it been hard planning a wedding and studying?

frostedkels

how hard has it been for you to find the time to put into planning your wedding?

the reason i ask is that i am a marketing student at the university of florida. both the college and the major are very demanding. in addition, i want to have my wedding in tampa or orlando- both of which is a 2 hour commute from UF.

i was wanting to do my wedding early next summer, but i am very concerned that 10 months will be really hard to plan a wedding since i will have little free-time and i will have to commute to do venue interviews and such.

what do you think?

SteveandKris

"early next summer" is May-June to me, so in my mind you have almost a year to plan... I did an internship in Daytona April to June, I loved the mid-may weather the best... Let's say you have 11 months...

i can't really offer any advice with the 2 hours to the venue thing, but my best advice is to hire a planner if its in your budget?

does you mother live in either location?  does his?  are you taking summer classes?  Beause you can get a lot done right now.  after booking the venue, i will not be going there until my tasting in January (i'm having a June 2011 wedding)  I grabbed my mother and made a day of finding a venue (she lives 3 hours away)  We saw 5 venues one day... a lot of work can be done online and don't try to interview venues that are out of your price range.

If your venue includes cake, that's one less vendor to interview and one less tasting.

As for vendors, think one to two meetings each (you might be able to work with vendors not as far as two hours either...) - maybe more, maybe less [meetings]... I met with the photographer once and booked him on the spot and won't see him until our e-pics, but I've been back and forth to the florist twice already.

If there something really important to you FI - maybe music?  Let him interview and book the DJ.

I think its doable if you really want to, but I think that early September in Florida would give you the same feel as a early summer wedding...

JustPeachy89

Hey! I go to UCF and I am currently M&M so I feel your pain. I also have to take the GRE soon which I keep putting off but honestly, the planning a wedding part is not that bad. I am May 28th of next year and besides the money dilemma everything else has been pretty easy in Orlando. We already have everything booked minus the band and the cake, which we already know what we want. 

I recommend doing stuff in sets of weekends where you don't have many tests or things to worry about. Like view 3-4 venues one weekend. Maybe interview photographers the next. Most people are very flexible with their time or may be even to meet you half-way somewhere. Its very do-able though. Just do your research before hand for everything. I recommend gigmasters.com for bands/ DJ's. 

hckaczyn

I got engaged in April and have been trying to get as many things done during the summer break as possible. Even though I'm taking one class this summer and working, I still have a few days a week to go do wedding errands. Honestly it hasn't taken up that much of my time, but then I'm also having a straightforward and simple wedding.

 I'll book the big things this summer, the small things in December during break, and finish up next spring after graduation (with any luck.) That way I won't have to worry about wedding planning and studying. My biology program is pretty intensive and education is first priority, of course.

rachel_elizabeth1124

I graduate in a month, but trying to schedule things around exams and studying HAS been a pain. You learn to be flexible, I guess. These last two semesters AND planning has taught me more about time management than I will ever appreciate! 

Kris092988

I just got engaged, I am an Accounting major at the University of North Florida. So far it has been a little difficult, because vendors are usually closed when I get out of school, but I don't have classes on Fridays so that is working out. Finding time, I've just learned to cut out less important time consuming things. No more days of relaxing, every free moment is spent on wedding planning, which I absolutely love. And my fiance and his family help out a lot too, so that's nice.

mashley315

I understand exactly what you are going through, I am also a full time student and to make matters work not only do I work full time but I also work in a restuarant, which means long, late shifts that are hard on your body.l also find it very hard to set time away for wedding planning, but a lot of my BM have noticed the stress that I am under and have really stepped up to the plate for me. They are not so much doing big things so to say but helping me filter out all the searching online that we all know can take hours at a time. If your ladies have not offered you any help, you  can possibly ask your family or your close friends. You will be suprised to find out how many ppl will jump to help you when they realize what kind of stress you are under. I hope that helps... even just to know that someone else out there is in the same boat as you. Stay positive and focused and you will get through it. Who ever knew planning a wedding would be so dang demanding? Good luck to you