How much time did you have to plan?

TXArmyFiancee · May 2012

How much lead time did other military brides on here have? In other words, how much time passed between actually setting a date and getting married? And how did it all work out? Were you able to do "preplanning" before the date was set? figuring out what you wanted, choosing colors, checking out venues/vendors and prices, etc. The reason I ask is because Fi and I talked about wedding stuff this past weekend...b/c of multiple factors, I need to get to a certain point in my debt pay off student loans and Fi wants to be debt free himself before we set a date to get married. All this should be able to happen by end of March 2013. Fi said when that time comes THEN we can set a date 3 to 4 months from then...so June or July potentially. This is very foreign to me because everything I've read and known concerning wedding stuff is that you set a date at least 6 months in advance, oftentimes 12 months or more if you want the best vendors and deals. But we are dealing with the military here so nothing is normal lol!! Looking forward to everyone's thoughts! :

CAB1217 · May 2012

We were engaged for 9 months, but didn't really DO anything until 2 months before! Ha ha... I'm lazy. Anyway, You could totally pull it off in 4 months. Just do research for now, plan a budget, and when you're ready, get to work.

USMCBride90 · May 2012

FI proposed last June. We didn't set a date until this January - we set the date for July 28, so I've had 6 months to plan everything. I didn't do much pre-planning before setting the date because we didn't know back in June when we would be able to set a date due to training, possible deployment, and working around months-long field ops. I suppose I could have done a few things here and there, but it's all worked out just fine and we are now less than 60 days out from the wedding. It's been crazy and definitely stressful at times planning it while FI is away, but we're almost there!

I think it's very possible to plan a wedding in less than 6 months. You can start getting an idea of what colors you want, venue ideas, etc. beforehand so you know what you want when the time comes to set a date and put down deposits. Especially if you have a certain venue in mind. However, I wouldn't put any deposits down or reserve anything yet since you don't have a date set and things can always change.

Good luck!

divinemsbee · May 2012

I'll admit to having a decent bit of lead time. We were engaged a good while before we set a date because FI was on medical and then being re-classed, so we didn't want to make any plans until things got a little more concrete. We had talked about what time of year we wanted to get married (fall, if possible), and when we wanted to do it (as soon as it was possible to plan a nice party). We set our date on the very last day of Feb., this year, for November 3, also this year. So, 8 months of actual planning.

All I had picked out were my colors and I knew that, if at all possible, I wanted to get married in the church I grew up in. I know there are a few girls on here (both this board and the forums in general) who, once they got engaged, were figuring out things like which vendors they wanted to use so that they could call them once there was a date. I would recommend that. This was not me, because I am/was procrastinator bride. There are also a ton of girls on TK who picked out dresses before they had anything else done. There's nothing wrong with that, but once you get one, stop looking. If you don't you may end up like a lot of threads where you see a new style and then you're trying to sell the "old" dress and get the new one. With it being as far away as 2014, you have to keep in mind that styles and what colors are popular will change a lot.

It's totally possible to plan a wedding in 3-4 months, but you'll probably have to compromise, especially if you're really stuck on June or July, which are super-popular wedding months. You may have to go with your second choices of things, or, and I know this might suck a bit, if you're set on having the wedding you want, maybe push it back to October or so, still a popular month, but you get more time to book things. Also, if you wait until you set a date to get a dress, you'll be kind of limited to what can be rush ordered or gotten off-the-rack. I ordered my dress just under 6 months before the wedding and it's going to be close in terms of getting it in and getting alterations.

TXArmyFiancee · May 2012

FI proposed in Dec 2010 so we've been engaged for almost a year and a half. He also just got back from deployment last month. He has reintegrated well and is now waiting on his next assignment staying at the same post, just prob going to a different unit. I do have an idea of what I want in almost every area, and I actually already bought my dress 46 new, from The Limited! But you're right, it might be hard to get "the best" at short notice. Also, we will be getting married in the Catholic Church and it's standard for parishes to require the date to be set at least 6 months ahead of time, although the parish I grew up in might be more flexible. Is anyone getting married in the post chapel? That is another possibility if my church is not willing to be accommodating. It would also be cheaper on post no rental fee!

Beachy730 · May 2012

We planned our wedding in about 5 months, and we got married in a Catholic church. I would start talking to the church you're planning on getting married in and see what you can do without setting a date. Whatever counseling the church requires might be able to be started without setting a date. If you're planning on having debt paid off in March 2013 maybe you can sit down in January together and start planning as long as you have a plan for paying off the rest of the debt. If your FI is set on waiting til the debt is paid off, then just plan on being flexible on locations and days. You may have to look into Fridays and Sundays as well.

How much time did you have to plan?

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