Wedding in five months!!!!!

cmasch06

My fiance and I are trying to plan our wedding in five months. April 23,2010. That is two days after the day we got together. We are doing this so soon since he is in the Army. I have nothing I'm wanting to do the wedding in my parents backyard to help with our budget. If any of you have any ideas I'd love to hear from you.

AlexiaANDRobert

Congratulations! 5 months is enough time! Post on your local and ask for vendors or locations.Good luck and happy planning!

sapphirebaby926

Congrats! 5 months is very doable and since you are having it in your parents backyard you have some more flexibilityCheck you local board for rec's and visit budget brides - those ladies are very helpful!

lindseyanne1

Check out this backyard wedding!  http://www.younghouselove.com/wedding-album/  It's one of my all time favorites!  Congrats!

aerinpegadrak

Hey, that's the day we're getting married!  It's Shakespeare's birthday.  A good day.Get cracking on your big vendors ASAP.  Once you have your venues, officiant, photographer, band/DJ, flowers, and catering figured out, the rest is pretty basic.  Also, you may want to shop somewhere like David's Bridal or Alfred Angelo where you can buy a dress off the rack rather than risk having to rush order a new dress.  If you have bridesmaids, you may consider just giving them a color and length and having them choose something suitable.  Or just have them wear a LBD they already own.Use your short timeframe to your advantage.  If a vendor isn't already booked for your date, they may be a wee bit desperate to get something for that slot.Honestly, a wedding is just a party.  The only reason that most people take a year to plan it is 1) a lot of vendors book up that far in advance, and 2) it involves custom clothing that can take a while to come in.  It's not really that complicated.

trix1223

Depending on the size of your wedding, a backyard reception can actually end up costing more than holding it in a hall.  Some of the things you'll need to think about for a backyard party:You may have to rent EVERYTHING:  tent, tables, chairs, linens, dinnerware, utensils.If you're serving a meal, will you do the cooking or have it catered?  If you do the cooking....who will prepare the food?  Where will it be stored before the party?  Who will heat it up?  Who will serve it?  Do you have enough serving utensils, trays, etc.  Who will clean it all up?If you're having it catered....do you have an adequate kitchen for the caterers to work in?  Will you have a bar?  Will you have to hire a bartender-particularly if you want to avoid issues of serving underage guests, or having guests overindulge and then possibly drive?Do you have enough parking nearby for all of your guests' cars or will you need to have guests park at a remote location and "ferry" them in?  Will that require renting some kind of bus?Do you have enough bathroom facilities for all your guests?  Do you want guests walking through your parents' home to get to the bathrooms?  Will you need to rent portable bathroom facilities?Do you have outdoor electric to run for things that need electric:  DJ or your own home stereo system?  Lights, etc?Will you need someone to act as a DOC so that your family can just enjoy the party, or will family also be "working" setting up, serving, cleaning up, etc?These are just some of the considerations that you might want to think about as you plan a backyard reception.25 years ago today, I was my best friend's MOH and she had a wonderful backyard wedding.  But it was a lot of work for all of us.Not trying to rain on your parade at all, but there are a lot of things to think about!  GL

Leah&Christian09

First: figure out your budget. If your families have offered money, find out what strings are attached to that money. Sit down with FI and figure out how much you two will be contributing. The two of you should also talk about the size and style of the wedding, so you're sure you're on the same page. Talk about which aspects are the most important to each of you. Next: Make a guestlist. It doesn't have to be exact yet, but you really need a headcount to start planning anything. Then do your venue and vendors. If you're doing backyard, you'll need to find a company that rents all the stuff. You also need to talk to your parents about insurance, bathrooms, rain plan, landscaping, etc. Use your local to get recs on vendors. You'll want to get photog, caterer, rentals asap. Then you can start looking for the others. The checklist on here gives a good timeline. And most importantly, have fun. Don't take on projects that you can't handle, and don't freak out if everything isn't perfect. It will be great, and it will be you, and you'll be married at the end of the day.

Anon I. Mouse

I don't think five months is "so soon" - no fret! My FI and I are planning ours in 2.5 months from our engagement, and we actually had everything done in two weeks (we can really put something into action...ha...one of his former military careers actually involved a lot of such planning so it has benefitted too). We even got exactly the venue we wanted including guest rooms, etc (winter destination wedding at a Canadian resort) without any problem. I think we would both go crazy if we planned for much longer or took a year or whatever - we were ready to be married the day we decided, but thought we would at least have some fun with it

shellybeth

Our engagement was only 5 months and I am getting married in less than two weeks.. and it wasn't really hard at all! Plus, I did basically all the planning myself with no help from the FI ;)The biggest thing was the date and venues of reception and ceremony.. which you already have!The next biggest things i'd check off is- Get a dress (it sometimes takes a while to come in)- Find a person to do the flowers- Find a person to do the cake- Figure out what you will be doing for food- Decide if you will be ordering invitations or doing them yourself. I DIY and with only 40 invitations it took me FOREVER! So, I suggest you begin as soon as possibleEverything else is really pretty minor compared to those things..  i'm sure this was all really obvious information, but I hope it helps out a little!