Seems like forever!

Kyrie7878

I got engaged back this past November. He took me down to the beach by my apartment when I was still going to school in Chicago (I'm back in WI now) and it was really sweet. We waited about 2 weeks before we told anyone because we are still pretty young (he just turned 21 and I will be 21 in November) but luckily they ended up all being very accepting. We decided that since I just got out of school and have no money and he is still in school to wait until next year to have our wedding but it just seems so far away to me. My father was even shocked about me waiting that long to do it (I'm hoping August 24th 2013 but I'm not sure after reading about having a saturday wedding). I don't know I guess I am just wondering how all of you got through your longer engagements and how you spaced apart your planning? When is it time to get really serious about making plans?

Britt1893

My fiance' and I are having a long engagement. We got engaged June 3rd, 2011 and are waiting until we graduate college. We are looking forward to a 2014/2015 wedding. Patience is a virtue. Enjoying the engagement is working well for me. I'm not starting any planning until at least June 2013. Until then, cut out pictures of weddings or ideas you like and put them in a binder. Times change and so do some people's tastes.

nextrightthing

We got engaged on 2/14/2012 and won't be getting married until November 2013....almost two year engagement.  And we will be 30 and 33. We are saving money so we don't have to go into debt for our wedding....plus I'm finishing law school and we are moving and just have a lot of stuff going on!

I'm enjoying being able to plan without stress.  Your proposed date in August 2013 is only a little over a year....plenty of people book venues a year or more in advance.  We plan to book our venue soon, because good venues book up quickly and that way we will know our date.  As far as the more stylistic elements (dress, floral, etc), personally I'll wait until a 9-12 months before the wedding to get serious.  Also, we won't ask anyone to be a BM or GM until 6-9 months before, just in case relationships change. 

Congrats!

redheadfsu

I had a four year engagement. I would recommend only talking big picture right now (budget, timeline, vision, estimate of a guest list).

I would recommend not actually buying/booking anything until 1.5-1 year out. I bought stuff before that and all of it went into the trash as plans changed.

JaniV123

i am having a 3 year engagement so a year and a half is not long at all! I am 20 and he is 21. we are waiting until we a year after i graduate. so dont feel pressured. a year is just fine! 

librababy

I ish I had a longer 'engagement' but I know how impatient i can get. However, it is a blessing to be able tohave so much time devoted to planning. Have fun looking around and searching for ideas, etc. You can buy a notebook and use it as a planner to jot down all your ideas, etc. 

And you can look for venues now too and call around to different vendors to see what their pricing is to get a better handle of what you can really afford. It'll help you to see how much you need to save. 

shanliann

We got engaged in April 2011 and will be married Sept 2012. So a year and 1/2 engagemenrt. About a week after our engagement I started contacting venues that we were interested in and out of 5 only 2 still had our date available. I was shocked it was a year and 1/2 away and already booked!!

Now we are 5 months til wedding day and i am freaking out. where did the time go and how do i still have all this stuff left to do?!

CarolinaGirl6

We just got engaged and we are getting married in May 2013. We started thinking about where we want to get married (destination), budget, and getting an overall idea of what we want. I would start looking into venues because, like PPs said, venues can book quickly.

Oh and Congrats!

sonya+adam

I just recently got engaged a few months ago, and we aren't getting married until August 2014! I totally feel for ya. I'm thankful for a long engagement, though. Gives me lots of time to plan, and not get stressed out. 

julib33

We got engaged 2/29/2012 and arent getting married 7/26/2014. I'm a fan of long engagements, it gives you more time to plan and save, not to mention time to enjoy the engagement without the stress of planning

mrsbarbieq

Wow, a lot of people really do long engagements! I just got engaged last March 18 and our wedding is on December 2nd. Too soon for most folks, and I find myself spending hours daily trying to book vendors, look for inspiration and the like! We'll have 6 months before the actual day, but it would be good to develop your inspiration/ideas for now and start THE real planning maybe 9 months before the date. Congrats!

laurenoliveira23

My engagement is going to be a total of 2 years and 5 months.
We chose to do a long engagement for pretty much the same reasons as you - im in a very demanding program , my fiance is the only one with a job right now so we definitely need time to save. i graduate may 2013 so it will give me a year to buckle down

right now im just focussing on the big venues as in the city we are getting married in - things book fast.

at a bout a year before im probably gunna buckle down and start looking into details.

MrsF0831

my engagement was long as well engaged 9/25/11 and are getting married 8/31/13. we wanted to wait to save money and ill be 27 when we get married and hell be 30 turning 31 that oct. so there really is no rush unless you have the $ and arent gonna go in debt over it 

Nshivers

We got engaged Valentine's Day 2011 and are getting married June 8, 2012..  first we set our date far because we knew we needed to save up money for it.  The FIRST thing you need is research and book a venue, they do tend to book fast and you're getting married in a popular month.  Also, join the August 2013 board..  you'll have plenty to talk about with those brides and they'll help you get through your engagement period!!  Good luck!

And it will go by FAST believe me!!