Overwhelmed Newbie

Nomew

Hi Ladies,

We got engaged in Feb. and my FI wants to get married on our anniversary June 18th, its a Monday.((We just recently "set the date" although I'm still not sure if it will work)) I've been reading wedding planning books and been looking around on here. I found a venue I love called Venue At The Grove, it has an outdoor ceremony with  an indoor/outdoor reception. I haven't been able to visit it yet though. They give a discount for mondays and the month of June.

I honestly don't know where to start or how. I don't know how to ask who is going to help pay or help with the planning. We were planning on paying for most of it ourselves I know we need to set a budget, kind of just picking numbers our total budget is about $3,000.The venue would be about 2,500

and im not sure about catering. Is that going to be do-able? 

 My FI tells me this is my thing and to do what I want. He could care less about the big to do with the ceremony and reception, he'd be fine getting married in our living room lol. I want our close family and close friends (about 50 ppl) I want an out door ceremony with lots of trees and grass and twinkle lights with indoor/ outdoor reception. This would be later in the evening and I would like to just serve hors d’oeuvres and drinks at the reception. We aren't real big on dancing but I know we need music... 

Our friends rented out their clubhouse in a gated community, it was on a lake so maybe thats something we could look in to, or I've seen a few posts about renting out a vacation home. How much is that? 

I've almost lost the excitement of it because I just don't know how it's going to come together or where to even get it started. 

What about engagement pictures? And save the dates? Rehersal dinner?  I don't even know what to do about those. 

Any ideas, advice or venues would really help me out. Thank you, I feel better just venting to you girls. 

I also would like to congratulate all of you on your engagements and future weddings!!! I know how happy you all are!

xenacick

I would start by sitting down and estimating how much total you can pay for the wedding.  Categorize everything down to pantyhose, and place a generic but fairly honest estimate next to that item.  ONce totaled up, if that number isn't doable start looking at things that could be cut. 

There is no point in going to venues, talking to caterers, etc. without first knowing the approximate value of what you can afford to pay for these things. 

We are on a crazy tight budget, but wanted a great fairly large wedding, so we cut a lot of corners, did a lot of DIY, and found amazing vendors.  If you want their information just Private Message me and we can talk about them further. 

There are lots of websites out there that you can put together a general checklist to then transfer into a working budget.  But I would just start with the things that are important to you two to have at your wedding, and work backwards from there. 

Good luck, and PM me if you want more information!

xenacick

OH and our wedding is also on a Monday, November 7th!  Not that crazy!!!

Syndelin

We set the date for our anniversary too... so we ended up getting married on a Thursday.  Honestly it worked out way better, because it saved us a TON of money on everything. We even got 25% off our photography, which I wasn't expecting at all.

"I've almost lost the excitement of it because I just don't know how it's going to come together or where to even get it started."

I totally felt that way when we got started planning things!  Just try not to look at everything at once...  get your budget figured out, and plan to more than likely go over it a bit, because you never think of everything!  Then make a general list of the big things you want/need, and just focus on one thing at a time.

You have plenty of time to figure everything out.... especially if you do stick with a Monday!  Vendors are very unlikely to be booked, so you can get your first choice for everything! 

At the end of it all, I was so glad we did it on a weekday.

Congratulations!! You'll get it all worked out. 

Jennybenny5785

Just take everything one step at a time.  Don't let this be overwhelming for you this is a happy exciting time in your life.  Sit down with your FI talk and figure out a reasonable budget for your wedding and how much you can afford.  After you figure out a budget then start on the next task.  Since you found a venue that you already like call them up and set up a time with them that you and your FI can go and check it out to make sure that is the place you would like to have your wedding or not.  When you go find out what kinds of things are included in their package for example: Set up/tear down, catering, flowers, ect.  There is a great check list on here of things to do I would suggest you check out.  Once you know everything that you are going to need and have your budget you can start checking them off your list one at a time.  I did magenets for my Save The Dates you can check out magnentstreet.com they did a great job for my save the dates and they are pretty reasonably priced as well.  I hope this helps you some.  Just take a deap breath relax and have fun planning you will get it all done on time. 

heasure

Okay the whole monday thing can be done......BUT ARE YOU CRAZY?? Let me get this straight you are planning to have some part of your wedding OUTSIDE?? In PHOENIX!? Ooo God speed. That thing needs to be inside with the A/C turned as far up as it'll go

blue1981

Honey, I would not do a Monday.. Maybe a Friday night or a Sunday, but not a Monday. It is over 100 degrees in mid/late June so outside may not be ideal...

Nomew

Thanks Ladies. I feel better and we are starting on our budget. Mondays are so much cheaper and all I really want is my mom and close family there, and I know they will be there and if the others can't make it, I will miss them being there but it wouldn't be a big deal. Does that sound bad? Haha. I was worried about it being hot too, but everything would be in the evening and the ceremony would be short and sweet with cold beverages and hand fans as favors on all the chairs. Who knows, maybe we are crazy. Wouldn't be the first time we've heard that. Haha. Thanks Jenny for the magnet website, I was thinking of doing those. 

Jennybenny5785

Your welcome I am glad you are feeling better about planning your wedding.  Have fun and happy planning :-)