How soon did you book your...

aleighk1

Venue?

Photographer?

Caterer/Cake?

Honeymoon?

Officiant?

DJ/Musicians?

Dancing lessons?

Hair/Make up?

amandaandkyle

Venue? A year to the date out

Photographer? 11 months out

Caterer/Cake?  The caterer and wedding cake were included in the package I booked with my venue. I booked my groom's cake through a seperate bakery 9 months prior to the wedding.

Honeymoon? Not yet booked -- we're aiming to have it taken care of 5-6 months before the wedding but we'll see.

Officiant? 8 months before the wedding.. Ideally, it would have been a year out but I left this choice/booking up to the FI and he procriastinated.

DJ/Musicians? The DJ, again, was booked through my package with the venue (I chose to do an all-inclusive one since I am long distance planning) so I booked a year out.  I am still debating over ceremony musicians.

Dancing lessons?  This is still a matter of debate.  If we do them, we're looking at starting about 4 months before the wedding.

Hair/Make up? Hair was booked last time I was home (9 months prior to the wedding) and make-up is still a bit up in the air.

pirategal03

We have a 14 month engagement. 

Venue? 4 months after being engaged/10 months before wedding

Photographer? 5 months after being engaged/9 months before wedding

Caterer/Cake? 9 months after being engaged/5 months before wedding

Honeymoon? 11 months after being engaged/3 months before wedding

Officiant? came with venue, so see above

DJ/Musicians? reception music: 1 year after being engaged/2 months before wedding  ceremony music: 1 year plus a few weeks after being engaged/1 and a little bit months before wedding (aka, last week)

Dancing lessons? we're not doing these

Hair/Make up? I still don't have these booked, I'm doing my own makeup and hair I just haven't gotten to.

Edited because I can't count when my fingers are busy typing. 

careyblackmar

Venue?  a week after being engaged (I live out of town, had to do it when I was home)

Photographer?  14 months out

Caterer/Cake?  14 months out

Honeymoon?  still haven't yet, hoping to about 6 months out

Officiant?  same day as the venue, ASAP

DJ/Musicians?  11 months out

Dancing lessons?  probably won't do these since FI and I live long-distances apart

Hair/Make up?  my hair stylist is a family friend, so that was arranged early on, and I'll be doing my own make-up

ks3pink

We have had a 3 year engagement, that said....

Venue - church 14 months out, reception hall 1 year out
Photographer - 14 months out
Caterer - six months out
Cake - well the first time was six months out but that didn't work out, the second was four months out
Honeymoon - I think it was six months out, my fiance handled that
Officiant - 14 Months out
DJ - 14 months out
Dancing lessons - Ha!
Hair- 16 months out (I am really good friends with my stylist)
Make-up - I'm doing myself

sunnysarahinNC

We got engaged July 2008, and wedding is May 2011 that being said:

Venue - April 2010

Photographer - July 2010

Caterer/Cake - July 2010

Honeymoon - August 2010

Officiant - June 2010

DJ/Musicians - July 2010

Dancing lessons - winging it

Hair/Make up - have not done it yet...

It really depends on where you're getting married, what venues/vendors you want, and what time of year! I probably waited a bit longer than I should have being a May bride, but other than my DJ (ATRG), my vendors were not as requested as some are. (except I am using Cake Lady Jill, but she does a billion weddings a weekend haha)

meredithl618

Venue/Caterer? 15 months out

Photographer? 11 months out

Cake? 8 months out

Honeymoon? 4 months out

Officiant? 15 months out

DJ/Musicians? 12 months out

Dancing lessons? 3 months out 

Hair/Make up? 4 months out

brandyleighxx

Venue? 13 months in advance

Photographer? about a year

Caterer/Cake? caterer, a year cake, about 2 months in advance

Honeymoon? about 10 month in advance

Officiant? about 5 or 6 months

DJ/Musicians? 5 or 6 months

Dancing lessons? n/a

Hair/Make up? n/a

alliegator8

I recommend booking the big things like venue, photog, etc. as soon as possible.  Those things tend to book up fast.

We have had a 14 month engagement as well.  We had our band, venue, catering, and photog booked within the first 2 months.  We booked out cake baker and officiant 9 months out.  I spent the last few months organizing our honeymoon.  And we took private dance lessons in the 2 months leading up to our wedding.  We scheduled it 3 months out and finished our last one last night.  So it will be fresh in our minds for next week. 

CJ4578

We had a 14 month engagement as well-

Venue- 14 months out (family friend's farm, we knew we would have it there before we were actually engaged.)
Photographer- 14 months out (I really really wanted her!)
Caterer- 10 months out (had a hard time choosing)
Cake- 9 months out
Honeymoon- 3 months out (we procrastinated)
Hair/Makeup- 6 months out
DJ- 8 months out
Ceremony Music- 8 months out (brass quintet, also friends so not really "booking")
Officiant- 15 months out (my friend was about to be ordained as a pastor so I asked her even before we were engaged...)
Dancing lessons- groupon 1 month ago! Now we need to schedule them...

rmwright85

A lot of it depends on when you're getting married.  For instance we're getting married October 2011 and we started looking for venues in July 2010 and some of the places were booked already for the date we wanted!  Also, when we first interviewed our photographer she already had another inquiry for that date!  And our DJ was already booked the weekend before our wedding.  So a lot depends on timing.  If you're getting married during off-peak times  you can wait longer, but during peak wedding season you may want to start looking early.