Well, there's this sparkly thing on my finger...

YoursEtcRachel

Hey there, fellow brides!!

How are you? My absolutely wonderful boyfriend popped the question last month (!!!) after 3 months of dating. Before you freak out, we've known each other for something like 3 years as casual friends...and he asked my dad's blessing on our dating relationship and then asked him for permission to propose...I'm super close with my dad so this meant a lot to me!

I'm the girl who has been planning her wedding since she was 16 (when I was sad about things, I looked at wedding blogs and planned Budget spreadsheets. It's just what I did...) and I've had a knot.com account forever. It's actually really exciting to officially start planning!

We are getting married on September 7th of this year. I'm super proud of us, because we've got all the following taken care of...

 - date set

 - officiant confirmed

 - premarital counseling started (with the pastor who is marrying us)

 - dress bought

 - ceremony/reception sites booked (a friend is letting us use their barn/property for FREE!! what a blessing!)

 - bridal party selected (7 bridesmaids, 7 groomsmen)

 - guest list done (spreadsheet and all...we just need addresses for everyone)

 - photographer booked

We are both still in school, so I wanted to bust out as much planning as we could do so that I could focus on finishing up this semester.

My question is this...what should our next steps be? What is your best planning advice?

MrsF0831

caterer, bridal party attire, . flowers, cake, decorations

Ella and Pedro

Have you shown your fiance all your plans, notes, ideas, spreadsheets?  I find it quite helpful and romantic to discuss things with my fiance, so that we are a team in planning.  As it sounds like you came into it with a full-blown plan, you might want to really reach out to him and get him involved and engaged (haha) with various aspects.  He should feel it is BOTH of your weddings, as it will be both of your marriage.


Congratulations!

KatWAG

band, caterer and flowers

MarieeWeddings

Wedding budget, flowers, dessert, save the dates/invites, music, favors, decor.. It seems like a lot but it's fun!

Happy planning and congrats on your engagement!

soontobehanby

Definitely check out TK's checklist.  It has kept me pretty much on track this would process.

YoursEtcRachel

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_just-engaged-proposals_well-theres-this-sparkly-thing-on-my-finger?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:683Discussion:e3f828f1-dcd4-4f71-98ad-802f52e32a84Post:c41c489d-f36c-4507-97b8-3719703b822f">Re:Well, there's this sparkly thing on my finger...</a>:
[QUOTE]Have you set a budget yet?
Posted by StageManager14[/QUOTE]

<div>Yes! We are both still in school and looking at buying a house, so it's going to be tight, but we already have it set up and we have a joint bank account so both of us can pay for things as need be/have financial accountability.</div>

YoursEtcRachel

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_just-engaged-proposals_well-theres-this-sparkly-thing-on-my-finger?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:683Discussion:e3f828f1-dcd4-4f71-98ad-802f52e32a84Post:776dc8f1-17f5-4145-8e31-977be5055d9b">Re: Well, there's this sparkly thing on my finger...</a>:
[QUOTE]Have you shown your fiance all your plans, notes, ideas, spreadsheets?  I find it quite helpful and romantic to discuss things with my fiance, so that we are a team in planning.  As it sounds like you came into it with a full-blown plan, you might want to really reach out to him and get him involved and engaged (haha) with various aspects.  He should feel it is BOTH of your weddings, as it will be both of your marriage. Congratulations!
Posted by Ella and Pedro[/QUOTE]

<div>Great advice! Yeah, he and I have already gone through a lot of stuff together, and he's actually the one who found our ceremony/reception site, so I think he's feeling pretty involved. I should ask him what else he would like to be included in...although I do recall mentioning "pinterest" one time and his eyes glazed over a little bit...</div>