I've been engaged for about a year now (I honestly don't remember the exact date, which must make me an awful bride). My fiance wanted a specific venue, so we settled on that pretty much right away and put down the deposit. I figured I wouldn't rush anything and take my time with the other details. I ordered my dress in September and still had nine months for all the other planning.
And then in the middle of October, our house burned down. Fiance tasked me with the wedding and he took on rebuilding the house, but I obviously had a lot of work there as well. We booked the band in January. A few days later, my company notified me I was being laid off in the next 60 to 90 days. There I was, no house (the insurance company had us in an apartment) and no job with a wedding less than five months away.
But you know what? It all worked out. I had relative ease finding the rest of my vendors, though I am still a little iffy on the flowers. I figured, "What else could go wrong?" so I didn't stress about shoes or jewelry or what have you. Really, if anything, its easier to pick a vendor with only a few months to go as fewer options are available. I also trusted the vendors- they are the professionals and I'm only doing this once.
Oh, the coordinator at the venue emailed me last week advising she was leaving, but I trust them to pull off everything without a hitch.
My lesson here to everyone freaking out, crying, throwing temper tantrums and completely stressed out over little things is to take a deep breath and relax...if it's all working out for me, it will for you, too!!!