16 month checklist?

fouroshaughnessys · April 2014

Hello! So my wedding is exactly 16 months away. I know that is a lot of time, but Matt and I both work full time, I own my own business, I am a full time student and we have two babies. (One just turned 2 and the other is about to be 1) So we have a very busy schedule. We want to stay ahead of the wedding planning and I was hoping to reach out and see if anyone had any 16 month checklist. Or ideas of things we can start scratching off the list to make things not so hectic as it gets closer? Thank you so much in advance!!

sassyfrass2014 · April 2014

Here's a nice one from Real Simple!

theartistformerlyknownas · April 2014

My entire engagement will only be 9 months total so I sorta just laughed at anything 12+ months on the checklist! I do like TK's checklist on their app, although it has a lot of unnecessary garbage on it. I would just be careful about putting anything in stone where your tastes may change... i.e. buying linens or anything like that.

niki&rob · April 2014

Start by researching and booking some vendors. I booked my venue 14 months out and only had 3 weekends to choose from, so you may want to get on that. Make up a guest list, decide on a budget, research ideas for decor.

Grabows14 · April 2014

Get all your venues out of the way, and photography/videography. Do your engagement photo shoot if you want. Get your DJ and ceremony musicians (if different) booked.

That's all the stuff we did +1 year out.

However, some people might scoff at your for doing it so early (didn't happen to me, but some people have said this)

aRachel21 · April 2014

Book your big things first like your venue, photog, DJ...

And it's never too early to figure out details. I kept telling myself 'oh I'll figure out all the little details as it gets closer.' Well, here I am less than 2 weeks out, and I wish I had started on those things earlier.

beharrington · April 2014

I third (or fourth) the suggestion to get the venues handled. Depending on where you're at, this can be difficult as some book up to two years out. BUT, before you do that, you need to settle on a budget and estimated guest list.

TheGrimReaper · April 2014

At 16 months, I booked our ceremony and reception venues, and within the next few months booked our florist, photographer and DJ. And then I sat there for a full calendar year doing nothing. It was awesome to have all of the big stuff out of the way.

netskyblue2 · April 2014

Agree with @beharrington, come up with a preliminary budget and guest list, then start on venues. OR - what's the most important thing to you? Mine was the photographer. I knew exactly who I wanted, and emailed him the day after getting engaged to find out what dates he had available. Then we picked a venue we liked, and asked for their available dates. They had one day in common (which is why we ended up having a 6 month engagement and getting married on Good Friday.)

tcnoble · April 2014

We got engaged in September, set our date for March 2015 - so we had 18 months - by the one year mark I had every vendor booked (though here in Vegas everything books up really fast so we wanted to be proactive and get the vendors we wanted). I agree with @thegrimreaper it's a great feeling having a whole year now where we don't have much to worry about.

MadHops21 · April 2014

Look at venues. I'm summer 2016, and whenever we go and see a venue, they ask when the date is. When they hear "June 2016", they kind of hesitate and do a little joke about how it's good to plan ahead.

Some venues are more popular than others, so do some research about where you want to visit and make a list. Some venue websites have prices listed for 2015 already, so you can look at pricing and minimums and guest count.

happywiggle · April 2014

I'm at the 16 month mark now, myself, and we have everything regarding bookings, except for a dj and officiant, done since about 18 months out. Booking early gave us some pretty good rates on things. It's nice knowing the big decisions are done and out of the way. Also, start scoping out dresses if you choose to do so. The place I ordered mine from said it would take about 12 months for my dress to come in, and even if you don't order early, you can narrow down what you like and go from there at a later date.

ashleyep · April 2014

We got engaged about 16 months before the day we picked for our wedding date. Summer '13 would be too soon and we wanted summer.

Like others have said, a year+ out we started booking vendors. First was our venue, and a lot of places already had a lot of Saturdays in the summer booked. Then photographer, then DJ, then I think we took a break for a bit. Even hair and makeup I booked close to a year out.

I like The Knot's checklist. I think it's somewhat tailored to your wedding date, and how much time you have left.

Aside from Engagement Photos and Save the Dates, I didn't do much in the way of wedding planning from the summer until December. We did go dress shopping about a year out. Everything picked up again once January hit.

happywiggle · April 2014

Also, there are wedding month boards if you're interesting in checking them out. I'm not sure how active Aug'15 is (if my math is correct, you're marrying one day after me on Aug. 1), but Jul'15 is still fairly dead. My understanding is they pick up a bit closer to the big day when there's more brides/grooms on the board

yellowdaisies84 · April 2014

Having so much time is awesome. Don't be afraid to start with this stuff now:

-Budget is most important. Not just how much money you want to spend on the wedding, but what dollars are going to go where. Some things you may not have any idea what they cost so you can either put a ballpark figure or you can do some research to find out what some vendors in your area would charge for those.Talk to your fiance to see where you agree and disagree. Anything you disagree on, instead of arguing about it make a list of those things and just say that you've got time to figure those things out.

-You can choose your colours and style (or theme, if you wish.) That's a big decision made.

-You can start talking guest numbers. You can figure out a rough guest list that you are thinking and see how many people that adds up to. I recommend assuming that everyone will be bringing a guest/significant other, even your single friends, because it's still 16 months away so err on the side of everyone bringing a guest and you will start the process of figuring out how you are going to make your guest list work.

-It's not too early to start researching and even visiting venues. If you find one that you and your fiance want, talk to them about how far in advance they recommend couples make their reservations and what their cancellation policy is (before you decide to book them or wait longer.)

-If you're going to have save-the-dates you can start researching cost and where you want to buy them/make them from. This was fun for me, I found mine on Etsy, and I spent lots of time choosing them.

-Research your florist choices and make a list of florists you want to set up appointments with

-Research dress shops and make a list of dress stores you want to make appointments with. Think about who you want to invite dress shopping.

-You can do your engagement photos anytime you want if you are doing engagement photos.

-You can start talking about honeymoon destinations.

-Also it's never too early to start thinking hotel for your guests. Make a list of hotels where you think would make sense for people to stay. Maybe start calling them up and ask if they do blocks of rooms and what their policies are.

-You can make a wedding website on The Knot if you want to.

-Start thinking about who is going to be in your wedding party, but I'd recommend keeping it a secret until later. (Depending on what you think is best)

larrygaga · April 2014

Oh man I just want to say I have a probable 2 year engagement, and I will be starting my master's in the last few months of the engagement. I am so starting early. I have a few people who have judged me about it, but I just tell them that I have a busy life outside of a wedding and I need the extra time.

Inkdancer · April 2014

I am coming up on 2 years of engagement, and we will have been engaged for almost 2.5 years when we actually tie the knot. As of the 6 month mark, I was done with everything except picking the groom's outfit. I love not worrying! Go ahead and get started, you'll be glad you did.

MandyMost · April 2014

I agree with what others have said to go ahead and get started...but the fact is that you're really busy now, too! You (likely) don't have time to just go ahead and book everything now anymore than you'll have time to do it a year from now. So, what I suggest is you make yourself a schedule, by month. It might look something like this:

April 2014--figure out the guest list and budget and research some venues

May 2014--go visit and book a venue

June 2014--research and book a photographer

July 2014--research and book a DJ/band

August 2014--Meet with florists and book a florist

September 2014--Go dress shopping

October 2014--Book wedding transportation (limos, etc.)

November 2014--Send Save the Dates

December 2014--Buy wedding dress

etc.

We didn't have quite that much time, but a schedule like that really helped me feel like I was staying on top of things and not get overwhelmed.

sassyfrass2014 · April 2014

MadHops21 said:

Look at venues. I'm summer 2016, and whenever we go and see a venue, they ask when the date is. When they hear "June 2016", they kind of hesitate and do a little joke about how it's good to plan ahead.

Some venues are more popular than others, so do some research about where you want to visit and make a list. Some venue websites have prices listed for 2015 already, so you can look at pricing and minimums and guest count.

I'm June 2016 too! And like @larrygaga I have a really busy life outside of wedding planning, so I love the idea of getting a few things done early, such as a venue!

My best advice is to plan things ahead of time that are relatively concrete. For example my ceremony will be held in my hometown church, no questions asked. Why not go ahead and book it?

happywiggle · April 2014

MadHops21 said:

Look at venues. I'm summer 2016, and whenever we go and see a venue, they ask when the date is. When they hear "June 2016", they kind of hesitate and do a little joke about how it's good to plan ahead.

Some venues are more popular than others, so do some research about where you want to visit and make a list. Some venue websites have prices listed for 2015 already, so you can look at pricing and minimums and guest count.

I booked my July 2015 wedding back in October 2013. They didn't look at me too weird; in fact, they were quite excited to start booking for that year (don't ask me why, I don't get the excitement with wedding planning... I know, I'm weird.)

MadHops21 · April 2014

amrhodes23 really?? All I get is hesitant looks like awkward smiles when I say the date. The more bold ones ask why I'm looking at places now when I still have 2 years. It's strange because venues here book about a year in advanced. Sorry for looking?

happywiggle · April 2014

MadHops21 said:

amrhodes23 really?? All I get is hesitant looks like awkward smiles when I say the date. The more bold ones ask why I'm looking at places now when I still have 2 years. It's strange because venues here book about a year in advanced. Sorry for looking?

Really! We showed up unannounced on a Sunday (we had found them online that morning and decide to just go out there since it was close). The lady who does the booking gave us a tour, started asking questions, and then set an appointment for a couple of weeks later so we could think about it, formulate more questions, etc. Everything was booked with them by Nov. 1st. She was completely excited about it, even when we said the wedding date we wanted (we went backwards--chose the date, then found the venue). I think they're close to being fully booked for 2015 now.

16 month checklist?

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