I just stumbled upon this club board today and I'm so looking forward to discussing all things wedding-related with my fellow August 2016 brides!

I would love to know how much you've planned so far and your order of priority. I find all the various wedding checklists to be SO varied and inconsistent, so I've been trying to come up with my own blended order of events.
As a little background, we got engaged in Feb, booked our venue in March, and have been doing a lot of research since then, but haven't actually booked anything else. We've been trying really hard to enjoy the la la land of being engaged and just being happy and stress-free, though it hasn't been too easy to pretend I shouldn't be doing something already!

Booking our photographer and band are our top priorities right now. What are you guys focused on??
Re: Planning - what have you done so far??
A little extra background:
I've only been to a handful of weddings in my life. Most of them small. So, I'm quite clueless about weddings: how to plan, what to expect, what other people expect, and so on. To add to that confusion, both of my parents are deceased. So, planning isn't going to be easy for me due to the emotions and figuring out what to do about FOB and MOB stuff.
My areas of focus:
Research: I've been reading a lot and compiling photos of things I like (dresses, decore, etc).
Venues: We immediately confirmed the ceremony and reception venue. The ceremony is a small church that was easy to book. And, the reception venue is a friend's nice home. But, I wouldn't describe the reception as a backyard reception either. The home is a stylish, water front home.
Colors/Theme: I'm trying to set the theme and colors. I have my theme in mind, but have not confirmed the colors.
Budget/Guest List: According to the majority of timelines I've read- August 2016 weddings should have (or almost have) a guest list and budget in place. That's been difficult for me because my family/soon-to-be family have not been much help for me to finalize the guest list. I think, they think I'm planning to soon. The guest count could drastically impact the budget. I realize how much when we expected a 25 count (budgeted accordingly) and are now closer to 70.
Timeline variations:
I think timelines change depending on the situation (# of guests, destination or not, hot wedding town or rural area, how fancy or laid back you want things). Due to my situation: a 'destination' wedding, tight budget, some questions regarding tradition and how to handle those things, etc, I decided to tackle as much as I could now. That way if I have a small emotional freak out later, I have time to do so and I've read you can save money by planning early/allow for price shopping, etc.
Tips:
I took a time line from APracticalWedding.com. They have spreadsheets galore to download. That's allowed me to customize my timeline. For example, destination wedding have different invite/save the date mail dates and I have a lot of weight flux, so I won't get my dress until closer to the wedding to avoid 18 million alterations.
I hope some of my rambling helped! I'd love to hear what others have done so far!
thatgirl2 - I honestly don't think it is too early to have a rough estimate of the guest count. It was actually the first thing we did and it helped in deciding the reception venue.
knottie1433287986 - Oct should be fine but if you have certain designer(s) in mind I would check with the bridal shops who carry them to see the approx. timeframe it takes for that designer(s) to ship them. Some designers take up to a year to ship to a bride (per my local bridal shops). Most, however, take 6 months or so.
beautyofdreams - that's awesome you have so much done! having longer engagements can come in handy when spreading out all the "to do" things.
Now to my situation - We got engaged in Feb and our wedding is middle of Aug 2016. Our current guest count is 260 (mostly our families) and we have both venues booked. We are doing 6 BM/GM with a RB and FG. I am a planner at heart so I have most of the big vendors booked (photographer, DJ, transportation, caterer, etc.) as well as my dress bought last month!! I'm now looking at BM dresses because one of my ladies is pregnant and I want her to try on dresses before she gets too big (due in March). Other than that, I am enjoying using pinterest and other sources like it for ideas/suggestions.
Happy planning to all
Every step of the way so far has involved meeting with vendors who make me want to rip my hair out. Has anyone else found this?