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WR: This is not normal, right?

uppereastgirluppereastgirl member
First Comment
in New Jersey
A friend got engaged last Thursday.  I'm pretty sure it was a surprise.  His fiancee has already visited 6 reception halls (I think the first few were on Monday), and our friend is sick of too much wedding planning.  They're planning their wedding for December 31, 2011, on Long Island.

Not normal, right?  I knew we were going to have a long engagement so I had some time, but it took me a while to figure out what kind of place we wanted, how many people we'd have, etc.

How long did it take until you started visiting reception halls and such?
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Re: WR: This is not normal, right?

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    missdonnaannemissdonnaanne member
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    edited December 2011
    I started looking 3 months later, like at actual venues... though after looking at 3-4 places I went back to the drawing board, and it may be another month before I start looking again. It takes time to come up with an idea of budget and guest list size. I can't imagine doing it so quickly!
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    peaches85peaches85
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    edited December 2011
    About a month later for us because if we didn't do it in January we knew we wouldn't have time to start looking at venues until the summer and by then we knew a lot of places would be booked for July.
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    jcg98jcg98 member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary Name Dropper First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We got engaged in February, and I started doing research and visiting venues at the end of May (for a Nov. 2011 wedding).  But I probably would have started sooner if not for graduate work, teaching two classes and another part-time job! LOL.  Maybe your friend's fiancee has been formulating her ideas for a while?
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    DMLJDMLJ member
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    edited December 2011
    I've known people like this.  Even if the wedding is REALLLY far away, they want to start planning immediately to the point where they stress themselves out prematurely. Personally, planning a wedding is less than a year is mind boggling to me, but I know people do it!
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    sk2342sk2342
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    edited December 2011
    i started looking just about a month later since we were engaged in september and I knew I wanted a fall wedding the following year. i also knew that fall weddings are VERY popular and if I wanted a specific date and venue I had to get started asap
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    Heather822Heather822
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    edited December 2011
    We went pretty quickly too, but only because we didn't want any longer than a 6 month engagement. If we were looking as far ahead as your friend we would never have gone so quickly.
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    mbcdefgmbcdefg member
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    edited December 2011
    I think we started visiting places after about a month. We settled on a budget, got a rough guest list from my parents, and talked to our church before we started visiting halls. I started e-mailing places for information within maybe a week of our engagement (mainly because I was chatting here before our official engagement and I already had a short list of places I knew we could afford).

    Visiting 6 halls within a week is crazy. We visited 6 halls in total, but in the span of maybe 3-4 weeks. But we were very, "Get it booked and move on" people ... we didn't spend a ton of time comparing venues. We booked The Tides because it was the first hall where we didn't immediately launch into the negatives of the place once we got in the car (other places were, "This place is nice but I don't like X," or, "I definitely don't want to book this hall because of X").

    Maybe she thinks that New Year's Eve will book fast and she wants to book something ASAP? I don't think that's unreasonable, but hopefully she won't give your friend wedding burnout within the first month!
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    jrgoogrljrgoogrl
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    edited December 2011
    We got engaged in November of 2009, and started looking at venues in December. We booked our venue The Manor, in January for an April 9, 2011 wedding. Personally I did a lot in the beginnging because I want to enjoy the holidays this year. Last year with the engagement was very overwhelming.
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    viviannacviviannac member
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    edited December 2011
    We got engaged in January but didn't start looking until May.  We then booked in July.  When we first got engaged I had no clue as to where to begin nor did I want to jump into it that quickly. 
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    Denise91980Denise91980 member
    First Comment Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    Definitely not normal...but then again who am I to say what is normal? I have been engaged since Decmber 2003....we looked at venues a few months after getting engaged until I decided to go back to school to get my Masters Degree and wedding planning and school would be too chaotic. But 6 venues on Monday is NUTS!
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    demarcosjddemarcosjd
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    edited December 2011
    We started looking about 3 months after. We were engaged in Sept of 08. I would have waited longer but my mom encouraged us to go. I thought I had all the time in the world but when we started looking at places I couldn't believe how many people booked so far in advance! We originally wanted 5/15/10 as our wedding date but ended up moving it to 6/5/10 because a lot of places we liked didn't have it open and the place we fell in love with was already booked.
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    kwilkinson14kwilkinson14
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    edited December 2011

    We got engaged July of last year but didn't start looking at venues until February-March this year for a May 2011 date. I knew I had sometime and did the preliminary work prior to going places. I had a tentative guest list, budget in mind, theme of wedding, etc. It made the process easier that way. Perhaps your friend's FI knew all of those details for awhile.

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    raangoliraangoli
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We got engaged in March but didn't look at venues until a month or so later (in person that is, we vetted locations online prior to that.) In May of this year we signed our contract for our wedding this November. It's quick, but I am starting to be thankful it is.

    Looking at 6 venues within one week of being engaged when you're wedding is 14+ months away is incredible.
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    VanessaB24VanessaB24 member
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    edited December 2011
    We got engaged in Aug 09 and married in June 2010. I started the search about 1-2 months after we got engaged, because at the time we were moving into our house.
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    TuffysMommieTuffysMommie
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    edited December 2011
    I'm with you - that's way fast.  It's almost like the wedding itself is more exciting than the engagement, etc.
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    leah2bleah2b member
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    edited December 2011
    Seems very fast.  It also doesn't give any time to just enjoy being engaged without having to deal with wedding planning.
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    Danes983Danes983 member
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I actually got engaged on a Sunday and looked the following Saturday I believe. I hadnt visited 6, I saw 2 actually, then 2 the next week and so on.  NYE is a very very popular wedding date.  It has to be planned way in advance.  I knew I wanted that date and being in the industry, I knew I had to get a jump on it.  I even called some DJ's a month later and they were already booked 1.5 years out.  For me all the big stuff was out of the way by Sept. Then I sat and hing out for a while until this past March when I got my dress and then the rest of the planning progressed. So as a NYE bride i dont think its too early.  Our engagement party was in July so I was able to give my family some details and enjoy being engaged the rest of the time.
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    maaricomaarico member
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    She might be looking already because it's a popular date.  I got engaged October 8, 2008 and I called the venue I really wanted a few days later and they were already booked for 10/10/10 two years in advance.
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    lovbulldgslovbulldgs member
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    edited December 2011
    We got engaged in May of 2009 and booked our venue in July.  We already had a date set in our heads of May 15, 2010 and only looked at 3 possible venues all in one day. 
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    gymchick05gymchick05
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    edited December 2011

    I got engaged on a Friday and my family stressed us out that weekend telling us we had to start looking ASAP so by that Monday we were calling places to find out cost per head, etc and within probably 2 weeks we were visiting places. Since my schedule and FI's is so different, we really only spend 2 days looking- together we visited 4 on a Saturday on the way down to visit his family and the next week we he and my mom took a day off on a Tuesday (which is my day off) and we looked at I think 4-5 more places. After that we figured out our favorites, revisited and took about  a month to make up our minds. So it was about 6 weeks after being engaged we had our venue booked. It was fast, and I wish we didnt jump right it, but I was shocked at how many places were getting booked up in May/June 2011 when I called, so it made me nervous. I was also too excited to sleep for the first few days after getting engaged, so I spent the time making a list of potential venues haha.

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    akmackayakmackay
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We got engaged Nov 2 2008 and started looking right after thanksgiving (so about 3 weeks) b/c we wanted to beat out Holiday/NYE/Valentine's Day engagements on places. 18 months out and quite a few places were already booked. But to look (not just online) a few days later is wayyy too soon for my liking.
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    Laurms15Laurms15 member
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We were engaged in Feb 09 (married the following April 2010) and we started looking at venues right away. Coordinating a church and a venue took a little work so I'm glad we started early but after that we found our photog and then chilled out for a bit. Everything else came within the 1 year mark (florist/DOC in April, Dress in May, Hair/Make-up/Limo/Band in August, BM Dresses October)
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    eleven29eleven29
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    edited December 2011
    I have friends who just got engaged last month, and they've already looked at a ton of places -- for a SPRING 2013 WEDDING! I think they are out of their minds, haha.  FI and I waited a few months to start looking at places and we're having an almost 2-year engagement...I wanted time to just bask in the newly-engaged happiness before I started planning!
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    Lola MinnieLola Minnie member
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Well I had looked at places online & had ideas where to look.

    We were engaged end of April 2009 and looked the following weekend. Booked the weekend or two after that for May 2010.

    An aquaintance recently booked her wedding before being engaged - that I could never do!  Luckily she is now engaged but had her venue & photography booked before he even proposed!
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    akmackayakmackay
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-jersey_wr-this-not-normal-right?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:90Discussion:1da799c5-6351-4c0f-8728-d822978ce6e9Post:09cfb26b-9fbf-43a8-9109-ed599316a62a">Re: WR: This is not normal, right?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Well I had looked at places online & had ideas where to look. We were engaged end of April 2009 and looked the following weekend. Booked the weekend or two after that for May 2010. <strong>An aquaintance recently booked her wedding before being engaged - that I could never do!  Luckily she is now engaged but had her venue & photography booked before he even proposed!
    </strong>Posted by Lola Minnie[/QUOTE]

    Now THAT is early and overkill!
    *~allie~*

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    nessi979nessi979
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Wow.   Thats....wow.    I dont know if thats nutty or incredibly on top of things. 

    Me?  I was engaged in April and I havent even begun.   Well....i start started researching seriously this week. (hence all my venue specific threads)  Im going with my MOH and my WP Monday.  So, we'll see
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    HobokensFuryHobokensFury member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    edited December 2011
    We were engaged in May, started looking in June and booked our 2012 wedding in July.  I know I was ahead of the game but I wanted St. Patty's Day so all the venues told me to book early because it was going to be a popular day.
     
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    cutiepie12702cutiepie12702
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    edited December 2011
    I'm a planner, and was completely convinced if we didn't book immediately all the good places would be gone (since I know someone who booked almost 1.5 years in advance and took the last Friday available for the entire summer), so we started looking a week and a half after we got engaged and booked less than a month later. I was on a mission to have that settled! lol
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    kristen8040kristen8040 member
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We got engaged in November and started looking in January, though honestly I had most of my places picked out already lol.  My mom thought it was kind of early but when we went to Ramsey they actually already had two dates for May 2011 booked.  I'd give her the benefit of the doubt with it being New Years Eve.  
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    hcer0708hcer0708 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I got engaged the first week of Oct 09 and went to see my first venue probably about a month later. I didnt book until Jan 10 for a Sept 2011 date.
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