So you are officially engaged, told your family and closed friends, shared the happy news on social media and now are thinking where do I start?
First of all, congrats! 🎉🎉 Getting engaged is so exciting and is a special time of your life. Now that the initial shock and checking your hand every minute to make sure this is real life has set in you may be feeling overwhelmed. The following are a few tips to help ease the where the heck do I start feeling after you’ve told all your closest friend and family, scrolled through Pinterest and realized there are a million options.
NAIL DOWN A BUDGET
Although it’s not the most fun part of planning, setting a budget is the most important part of wedding planning. It effects nearly every decision you will make when wedding planning. Talk with your fiance, talk with your parents, talk with anyone who is chipping in. If you don’t plan on hiring a wedding coordinator I highly recommend downloading a free wedding planning app that will help you budget and track everything as you go. Setting a budget will help you make countless decisions for your wedding day.
SET YOUR DATE + BOOK YOUR VENUE(S)
These two steps go hand in hand. Venues fill up and even churches seem to book more in advance than they used to. So be sure to find a venue that is available for your date or be willing to change your date! The worst thing is booking a different vendor and having to go back and tell them the date has changed and they are no longer available. So to prevent that heart ache - book the venue first.
RESEARCH & HIRE VENDORS
During this time, decide what aspects of the day you want to hire professionals for and what you plan on doing yourself or having family help with. Below is a list of just about every wedding vendor out there:
Event Planner/Coordinator
Rental Company (decor and anything additional the venue doesn’t supply)
Photographer
Videographer
Wedding Attire
Florist
Caterer
Baker
DJ
MakeUp Artist
Hairstylist
Save the Date and or Invitation Stationary Designer
Wedding Officiant (If your venue doesn’t include one)
Transportation (If you want to have a party bus or a special getaway car)
Fun Bonus Vendors to Check Out: Calligraphers, Photo Booth, & Live Wedding Painter
REMEMBER
When planning your big day remember that at the end of the day what really matters is that you are marrying your best friend. Having beautiful things at your wedding day is fun and I’m a sucker for the details, but it’s the relationships that matters the most. So when planning take your fiance’s opinion to heart and decide on things together ❤️
