I'm Engaged: Now What? | Tips for Newly Engaged Planning a Wedding

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 ❤️

5 Things to Consider When Planning Your Wedding Day | Wedding Timeline Tips

Planning a wedding is a lot of work and can get overwhelming real quick. There are a lot of things to take into consideration when trying to make major decisions about your wedding day timeline. Here are 5 things that can help make your planning a little easier once decided.

The SEASON OF your wedding.

During the winter the sun sets much sooner than the spring and summer time.

If you are having the wedding ceremony the afternoon or early evening and want outside photos you will most likely need to take the family portraits and bridal party before the ceremony. Having a first look is a great option: you have special individual time together and can take a majority of the portraits right after.

If you are set on not having a first look, an option is to still take family portraits and part of the bridal party photos before to save time.

THE WEATHER.

Unfortunately, I cannot control the weather. If I could it’d be sunshine and blue skies every day with a killer sunset :) If you plan to do an outdoor wedding a tent, umbrella’s or backup location may be something to consider. If your wedding is in the winter and you want the majority of photos outside prepare your bridal party and wear warm shoes. A cute fur shawl or blanket scarf is always a great way to keep the ladies warm.

Do you want the bridal party photos AT your venue or do you have a specific spot IN MIND?

I’m all for fun and creative spots, but practically this adds to time of the portraits. So make sure to factor in driving or walking time to and from this location back to your venue. Typically it takes 1.5-2 hours to take all the photos: bride and groom portraits, family portraits and bridal party photos.

Are you havING a cocktail hour?

A cocktail hour is a great way to utilize time to talk with guests instead of doing a formal receiving line or you can use it to take portraits if the rest of the day is already full.

Are you PLANNING a grand exit?

Do you want a grand exit but plan to keep the party going into the night? Having the exit after the ceremony ensures all your guests will be able to participate and your photographers will be there to capture it. My personal favorite exits have included: balloons, sparklers, lanterns, lavender/leaves/pedals, and tissues.