When to start planning for a wedding?

Question

I recently got engaged, but the wedding won't be until the summer of 2009. I'm excited about this and would like to start planning basic things, but is it too soon? When should I start planning?

Answer 1

In my opinion, it's never too soon to start looking into things. For example, you can go to a florist during the summer to see what is available that time of year. You can look at different ceremony or reception locations, a lot of them have websites. Also, like you said, you can start planning the basics such as theme or colors.

If you haven't already, check out theknot.com. They have a good wedding check list.

Congratulations!

Answer 2

I got engaged in December last year, and when I wanted to start looking and booking early, all the places I was really interested in wouldn't book more than a year in advance. It can be kind of a pain that way. However, now I'm at the 1 year mark and I'm glad I spent all that time doing research. While my hands were kind of tied as far as making deposits and reserving things, I got to look around and really get an idea of how much things were going to cost. You'll have all that time to save money and open a savings account just for the wedding. Now that I'm starting to book vendors and such, its becoming clear that if I hadn't been doing this all along, I would be really overwhelmed right now. I understand how you feel, you're excited and can't wait to get started planning. I felt the same way and still do. My friends and family still think I'm jumping the gun a bit. What you should be focusing on right now is your budget. Find out how much if any each set of parents want to contribute, figure out how much you'll be able to contribute yourself and go from there. You won't really be able to finalize any of your decisions until much later, but it never hurts to look and get ideas. Go ahead and try on dresses even. The only thing I've found that makes it harder to have a long engagement is that you tend to be a little more likely to change your mind a million times. After you look in a ton of magazines and get all these great ideas, it gets to be hard to decide which ones you really want to use. Keep yourself in check as much as you can. Your friends and family are going to get sick of you if you don't. Go ahead and look, but try not to let it take over so soon. If you do, its easy to get bored with it after a while. Think about it, if you figure everything out this early, what are you going to do when it gets closer to the big day? Sit and twiddle your thumbs? Space it out to keep it fun and interesting.

Answer 3

It depends on where you live and what month. For the average wedding, I'd start planning a year in advance. However, if you are particular about certain things they often book up.

I know Duke Chapel is a gorgeous place to get married. You have to camp out the same w/e, one year in advance to get it. So "roughly a year" in advance wouldn't be good enough. Many of the best places in Atlanta, book up 15 months in advance for the busy times like May, June, July. If you live in a larger city, you might need to start a bit earlier.

Also the photographer that I really wanted to use booked up more than a year in advance for May/June. However he was free for August but I wanted a June wedding. You just said summer so I'm not sure how specific you are on June or August.

But I think 2 yrs out is much too long for the majority of things. You don't want to get so focused on it that its all you can think of for 2 years. I know I started planning in April 05 for a June 06 wedding and that by the time the summer rolled around, I couldn't wait for it to be over. I've had several friends that couldn't have been planning one event for a year.

The rich people who really want a celebrity photographer or a celebrity cake designer often have to get on a list b/c they are in such demand, but if you are having a cost savings wedding and don't need the celebrity treatment, most don't book up til about 4-6 mo in advance.

The only thing I would consider this early is photographer and wedding/reception site. I know you are excited but try not to start too early or you'll feel like 2 solid years were just planning a 4-5 hour party.

Answer 4

I was with my wife for two years before getting engaged and then we got married 3 months later. She said that it was the perfect amount of time to plan a wedding (and ours was not small). If you begin planning too early you will only become stressed which will cause stress on your relationship as well. (I honestly think this is the main reason couples call their wedding off sometimes. It just becomes too stressful). I'm not saying to wait until the last 3 months, but I would wait until closer to the wedding date. One thing I would recommend starting early though would be the guest list. My wife kept telling me to do mine but I waited until the last minute. Therefore, I left out a few important friends that my wife didn't know to invite. Other than that, everything else can wait a while.

Answer 5

You should start seriously looking at some of the major things. The earlier you can cross them off the list the better. For example the locations - if you want a church and a reception hall, like most traditional weddings, you should find the ones you love and book them as fast as you can. People usually book them WAY in advance, and why not get your first choice?

Listen... planning a wedding is stressful and not very fun. (I'm getting married on Saturday). If you space it out and try to take care of things one at a time over a long period of time, you might not get as stressed.

You have the luxury of time, so don't let that advantage go to waste. Go out and buy a wedding planning book - they have all sort of check lists about when things need to get done by.

Good luck and Congrats!

Answer 6

I'd wait until maybe Jan 2008...I KNOW you're excited but a year and a half is good...2 years is just too far away. Uou may change your mind on a lot of things. I got engaged last Feb (2006) and started planning for our July 2007 in April 2006. It was more than enough time to plan a beaituful wedding..and now 39 days away...all I have to do is all of my final meetings, get the licence and my accessoies and I'm done.
I just fear if you start now you'll change your mind on a few things....most definatly start getting ideas and writing them down...but dont start the real dirty work until at leat January 2008.

Answer 7

I would start budgeting now. Get a very basic guest count and start looking at reception venues. Not too , seriously. But, come Fall and just before the holidays, you may want to book your site. Sites get booked up to 1-1.5 years in advance. If you generally know what your budget is, when your date is and how many guests you have; you'll have an easier time finding a place. In addition, set a date. Just to make it official and plan it with the church/ceremony site. Once that is done, I'd wait until the one year mark to start planning anything. You don't want to plan things too soon, and than change your mind later.

Answer 8

My husband and I didn't get married until we were together for six years! lol I had the entire wedding planned out in my head way ahead of time, so now that you are engaged, I think it's perfectly fine to start planning.

You can decide what colors or theme you want to go with, start taking a look at dresses to see what you are really going to want, and start thinking about favors, the invites, etc.

A soon-to-be bride has great joy in searching about those things and the more you do research on it, the more ideas will come to you. You have plenty of time, so don't rush yourself, but with this time, you can figure out a budget and everything.

Congratulations and GOOD LUCK! :)

Answer 9

I think it would be safe to start looking through books etc. regarding tips and strategies to save. You could even start saving money!! But as far as actually buying things, I would wait at least another 6 months (1.5 yrs before wedding). Personally, I would get everything lined up...phone numbers, ideas, places, head count etc. and start actually reserving and purchasing things about 9-12months before the wedding. I have heard that 9 months is the perfect amount of time to plan a wedding. But, good luck!

Answer 10

ooh snap! I've started to look at venues and getting all the details/prices. Get the venue booked early and you will get it cheaper as they usually go up in price each year. Then perhaps leave the planning for a while until 12 months before the wedding. you can also have fun trying on some pretty wedding dresses!