how far should i be with my planning?
2007-11-17 06:18:21 · 13 answers · asked by momma-to-morgan 3 in Family & Relationships ➔ Weddings
By now you should be concentrating on booking the reception place and the church. These are the most important things to have. Once this is completed, start searching for your dress and DJ>
Good Luck...
2007-11-17 06:22:01 · answer #1 · answered by diana0175 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Go to theknot.com and register. It will give you a timeline. That having been said, of course there is plenty of wiggle room. A friend got engaged a few weeks after I did (June 2007) and she planned her whole wedding in a matter of weeks and got married in August 2007. I am not getting married until October 2008 so I'm taking things slowly.
I'd say by now you'd want to have a good idea of your budget, have a place booked for both ceremony and reception (unless you're having a morning wedding or a wedding during the week - sorry, I'm not sure if 8/16 is a Saturday or not), probably know who your attendants are, find and book an officiant. Next I would start looking for gowns (they can take months to come in and then alterations on top of that) photographers, florists, etc. Also think about your honeymoon, favors, flowers, color scheme.
I hope this helped.
2007-11-17 12:03:43 · answer #2 · answered by amethyst-ran 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My wedding is the week before yours (August 9 2008). So far we've booked the venue which has an all inclusive plan that includes the cake, photography, dj, and a decorator so all those things are taken care of. I just put down a deposit on my dress two weeks ago. We booked a videographer. That's about all we've done. I'm guessing that if our venue hadn't had an all inclusive plan we wouldn't be that far in the planning yet. I've started to think about the favors that we want and music for the ceremony but haven't come to any sorts of conclusions. We're also in the process of finding a pastor to marry us.
I'd say that if you already have a venue and/or church then you are doing pretty good. Next I would get the dress because depending on the store and designer it can take 4-6 months to arrive. After that, you should try to find a photographer because I think that is one of the most important parts of capturing the memories of the wedding.
Good luck!
2007-11-17 07:02:08 · answer #3 · answered by karma_k11 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Our wedding is the week after yours and so far we have the reception site & church booked. We just finalized our decisions for DJ and photographer and will be signing those contracts on Monday! If you don't all this done yet, don't worry - we were able to make appointments for DJ and photographer in the past 2 weeks. It really wasn't too bad. I found alot of vendors through bridal fairs and others recommended from our reception site. Bridal fairs are great because you get a sneak peak of their pricing and get to know their personality a little bit. Anyway, I haven't even started looking for my dress yet or flowers! Don't let people make you think you're behind schedule.. While you don't want to wait too long, you still have time! As long as you're "doing your homework" right now then you're golden! Good luck and have fun!
2007-11-17 12:43:40 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Since right now! little by little....i had 9 months to plan my wedding, but the las 3 months were nicely awful!! a lot to do, make confirmations, send invitations, take the RSVP's, the dress, the alterations, it does not really matter how early you plan your wedding anyways the last 3 or 2 months you are going to feel in a beautiful chaos... just relax! congrats!
2007-11-17 19:43:55 · answer #5 · answered by mimimimi 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some people say it takes a year to plan a wedding but it really all depends on what kind of wedding you want. Obviously, if you're planning something elaborate, you should start gathering your ideas now and putting them into action by the first of the year.
Anyway, here are a few things you should have set at least 6 months prior to the big day, even though you can get away with doing it just a few months before.
1. Location! Places book up quickly and people tend to plan early... so if it's 3 months to your wedding day, it may be difficult finding a good place since they fill up fast (especially if your wedding is on a weekend day). Try to have the location decided on and booked by February or March.
2. Catering. As with locations, catering places can fill up quickly (especially the popular ones). You should at least figure out what kind of food you'd like. This should also ideally be set at least 5 months before the event (if you choose a popular catering service). Again, if your wedding is a weekend, try to get things arranged early.
3. Photography. Those places also fill up. Book one ahead of time and you'll be golden.
4. Who is performing the service? Ministers/priests/rabbis can fill up quickly with special events (first communions, weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, etc). Definitely snag one early!
5. Flowers. Florists can get very busy with weddings. If you're planning on having professional flower arrangements, try to get this organized a few months before. A lot of planning goes behind flowers, so it's ideal to have things set at least 4-6 months before.
If you're getting married in a small town where not a lot of events happen, then you may not even have to plan this early. It doesn't hurt to stay organized though and get these things out of the way. You can easily get stressed out (even with the simplest of affairs). So write down everything you want on your wedding day (make this a project with your honey). Get the basics down: budget, how many people will be attending, location ideas, theme (if any), etc.
Your wedding dress can wait until a few months before the big day. Unless you're having something custom made, it's safe to say that you can wait until 2 months before. It's usually a bad idea anyway to buy a dress 6 months before because your weight can fluctuate by quite a bit. However, you should plan out what your bridal party is going to wear! They need to get fitted and dresses may need to get made. It's a little more difficult organizing a group of people than it is getting things done for yourself, so make sure the bridal party knows what they're wearing and what they need to do months beforehand.
Anyway, have fun! As long as you're organized this can be very fun and stress-free! Don't get all crazy about it. Remember that this is YOUR wedding and no one can tell you exactly how to manage it. It's up to you :)
2007-11-17 06:32:23 · answer #6 · answered by Cochy 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The more you do NOW, the less you'll be stressed out about it closer to the date.
My fiance and I started planning Jan 2007 for a June 2008 wedding :)
2007-11-18 10:40:07 · answer #7 · answered by Terri 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Believe it or not, I'm getting married on the same day! We have the major things finished...dj, photographer, reception, cake, florist etc. If fact, I just bought my dress a few weekends ago. There are a bunch of little things left to do...invitations, bridesmaides dresses, favors etc.
Here's a checklist to help you to determine what needs to be done...
http://wedding.weddingchannel.com/planning/checklist/12-10months.asp
I think as long as you have a plan for the major stuff like the church and reception etc., you'll be fine. Those things book up quickly.
Best of luck on 8-16!
2007-11-17 11:34:12 · answer #8 · answered by Why? 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You need to set up a wedding web site on weddingchannel.com and use there planning lists and check lists. They are wonderful, I used all of them and they were all very helpful!
2007-11-17 08:04:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Free Wedding checklist on this website that you can print out to assist you.
http://www.invitationdiscounters.com
2007-11-19 03:20:21 · answer #10 · answered by moonstruck 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋