Beyond Excited & Nervous

Pick a date and book a venue. That will make it super easy to hire the rest of your vendors and help with planning out the details.

Congratulations! The first two things you and your fiancé will want to do are discuss budget and create a guest list then you can start looking for venues. Venues/caterers generally charge per person hence why I recommend knowing how many people you will be inviting so that you don't go over budget. It is also a good idea to create a guest list in advance to make sure that your venue is large enough to accommodate the number of people you plan on inviting. Some venues also have guest list minimums or food/beverage limits. I would also recommend purchasing a wedding planning book. When we got engaged my mom got me The Knot wedding planning book. I found it very helpful. I also watched YouTube videos that were created by a wedding planner by the name of Jamie Wolfer. Since we got married she has released a wedding planning program you can purchase where she will walk you through the wedding planning process. If you don't want to purchase that program she has tons of free videos that are very helpful. Below I've linked The Knot wedding planning book my mom gave me and Jamie Wolfer's YouTube channel.

The Knot Planning Book: https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Wedding-Planner-Organizer-binder/dp/0770433367/ref=asc_df_0770433367/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312132076760&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15935818405644321305&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007869&hvtargid=pla-434335069873&psc=1

Jamie Wolfer's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/JamieWolfer/videos

View Quoted Comment Hi thank you we have a date but have not yet picked a venue

View Quoted Comment Aww ☺️ Thank you so much, I need to look into that immediately!!

View Quoted Comment You're welcome 🙂

My FH and I and planning and paying for it ourselves too. We already had a general sense for what we wanted (parents/siblings only wedding on the beach and a huge party at home). I think the very first thing we started with was our venue and then built everything including our budget around that. The date was not as important to us as an affordable beautiful venue space.

My advice would be pick the one thing you must have (date, DJ, caterer, or space) and go from there. Everyone is different so don't feel like your making the wrong decision because someone picked something else.

View Quoted Comment Thank you I was worried we had to do everything in a certain order. I don’t even know what my budget should be so picking a venue first and working around that seems like a great idea.

I’d recommend establishing a budget before committing to a venue. How much can you and FH save between now and the wedding? Even if it’s a range? Is it $5-10k? $15-20k? Unlimited budget? This is super important to figure out before anything else.

I think you should decide in a budget first and have a certain amount whereas you have to go over a little bit... our budget is 3500 hundred and 500 dollars is all we can afford to go over that budget.. its gonna be a small beach wedding.. just my opinion you don't have to do this..

View Quoted Comment So my ideal budget is 4,000 and under

View Quoted Comment So we said 4k because we are also trying to move into our first house together this year. Plus we really just wanted a small intimate wedding.

View Quoted Comment Perfect! There’s your first step - done! Now I’d explore what venues would fit into your budget, also factoring food, beverages, officiant cost and any decor or music. Most parks and churches offer low costs for venues. BBQ, Mexican or Italian are cost effective catering options.

View Quoted Comment Well that's about the same as mine we are DIY everything at first it was frustrating and scary but now it's much better Amazon Aliexpess and dollar tree are my bestfriends right now and walmart has great drink dispensers unless you plan on doing a bartender and a drink fountain for like 22 dollars depending on where you get it from if you need a little help I'm here and will do my best. good luck🙂

Well the prices have changed a little also YouTube has awesome diy videos for weddings

View Quoted Comment Your awesome thank you so much Ive been looking up diy centerpieces and flower arrangements.

View Quoted Comment Aww thank you your awesome also

Same here, wondering the same thing? The checklist on the WeddingWire App has helped me a lot. I still feel somewhat lost about how the ceremony and reception are supposed to go, but I guess I can google that too, lol. Good luck hun!

Pinterest, etsy and Google. Diy doesn't have to mean cheap and tacky. For example instead of pay at least 1k on flowers I'm growing my own for a grand total of 40 dollars and will have fashionable, real flowers that will be in season right when I need them. I also have bought decor used from Facebook marketplace. There's a lot there and those bases give me something to work off of. Make a list of your needs for decor and whatever else and then Google those things diy and watch tutorial vids and check out etsy. I got a ton of cute ideas from etsy. For our unique guest autograph thing that we can hang up and look at instead of shove away in a book, we bought a bourbon barrel lid and are having a custom vinyl transfer made. They sell this exact thing on etsy for $100 and up but I'm doing my own for a total of $33. $24 for the custom vinyl and $7 for a local bourbon barrel lid. You just have to organize your needs and then start looking for unique ideas and then think on how to copy them and make them your own. It's easier the smaller your wedding Is, but if you have a lot of spare time you can do a big, grand wedding mostly diy too.

View Quoted Comment Google has been my best friend 😂

View Quoted Comment Me too lol and etsy. I get so many great ideas from etsy. I also hand made my veil! I couldn't believe how expensive they were so I bought a $5 pattern and some $2 metal combs and some $7 Czech glass beads and sooo many expensive Swarovski crystals. But overall I spent under $100 for a now heirloom quality, hand beaded Boho draped 2 comb fingertip length veil. I'm finishing beading the combs now, and it took hours! But similar veils cost closer to 1k and it means a lot more to me since I made it and put all that effort into making it exactly what I wanted. I'm making my own beaded belt as well. Trial and error is a fantastic way to learn. But thankfully for things we can't do ourselves there's places that offer really great deals! Like Anne's bargain bridal!