Help!

Start thinking about where you would ideally want to get married. Ceremony and Reception in the same place? Things like that. Decide how far you’re willing to have the venue from where you live. Sooner you make appts the better to go on a tour of a venue. One of the first things is to set a budget for each vendor.

Budget. Guest list (this can be an estimate but will help in the venue search). Venue. Catering. Get these knocked out first. Then go for officiant, dress, photographer, DJ, flowers, hair/makeup, cake. Get all your vendors set up first before thinking about stuff like centerpieces, cats boxes, signage etc. All that will come after. With just over a year, a lot of vendors may already be booked so you should get those done and booked ASAP. We booked our venue (includes catering), officiant, DJ, photographer almost 2 years in advance because they booked so fast in our area!

Start by setting your budget! Then research, tour, & book your venue. That will set the entire feel/vibe of your wedding, plus finalize your actual wedding date! From there I’d hire your photographer (& videographer if you choose to have one) because the good ones tend to book up quickly. Dress shopping will be the most fun, and you should do that about 10 months before your wedding to make sure you have time to order your dress, get it in, & have it altered.

Wedding venue / photographer/ catering if it's separate are the first things I booked!

I will start looking at venues ASAP! My fiancé and I are getting married next August as well. We chose the date because it was the only date they had available next summer or fall. It’s surprising how everything gets booked! We have our venue, caterer, dj, and photographer booked!

I started with just visualizing my wedding. What size do I want, big or intimate? What style, simple, elegant, rustic, romantic etc.? What color palette? Where do I want to have the wedding, indoor vs. outdoor, beachfront, in a garden, in a chapel, city vs. suburb, in town or destination? All these kind of questions. I found it very helpful for me to try to imagine what I wanted my wedding to be down to every single detail. It really helped me to stay on track, because it is way too easy to get distracted by all the millions of wedding inspirations out there.

The first thing I did was find a location. Once we found one in our budget for the time and people we wanted, I used checklists on wedding websites and went there. I inspired my Pinterest board and theme on the location. Just my personal thoughts. Also hire your photographer, videographer, DJ and florist if you choose to have them ASAP. Most take payments and aren’t fully due until 30 days out.

But before you begin that, discuss budget with your fiancé!

Thank you all so much for your advice!! Time to bust my Butt lol

Set budget 1st. No point in viewing venues etc. You can't afford (unless you don't have budget/sky is the limit).
Then, if a specific date is not super important for you, pick a venue. If theire is a date that you must get married, pick your dalte and then find venue.

The best place to start is always the venue. Only thing you might want to consider before that is a planner who might help with venue selection. All other vendors will want to know the venue before they sign anything. Also some venues offer all inclusive packages which can help serve as a starting point for budget since they will do much of the shopping for you and provide you with a list of the vendors they prefer to work with and/or have successfully worked with in the past. It took me 2 weeks or less to plan the majority of my wedding as I was given a list of vendors and contact info from my venue manager.

Congratulations!

First, make a guest list. That way when you go see venues they are able to help you. For instance, some venues will only show you reception rooms that fit your guest list.

Second, pick your wedding party.

Third, pick a hair and makeup person/team. This may sound super early; however, some are booked far in advance. You will also want to give yourself time to get hair and makeup trials done.

First, Congrats!

I would always start with a budget. Doesn't need to be set in stone, but just an idea of what you guys are willing to spend Then I would say come up with a guest count (a rough estimate) so you can start looking at venues in your price range with a guest count. Then go from there.

I booked my venue, DJ, florist, and officiant about 10-12 months out. I knew who I wanted and secured them. We booked the venue first because we knew we wanted May and we ended up with the 30th because it's a popular month and it was the only Saturday left that wasn't memorial day weekend.

"The Budget Savvy Bride" by Jessica Bishp has been my go to (along with WW and the knot!). It has a ton of checklists!

We narrowed down a date/budget, picked a venue, and booked it all a month after we got engaged last year!

I agree with a lot of the previous posts. Budget is important but its hard to really set a budget without knowing current pricing. I know a lot of people that set a budget of like 5k and the realize the time/ place they want to get married it will cost much more. I recommend figuring out where you want to get married and see what going rates are for some venues. Then from there look at yours and FH income and realistically what you can afford to save each month to put towards the wedding and set your budget and timeline from there.

Hey there Lacy! How has your wedding planning been coming along since?

This is the exact time I started planning last year, and I'm getting married in a couple weeks! Most important things imo are your budget (stick to it!) and your 3 highest priorities. Whether it be your photographer, venue, dress, dj, dress etc. Best of luck!

I would start with a rough budget...figure out what your able/willing to spend overall and come to terms with the fact that you'll probably go at least a LITTLE over that number. Think about little things. Indoor or outdoor? Countryside or ballroom? Move to time of year, talk to your fiancé about a time frame for a date, then you can start playing with details. A lot of the planning for colors and whatnot tends to be determined by your date, so that's going to want to be one of the first things, then move into a venue. Some places are cheaper the further out you book. We booked our venue 2 weeks after we got engaged (for a wedding a year and a half away!) because they were offering end of the year pricing and including things that we would have otherwise had to pay for.

THE best thing to do first is come up with a budget. Talk with your fiance and come to an agreement about how much the event will cost, how much you both are willing and able to pay, if anyone else is going to help pay for anything, etc. This will greatly help you have an idea as to what venues and vendors you can or can't afford. Then start talking about what kind of day you both imagine having. You want to be able to compromise or agree, then you can start looking at venues that fall in line with that budget and vision.