Just starting

Venue 1st
photographer 2nd
Dress 3rdThese ones below, you don’t need to go in exact order. More decide which ones you value more, I just placed these in this order of what I thought was more important. 😊Officiant 4thCaterer 5thDj 6thFlorist 7th

If you have literally no idea about what your wedding will be like, start with a rough guest list. Nearly every vendor will need to know about how many guests you’re expecting. Make a list of everyone you plan to invite and then subtract 10-20% of that number and you’ll probably end up around there. Then you can start looking for venues that can host that number of people, caterers who have a good price for that amount of guests, etc. Wedding Wire has a good checklist you can look through that walks you through when things should get done.

Https://www.letstakepictures.com/blog/your-engaged-now-what/

Check out this blog my photographer made.

Know how many guests you want. Like a rough estimate. Come up with what you want your wedding to look like and then start looking for a venue! Book that first, photographer second and then I highly suggest at least a day of coordinator if you don’t want to pay for a full planner (I booked day of) & next will be looking for and getting a dress. But I would start to look for and book your vendors at least a year from your wedding date

Pick a date and destination (decide if you are doing local, somewhere in the same state, or further!)

Start with your date, venue, budget and guests and take it from.

Hi Amerika! Congrats on your engagement and welcome to WeddingWire! 💙

There's a Checklist in your WeddingWire Planning Tools that walks you through wedding planning from start to finish. The first things you should talk about are a potential timeline, location, and guest list size! Here are a few helpful guides to get you started:

Just Got Engaged? The 8 Things You Need to Do First

How to Plan a Wedding Step by Step

7 Things Couples Should Agree on Before Wedding Planning

Hi Amerika! Congratulations on your engagement and welcome to the wedding wire!!

Start here now that you are signed up to wedding wire welcome to the family. Now have you and your groom picked a date to marry. Ok you have done that choose your colors that you want your schemes of your wedding to be. And here it can help you find vendors start searching. From venue to florist to caterers, bakers, officiants etc. Happy planning

Hello Amerika!

Welcome to the Wedding Wire community.

I have made you a list of the initial wedding planning stages of brainstorming, discussing a budget, and visiting and booking your venue.

Deciding on vendors and wedding details will go along a similar process, so I am excluding these for now. This will be a long list, but I am trying to be as specific as possible to help you on your search.

1) Make initial lists of:
-Non negotiables/ Primary Importance (If your wedding was reduced to a minimal ceremony)
Ex: Religion, Family guests, close friends.

-Secondary Importance (If budget and venue permit)
Ex: Ideal location, ideal cake flavors

-Extras/ Nice to Haves (Fun to think about but not required)
Ex: Ideal wedding favors, fun activities for guests to do.

2) Discuss potential wedding dates
-Give yourself enough time to finance costs if no one else will contribute.
-Discuss an initial budget.

3) Look at wedding venues online
-“Favorite” any that stand out.
-Set some time aside with your fiancé to look at the list, and whittle down if possible.
Consider factors such as costs, and what they do/do not offer.

4) Reach out to potential vendors
-Call or email
-Ask about date availability, pricing information, and packages.

It doesn’t hurt to ask if they have promotions, or offer any discounts (Ex. Military/first responders, Wedding Wire couples)

Notes:
-Some vendors will only allow you to work with their “in house” team of caterers, music, etc. Other vendors will allow you to bring an outside vendor for a fee. Before booking with any venue, consider the pros and cons, do interviews, and review portfolios. Pay to do a tasting before booking a venue if possible if the caterer is in house.

-Consider creating a generic email template that you can tailor to each vendor if you are pressed for time.

5) Review Package Information and Whittle Down the List
-Bring your fiancé in to do some number crunching and double or triple checking before eliminating venues from initial visits.

Note: Unless a vendor is well beyond your budget, do not give them a “No” just yet. You may come back to this list if you don’t like any of the vendors from your whittled down list.

6) Schedule Visits With your Vendor
-Be as specific as possible with available dates and times as you can be.
-If you are considering multiple venues in a day, map out how far each venue is from each other and give yourself plenty of time to travel.
-A good rule of thumb is to visit no more than three venues on a given day. Plan to spend 1.5-2 hours at the venue to look over the premises, speak to the vendor, and take pictures and video. Take loooooooootttts of pictures.

Notes:
-Visit venues together with your fiancé when possible. Don’t try to bring a third party in unless you hire a wedding planner first.
-Consider how many bathrooms there are in a venue not only in number, but how easily guests can access them, and what kind of shape they are in.
-See if they have spaces where the bride and groom can get ready. Make sure they have enough space and have enough natural light.
-Make note of who the preferred vendors are of the venue (if any) and look at their work.

-Go over packages and pricing in person during the initial visit. You can often see an individual’s true character when discussing money, payment plans, and the legal ins and outs.


-Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT sign a contract the day of right after a visit. Take some time to cool off, and think the experience of visiting the venue through.

-Read reviews about couples that did not have the best experience at your location just to get a balanced perspective.

-If none of the venues seemed “right” go back to the drawing board and look for another venue.

7) Make the venue eliminations and reach out to your vendor
-Be very mindful of how the vendor presented themselves.
-Review all the fine print. Take a day or two to sit down and thoroughly look over what the contracts entail.
-Ask any questions for clarification, especially with money.

-See what day the final payment is due for your venue and put it in whatever calendar you have and commit it to memory.

Notes:
-Communicate via e-mail at this stage just to have records of your conversations. If your conversation is only via phone or in person for the booking stage, it could become a “you said vs. they said” in court. Most vendors have arbitration parameters in their contracts, so if anything goes wrong, the scales are not in your favor.

-Some vendors may charge a small “convenience” fee for any payments made by credit card.

-Beware of vendors that only accept cash or money order.
-It is best to make at least the first payment via credit card to have on records for both your bank and for legal purposes just to make sure that there is a money flow.

I think figuring out your budget should come before setting a date. Research venues and vendors and come up with an estimate of what you think you will spend on the wedding. Then figure out if family is contributing to the cost, how much you can afford to put in savings yourself, and determine how long it will take to save the amount you need to finance your big day. Then pick a date.
My biggest planning regret was just assuming that vendors wouldn’t even talk to me unless I already had a budget set. Do your research and make a plan. I basically just went at it, signed contracts, and then had to figure out how to come up with the money. Don’t be like me.

I felt this to my core lol. I started by going on Pinterest; there you can find a wedding checklist that helps you go step by step on what you need to do and what order/time you should start. Wedding wire also included this under the planning tab, take a look. Good luck.

I downloaded a checklist off of Pintrest! It really helped me gauge when to do this in what time frame!

Sit down with fiancé and pick your priorities first. That determines what you spend money on or cut completely. Most couples focus on guest experience (great food, free drinks, awesome dj) and great photos for your memories.


Then decide your ride or die guest list. Don’t invite anyone out of obligation and only pick those you can’t imagine the day without.
Decide your budget of what you can and are willing to spend without any financial assistance. Once other people donate even a penny, they get final say in everything.

Then start looking for a venue. A blank slate that allows outside catering is much cheaper than an all inclusive venue that tacks on one charge after another and you don’t get to cut anything you don’t want.

Budget comes first. It will determine everything else, including your date/venue/guestlist.

I would first think about dates you want. When it comes to vendors, the one I would focus most on now once you have that handful of dates is the venue. Some places are still rescheduling weddings that were postponed due to COVID. Trust me when I say that the best places, even the less expensive ones, will fill up fast, even if you're looking at a whole year from now. The next vendor I'd zoom in on is the photographer, as those will also book quickly. There's never really a bad time to start dress shopping, but you're not under any pressure just yet to buy. Now, however, is the time to get the ideas together. Good luck!