Newly engaged and no clue where to start!

First thing you need to evaluate is your budget. How much can you realistically spend on a wedding? Next thing is a rough draft of your guest list. You don't need to have the entire thing finalized, but you need to know if you're hosting 40 guests or 300. Venue would be next. Something within your budget, can fit your guest list, and has dates open in the month/season that you want. I would start looking at venues as soon as you're ready to begin planning. They can book up 2+ years in advance and fall is the most popular wedding season right now. After that it's just about booking the rest of your major vendors. The checklist here on WeddingWire is also super helpful. Happy planning!

First off, pick a general time period of when you would like to be married, like fall of 2020! The next step is to look at venues, and see what dates in that time period they have available! Everything else will be based off of those two things, so definitely start there

There's a planning tool that helps that lays out your whole timeline from whatever date you set. The best place to start besides setting a date to set a budget and then check venues.

Happy Planning!

And rough # of guests and budget too of course, like PP said!

Budget

Rough Number of Guests

Venue

Dates

1) set a budget, 2) estimate guest list, 3) decide a theme or type of venue you want. Once these are decided, your vision starts coming to life and it’s easier to make decisions about the venue, decor, food, entertainment.

Congrats & welcome, Andi!!! When I was in my 20’s, I would have had the big princess wedding in a church/hotel ballroom. When I finally got married in my 40’s, my vision totally changed (and I met the right match). We did a tiny destination wedding with a pirate theme and a small local reception with a 50’s/60’s theme. No church. Not many typical traditions. So fun & so us! Stay true to your (and partner’s) vision and you’ll love the wedding you create! ❤️

Def. budget and what is important to you. People always assume wedding and reception all in one day. But for me, I wanted a small intimate wedding and then I wanted to spend time with JUST my husband after and take it all in. So we had a small hiking wedding to our a favorite location of ours then afterwards we took a "mini moon" to a resort nearby. It was perfect for what we wanted. Now we are about a month away from our reception where we will have a normal reception with friends and family. We will play a video of our ceremony at the reception.

Keep it fun. Talk to your groom about what he’ll wear and then start with your dress! Decide on a silhouette and you can go from there. What you fall in love with may give you an idea for a theme or location (beach vs. garden vs. fire hall vs. destination). Then, You’ll need a number for the coordinators at the venues you visit, so make your guest list. You can always adjust it depending on the size of the place you choose. From there you’ll decide on your menu and decor and the details start to pile up from there. Keep receipts or assign someone to track your spending, that way you can accurately discuss budgeting and funding with anyone who wants to contribute to your dream wedding. Good luck!

My favorite beginner's resource video...

I share this all the time, and think you might find it useful. In lieu of a wedding planner/coordinator (if you decide to DIY your planning), get organized! This includes your checklists, binder, excel sheet, whatever system you want to use to keep yourself on schedule and organized.

Wow! Thank you all so much! So much wonderful guidance! Matt and I are excited to plan this together (though I'm sure he basically is cool with whatever) I'm very non-traditional, minus the dad walking me down the aisle or giving me away, but what perfect ideas for everything! Thak you all so much!

Congratulations! The first things we did was set a budget. And once you decide what you can realistically afford, STICK to it (it’ll be hard because wedding things are pretty!) shop around and get a feel for what things cost. Then start venue shopping. Weigh out all-inclusive vs. doing it all. Prioritize what is important to you and work around everything else.

Congrats! Like everyone else says, budget first. WW has a great timeline option that lets you know what you should be doing and when (it in fact has so much stuff, some of which I’m not doing, and allows you to delete those steps not being used!) best of luck to you two!

Congratulations!!!!! I started with looking for a venue so that we could solidify our date. When you have a solid date, it's easier to get other vendors and start going from there. Best of luck planning the wedding and congratulations again!!

Hey girl. So sorry to hear about your dad! I'm getting married next year too and kind of in the same place cause I had no idea where to start. I actually ended up signing up for this service called Salud where you get to email a wedding planner for advice and it's been so helpful cause I know I can't afford to hire a full service one. I did their free trial for 30 days and now I'm hooked haha so worth it. If you wanna check it out its www.momentstosalud.com Good luck!

Congratulations! I would start off by picking when you want to be married! Spring, summer, fall, winter? Then decide on a budget. Pinterest is my BEST FRIEND when coming to wedding planning. It helped me decide on my aesthetic for my wedding. I would look at venues as your first vendor as this will help set the tone for the rest of the wedding planning. Once you have your venue, you'll be able to find everything a lot easier and picture everything together. Happy planning!

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Hey Andi

How has your wedding planning been coming along so far?

I always recommend couples struggling with where to start their wedding planning to you check out the Wedding Wire Checklist. All you have to do is tell it a little about your wedding (date, etc.) and it will create customizable tasks for every stage of the planning journey. It displays tasks in chronological order leading up to your big day, so it’s a great blueprint for what to tackle next in the wedding planning. It’s super helpful!

WeddingWire also have an entire wedding ideas section packed with helpful articles full of tips, ideas, and etiquette to guide you through your planning