October 2025 wedding - Bored?

Start researching vendors (ie, photographers, videographers, florists, cake bakers, etc.) and venues! A lot of the great ones book out a year + in advance, so it's a good idea to do all your research now and have your favorites picked out when it's time to reach out/book. I created a binder to keep all the info about each vendor - it made it super easy to flip through and compare, and put them in order of "most wanted".

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Fortunately, the venue is already booked! I've been making lists and notes about vendors I/we are interested in. It just very much feels like I'm waiting for spring to get here so I can start crossing things off. I guess this is a lesson in patience

Before you can look at venues, there are 3 things that must be set in stone: your budget, guest list, and vision. For budget, decide how much you and fiancé are willing and able to spend without any outside help from parents and loans/credit cards. That will determine the type of wedding you are able to have. For some people, that means cake and punch at the park or church and call it a day or if they have more money, rent out an inexpensive venue and have catered food from their local Chinese restaurant with grocery store flowers and cake. Next is guest list. Decide together who are your non negotiable support system that doesn’t include people invited to please others who are not getting married. Parents already got married and often had someone else plan, which included their parents deciding to invite family and friends that had zero relationship with the couple. Your wedding is not your parents’ family reunion or workplace reunion and they can host those people any other time of the year. Stand your ground and don’t let anyone else make you feel bad if you choose to not invite someone whose attendance will put a damper on your experience.
Last is your vision. Decide what you both want your wedding to look and what you don’t want. Pick 3-5 areas to focus your budget and energy. Anything not in that list gets cut out. Many couples focus on the guest experience that guests remember after the wedding has long passed (good food, beverages they don’t open their wallets for, great dj) and memories (quality photos and video). The rest is optional even if social media says it’s mandatory.

You can’t book a venue or any other vendors until those are finalized. In the meantime, you can browse Yelp/Instagram for vendors and what they offer and Pinterest for inspiration.

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Thanks. We've already handled all of this.

Have you started looking for a dress yet? Mine took 8 months to make, so you have lots of time to look around and find the perfect one! Also, start documenting your vision! Create a pinterest board and save your favorite looks. Also look on etsy for customized stuff! Knowing exactly what you want ahead of time will put you in a great spot when you're ready to order. I had a custom guestbook made, laser cut wood names for place settings, and cute coasters with our names/date!

View Quoted Comment The coaster idea is cute!! I actually tried on a few dresses last week. Going to go again after the new year. I know what I like but online vs. on my body are two totally different things. It was helpful though because I’ve always said I want strapless - turns out once they were on, I really didn’t like it.

I wouldn't say that it's too soon to start booking. I would start figuring out your photographer and DJ now. Many vendors book up about a year in advance.

It's also not too soon to find your gown. Most gowns take about 6 months to arrive and then another 3 months for alterations. It may take you a shopping trip or two to decide.

I really think there is more that you could be doing now if you are ready to start making plans.

So I was actually engaged for 2 years and had a similar itch. To keep myself from going overboard I made a couple of vision boards on google slides or canva of how I pictured my wedding. Some of them included wedding dress, dessert table, guest table, ceremony site, and cards/gifts table. Whenever I had that nervous "I need to plan everything" energy I would just jump onto pinterest/google images and then just add to the vision board (or create a new one) and my wedding planning cravings would go away lol. Having these specific details set also helped when it came closer to the date because it helped narrow our focus on what we wanted for the wedding or which diy projects we wanted to keep. Hope this helps!

There are 10 seasons of "four brides" were brides compete for the best wedding to win a honeymoon. There are lots of things to research and so many details to decide on! My wedding is in 45 days and there are so many little things to take care of and coordinate. And you can plan the honeymoon and surrounding activities.

View Quoted Comment It does! I have a very organized Pinterest board but going through again and again isn’t a bad idea to really narrow it down. Appreciate the input!

View Quoted Comment Wishing you a gorgeous wedding day!!

I second the wedding dress shopping! I started in July of 2021. Yes, 2021! I would book an appointment a month with like 5-6 gowns and then I would go home and think about it/ look at the photos to see if I still liked it after I slept on it a few days. I JUST said yes to a gown last month after over 50 total and I had NO idea it was going to be this hard! Good luck and have fun!!

It's not too soon. I booked my caterer two years in advance. I booked my venue almost three years in advance. So many vendors already had bookings years out, so I'm glad I started when I did. Another advantage is that you're often locked into the price of the year you book, which is cheaper than the year you'll get married in.

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Did you fib about your wedding date? I tried to schedule with a bridal salon in July and they told me "it's too soon, and we charge on the 2nd visit".

Hi Michael!


I wanted to get some tips from you because we literally have the same theme and date!! I have been searching for venues but the ones that have caught my eye don’t meet my expectations. I’m thinking about just doing a banquets hall and following through with the rustic theme, but I can’t seem to picture it in my head. What type of venue did you pick?

Good morning, and congratulations on your upcoming nuptials!

It sounds like you are off to a good head start. Since you have decided on a venue, start checking out vendors (photography, wedding cakes, videography, event planners, florist, etc.) couples usually book a year or two in advance. You could wait until Spring, but you may want to reconsider reaching out towards the end of the year. Me personally, I wish we had set a date 24 months out. We were engaged September 2022, and set to marry October 28th. For me I found the biggest challenge was creating a suitable budget, venue, and guest list (all in that order). My fiancé and I began planning right away, but we quickly ran into issues finding a venue to hold our wedding. We live in the Gulf Coast area in Mississippi. A lot of venues were already booked, and/or did not fit into our budget. Our budget for vendors and creating a guest list was another challenge. We had a specific budget for the reception (food, drinks, entertainment and overall venue space). My groom added ten additional family members taking our food and drink budget over by $300. Keep your planner close! As you move more into the planning season, you can see where every dollar is being spent. Happy planning, and best wishes!

Start planning on registry and honeymoon. Start researching your floral ideas. We had to fast track our wedding and scheduled at the 8 month out, mark. It has been stressful because there are so many different things you can do for your own personal tastes, and now we understand why weddings are booked so far out in advance. Little details. Are you having a religious wedding with unity ceremony - what kind? Start scheduling for cake tastings and food tastings. Start picking out your colors, ordering swatches, looking at suits/tux for Groom and Groomsmen. Look at different fabrics. The options are endless, depending on how much detail you would like. Look at Etsy for wedding favors or decor - photo frames, signs and etc... I have changed my mind several times on options that I was 95% certain, we would go with. Most importantly - enjoy this time!

Happy wedding planning

View Quoted Comment Hi!! Congrats to us! We opted for a hotel/banquet hall because the majority of our guests are from out of town, but more importantly, we’re having less than 100 people and the rooms felt comfortable, not cavernous. We also liked the way the night would flow from room to room.


What’s the vision in your head? Because where we booked was NOT mine.

View Quoted Comment This is helpful, thank you! I’ve started the registry but it feels silly since we own everything we could possibly want/need… so I’m upgrading things.


We’re not having a religious ceremony. And our venue has in house catering (and includes a cake) so we’re fully covered there. Colors are covered, but good idea about suits, etc. Never hurts to browse!

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I did not fib, no. I wasn't even engaged when I started dress shopping hahah!! Our wedding is Nov 2024 (I think- we still keep trying to finalize the date but waiting on our venue availability), and I was fully expecting to order my gown last month and wait the 9 months for it to come in. Well to my surprise the gown I chose was a 1 of a kind that the designer made as a sample and it was the one! Soooo... I had to take it home that day LOL! Now this thing is just hanging in my closet in a garment bag while I try to keep it a secret for 14 more months haha! Might need to get that earlier wedding day!