14 month engagement?!

Research venues first, take some tours and book. DJ would be next. Maybe photographer.

We started out at 13 months and within the fist month and a half I had all of my major vendors booked. I am also the type that once it is in my head it needs to get done. Set a budget and research venues. Look at Dj's and Photographers after that followed by florists and transportation.

The biggest thing you should be doing right now is to enjoy your engagement

Set up a potential guest list and a budget, and start researching venues.

Depending on your location you may need to book your venue ASAP. My home city has very long winters and only 8-12 beautiful summer weekends so the picking is slim if you want a summer wedding, therefore we have to book a year and half in advance if we have a set date in mind.

Set up a realistic budget. There's no point in looking at vendors before you know how much you have to spend, unless your okay with going over budget.

We booked all of our major vendors in early 2014 for our October 2015 wedding. We were able to get first pick of all of our vendors. Had we waited until one year out, we would have been turned away by all of our vendors that we have now.

Though April isn't a huge wedding month, so you should still be good. Set a budget and see how big you want your reception to be. Research venues and book one. Then book DJ and Photographer. Some photographers get booked two years in advanced. One photographer I spoke to in December 2013 said that he already had October 2015 booked up. But October is a HUGE wedding month by us. Good luck.

I would start with budget and researching venues and photographers. I booked my venue 15 months before our wedding and my photographer as well. Glad I started early to be honest. A lot less stressful that way.

ETA: Engaged 7/13/13 - Started planning 02/2014 (after baby was born) - Booked venue and photog. 05/2014 - Wedding 8/15/15

I got engaged early Dec 2014 and my wedding is in Oct 2016 and I have my major vendors booked: venue, DJ/entertainment, photographer and videographer.

like pancakes said above, we were able to have mostly first pick (one photog I was looking at was already booked!)

not to mention I was going to wait until spring to start booking and looking, but what happened was we went to this beautiful venue in my hometown just to get ourselves familiar with the packages and prices.. and they told me they were getting booked fast for fall of 2016! so full gear it was lol

anyways, my point is it's never too early to start reseaching (depenind on your area or the vendor they may only book 1 year in advance.. but at that point you'll be ready).

i'm also from northern NJ so things typically get booked out faster.

Start getting your vision together and price things out that way you know how to break up your budget.

I would get your venue, photographer, videographer and dj. Lock in their prices before they go up. Venue is by far the most important though. I booked 14 months out and got the only date remaining. My first choice venue had no date available. My videographer was also almost fully booked.

Also seeing that you got engaged on a very popular day, I would start now.

Friend of Melany?

Congrats! I would suggest finding the right venue first so you can decide on a date!

@Jenn B-that would be hilarious!

I got engaged in November 2014, we're planning for July 2016.. I have done the following things: draft guest list to get a count of how big your reception will be, draft a budget, research venues and book (we researched over 50 online, emailed for quotes on packages, and visited 3 officially/ 2 unofficially before picking one), booked our dj (preferred vendor from venue list), and currently trying to coordinate with photographer before we officially book her.

ETA: Don't wait on your venue! We got the last saturday in july at our venue, so if you want a prime time day i would get cracking!

We booked all of our vendors in the first month of being engaged (our engagement is only 10 months). It's never too early to start looking at venues, they book super fast. I would get your venue squared away first and then start looking at dj's and photographers.

First off, congrats! and welcome to wedding wire

To start, I would decide on the size/style/formality/season you want for your wedding. Talk with your fiance, start working on your guest list and budget. Decide what your priorities are, as far as how you want to spend your budget. Where do you want to splurge and where are you willing to cut (if you need to). Then start looking at vendors. Venue is first, then caterer/photographer/DJ/Band/florist. If you can get your major vendors booked over the next 3-4 months I'd say you're in good shape.

Don't be scared to take your time and do lots of research! There are a ton of helpful articles and blogs out there on how to plan a wedding, just a google away. Happy Planning!

Thats about what we did...engaged the end of Feb. of 2014 and set the date for June 2015. By June 2014 we:

-Had an estimated guest list

-venue booked

-dj booked

-my dress

-photog booked

-epix taken

-met with florists

-booked our ceremony venue

You'd be surprised how much you can actually get done. I say start planning and booking now and give yourself little breaks...I took all last summer off from wedding planning and over the holidays. It felt great to not stress about any wedding stuff and worry about vendors not calling me back. Right now I'm pretty much in the waiting game to pay off the vendors and doing so decor items.

I would figure out the guest list and start looking into venues right away. We got engaged beginning of January and started looking at venues right away and I'm so happy we did because venues book up very quickly in our area. The first place we went to look at was already booked for every single weekend from May-Oct 2016. Luckily we were able to find a beautiful venue that still had a couple dates left for 2016 and we weren't set on any specific date so we were able to chose something and booked it right away so we didn't miss out. Now that we have the venue booked I feel much more relaxed and we can actually enjoy being engaged! I would definitely recommend figuring out your venue as soon as possible so you don't miss out on getting what you want

Agreed get what you can set now. I know for one I will be enjoying my summer and taking lots of breaks. Get an approx. guest list set and budget. Book your venue and photographer.

Budget, vision, guest list, look For venues, some won't book more then a yr in advance, some book up earlier as they are more coveted.

I successfully planned my dream wedding in14 months. I got engaged on Christmas 2012 and married Valentines Day 2014.

booked venue & set date, lock in early rates, take engagement photos, book photographer, DJ and photographer. I had my budget set early but as I started booking things, my budget had to increase. I did some DIY projects and referred to WW for suggestions & ideas. congrats & good luck