Did anyone else have a hard time planning?

Make a binder. Or get a notebook and write everything down. I literally write every single thought down so that it's not just stirring around in my noggin. It's overwhelming at first but take your time and make sure you look at all options. Enjoy it because it will fly by!!

Once I got the venue and the dress everything started to fall into place, once you know where you are getting married and what you will be wearing it makes the rest of planning easier and more enjoyable,

just do one thing at a time!

I started to feel that way but my advice would be to take it one vendor at a time...start by checking off your reception venue, once you get that do your ceremony space, once thats done work on your dress (you could probably do your BMs dresses at the same time), once thats done, work on florists, ect. It makes things more manageable and controllable then trying to work on everything at once.

Use the WW checklist! Planning can be overwhelming...I suggest taking some time (like a week or something) and just telling yourself not to plan, but to plan

how to plan. Get your strategy, then go for it!

Wedding planning came in waves for me. Some things i was really excited to research, others I had to be nagged/reminded to do. Just make a binder or the WW check list and knock them out one at a time. Just don't leave big things til the end!!!!

The hardest thing about plaaning for me was we had to much time! We got engaged Aug 2013 but not getting married until May 2015. My job is boring and I've pretty much planned the whole wedding already. I just kept a binder with all of my ideas and cleaned it out every month. Things I have purchased already aren't being changed like my dress and shoes. All I have left to buy are decorations, my daughter's FG dress and invitations (we kept changing the start time). I'm waiting until Black Friday for decorations and January for my daughter's dress. Invitations I'll probably buy in November as well. they aren't being sent out until Feb/ Mar so no rush. Now all I have is down time and I borwse the WW forums a lot for decoration ideas and to laugh at trolls!!!

Thanks for the advice everyone. I did start writing little notes on things I have learnt on here, unfortunately I lost the book. I will try the binder and a notebook. I swear I feel like I am starting to have a panic attack when I start planning, so instead I come here and read the forum posts.

Dont panic...honestly once you have your venue, and even your dress like Betty said, everything just kind of falls into place...it can be as intricate and detailed as you want it and you're the one that will have control of the planning stress by how much you pile on at once. Just take it one step at a time

I've been having a hard time making decisions - dress shopping was really hard as I did it all in one day (my sister flew in to help so only had limited time). When it comes to decisions, I have a hard time and need another's opinion but things are starting to slowly fall into place now. I didn't do any planning for the first 8 months we were engaged as I didn't even know where to start. After bouncing ideas off my sister for 5 days, I have more of a plan so now I'm going forward.

I just wrote down what I wanted if I could afford the venue or not. Since it's bothering maybe you can hire a wedding planner to do the hard work and bring the information to you. Just breath and take it one day at a time. Maybe you can write down everything you need and go with the main things like venue photographer videographer and caterer. Then work on other things. Also use thumbtack i always suggest that because all my vendors were in my price range and gave me a great deal instead of calling around and getting so much information. I hope it gets easier soon. Also I agree with everyone get a binder. Write down all your ideas little or small and when it comes time you will see how important having everything wrote down is.

Only approach one task at a time. And it helps to have an idea of what you want before you stop looking! Talk to your FH and see what you both want. Then look with that in mind. It also helps to have a budget in mind.

You still have a little bit of time before you HAVE to make decisions, so you're okay. Just do one thing at a time. One task, one venue, one vendor, one day. You should enjoy the process as much as possible. And bring someone with you when you look! They'll have an outside opinion (which may or may not be helpful, haha), and keep things lighthearted because it's not THEIR wedding to stress about.

This is exactly why I hired a planner. I had my dream wedding planned since high school, then I got engaged and my head exploded within about a day of looking at vendors. I said "Screw this! We're getting a planner!" I did a lot of searching on my own before we met with our planner. First vendors: I looked at anyone who could handle our capacity (that I could see) then if I liked them, I made a note. Then I looked up photographers and MUAs. I also made sure everyone I liked had the best reviews on WW. Then after meeting with our planner, she gave us a list of venues that fit our budget and our guest list. We ended up going with a place that I actually found when I was doing the research myself, as well as the MUA and photographer I liked. We'll continue to let her give us recommendations since she knows the vendors in the city we are getting married in, and I'll continue to make sure we only hire the best by checking reviews on here.

The venue is probably the biggest part of the wedding. There are a lot of options, costs, etc. I was stressed about this part, too.

I started by finding the ones within my cost range and adding them to a spreadsheet. I also made a list of ones that wouldn't work so that I wouldn't look at them again. I felt I was looking at the same places day after day, forgetting I'd already researched them.

You've got time; if you're looking for a venue in the area, consider this as you drive around and/or eat out. Think of places you pass by if they seem they could host a wedding event. If you start to feel stressed, take a break and stop looking. It will work out, it's just hard to start out!

Additionally - if you're stressed out, don't read the threads on WW that are from stressed out people experiencing troubling situations. It can sometimes make your own anxiety worse. Try to read the happy posts from people whose plans are falling into place!

I felt the same for a long time then once the venue was booked, the photographer booked, the cake and flowers ordered, I feel much more relaxed. Getting my dress this past weekend has gotten me to relax even more.

I have felt the same way for the longest. I finally got my photographer, the venue picked out but can't book it until a year before so I keep calling every other day so it's not booked on my date. I have my dress already got it at David's bridal last year, not altered yet. I'm only have a small bridal party with three for each of us including the FG and RB. My Maid of honor has her dress already and just waiting on the two others to get theirs. My FH is wearing a black tailored suit and his grooms men are wearing black suits of their choice. So I'm still planning and have lots more to do. I'm just doing it one thing at a time and it's getting done. So like others have said write everything down and cross it off as it gets done. So good luck in planning relax and try and get help from family and friends. I have the help of Three sisters and SIL, I've given them assigned things to help me with and get done. So far so good I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Have you every though of hiring a planner to help you with the grunt work. Searching for the vendors and narrowing down the list so it isn't so overwhelming. This is suppose to be a happy process- get someone else to stress