Feeling lost

Start with Save the Dates, the Invitations should go out much closer to your date, like 8 weeks.

View Quoted Comment Thank you.. I have two years of planning

View Quoted Comment No problem! I’d advise you to buy a wedding planner book, you can find them on Amazon or your local bookstore. Mine is from The Knot but there’s several out there. They’ll help you stay organized but also pull together your vision like color scheme and venue.

Start by coming up with a budget. I would then research, tour, & select a venue. They tend to book quicker than anything else. You have a lot of time. So don’t feel too stressed.

View Quoted Comment I've heard of The Knot just recently. How are they? I'm definitely going to look at getting a planner hopefully that will help me out.

View Quoted Comment Thank you. I just feel like time goes by in a blink of an eye.. I just want things to happen smoothly

View Quoted Comment I have found the wedding checklists on The Knot and here on WW to be pretty helpful. I see above you mentioned hiring a planner. They are a big help! I highly recommend that!

View Quoted Comment I find their website resources very helpful, especially for looking at dresses. Bride.com and Oncewed are also good. Weddingwire is my favorite for staying organized and I like this forum the best.

Hi, Yessie! WeddingWire has a checklist to help you stay on track with planning if you need it

And congratulations on your recent engagement!

View Quoted Comment Thank you 😊😊

I will be engaged for 2 years before we get married next year and did not start planning until June of this year once the budget, venue and location and date were set in stone. I use the planning in wedding wire bases on my date and they advise to send the invitations out 2 months before we get married. Save the dates would go out before that. I would start with setting a budget and date before you look at anything else. Once I had that done we looked at officiants, then photographers, hair and make up and rentals. The order all depends on what is important to the couple. I had to have the officiant we met at a bridal show and wanted to splurge on pur photographer. So deciding and figuring out what is important comes first.

We will have 20 months of engagement once we are married in November. Start with a budget (including anything parents/family/friends want to pitch in) and how many people you absolutely must have along with a rough estimate of your max number. Look at venues that allow you to fall within those perpetrators. Book your venue as soon as you find the one you love. We originally looked 18 months ahead of our ideal date and still had to push it back 2 months to get the venue we really wanted because they were booked full for every Saturday through October 2019 (in March 2018). After that, I would start looking at photographers, DJs, catering (if your venue doesn't provide those services), hair and makeup, and florists. Those tend to be the big ones that book up fast, especially with the photographer and DJ ,as I found most were contractually obligated to only have 1 commitment per day. After that, there is a quiet period where you just get to enjoy being engaged (yay!!) until you hit about the 1 year mark. Then its dress appointments, STD design, guest list finalization, decor decisions, and all those little details. I know a lot of these sites are great when your are at a year out or less as far as planning but less helpful when you have SOOOOO much time. I know it seems like forever but I can tell you, now that I am right at 3 months out, I wonder where all that time has gone!

CONGRATS!!

View Quoted Comment Good morning. We have set the date. I have a count of guests (which can change). I started looking at venues but honestly I find it very difficult. I figured that I should look into that first only because I would like to book it and start paying on it.

View Quoted Comment Good morning. Thank you. I have started looking at venues. I just find it so difficult. I wanted to atleast get that out of the way. I have a guest list( which can change). We are paying for this ourselves with no help. Which I'm ok with.

View Quoted Comment

As others have mentioned, you don't "have a date" until you have a contract on a venue. Once you have your total budget figured out, and your best estimate on guest count, work on your venue (or venues if you'll have a church ceremony and a reception at a different location). Unfortunately, in some locations venues book REALLY early, so the urgency depends on where you're located and what you're looking for. It looks like your preferred date is July, in some locations, that might be high-season and Saturdays might already be booked for the entire month; however, in other locations -- say Arizona or Palm Springs -- that could be off-season (too darn hot...) and you'll have your pick of days (and perhaps a discount because it isn't a popular time). Once your venue/date are locked in, try to firm up vendors like catering (if it's not included at your venue), photographer, etc. Save the dates don't go out until 6-8 months before (and your venue & date have to be locked down already) and invites until about 8 weeks before the wedding, so you have tons of time for those. It's fun to look, but don't choose a dress before you have your venue; even then, take your time. Not sure why? Search this site for threads about "dress regret" -- it's real and expensive! Take your time -- you have plenty. Congrats and good luck!

View Quoted Comment Do you have a specific venue that you want? Such as rustic barn or a vineyard or beach or country club? There's so many different venues out there. I know it can be overwhelming. Wedding wire and bridal shows really helped us during our wedding planning. Which once we had the venue down I was able to hire everyone else we needed in a month so our planning is pretty much done aside from our DIY stuff and sending out save the dates. Wedding wire is very helpful in the sense that it searches a lot of vendors for you. Take it one step at a time focus on one thing at a time and it will be fine. I know it's easy to get overwhelmed but pace yourself and it will be ok.

View Quoted Comment I agree. My planner book is also from The Knot. I got it at Barnes and noble. My wedding is also in 2021. My FH and I first ended up discussing attire(his favorite suit, my dream dress) and discovered they went together perfect. Both are around 1930s era. So our theme became 1930s hollywood glam. With the theme came the colors. I had always envisioned red,black, and white. With our theme it fit. We discussed dates but didn't have one in mind other than summer. We then discussed centerpieces(had to meet in the middle on this one) and eventually we decided on a date. Now we are searching venues. We wanted a beach ceremony but decided to keep it closer to home. We have gotten a lot figured out(vision wise) now we need to decide on a venue. So far the planning has been easy. It's our budget that's making it hard. Maybe talk to your FH about what his thoughts are for your wedding and see how they differ from yours and try to meet in the middle. Just discussing ideas with my FH made it easy to make decisions. Good luck!

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much for all the information. I'm pacing myself..