Getting started

I recommend doing some research of the average prices of vendors in your area to help form a realistic budget. Then figure out a rough guest count and find the venue that would all fit in your budget!

Get a wedding planner book, mine is from TheKnot, I got it at a plain ol’ book store. It has planning tools like color schemes, choosing a venue, choosing a season and lots of space to write down everything.
Use Weddingwire to online resources, especially finding vendors.

First thing you do is decide guest count, then try to figure out your budget based on th average for these tbings in your area. Wedding budgets differ drastically by area. Once you have a guest count and budget, decide on a date(even just a month) and look for a venue. Your venue’s availability will decide your exact wedding date if you don’t have one already.

First, I would have a discussion with your fiance. Figure out what you're both comfortable spending, you visions, guest count, etc. This was something my FH and I did not see eye to eye on so we had to negotiate on multiple things. We aren't combining finances until after we're married so we're saving separately. He wanted a bigger wedding so we spoke about increasing his saving to accommodate those extra people. Knowing your guest count is essential in budgeting and picking a venue. Once that is established, tour some venues together and start getting an idea of other vendors you'd like. People book way in advance so it's important to reach out to vendors early on.

Start with:

* Budget

* Guest list

* Type of wedding (e.g., brunch, dinner with dancing)

Then do some basic research to figure out whether all three of those will mesh. Basically, your reception will be about half your cost. So if you can find an all-inclusive reception place, and get a quote for the number of people you'd like to invite, that will give you at least a rough idea of whether your budget is reasonable. (You don't need to end up using that venue, but it will at least give you an estimate.)

If these don't mesh, you'll need to figure out how to get them to work. For example, if your budget isn't enough to cover the number of guests for a Saturday night dinner and dancing, you could:

* Reduce the number of guests.

* Switch to a brunch or even cake and punch reception.

* Get a second job.

* Push back the wedding to give yourself more time to save.

Only when you've got these three things in balance should you do anything else. At that point, your next priority is the venue, because everything else (including your date) depends on that.

After that, there are a lot of wedding checklists online to help you figure out what to do when.

PPs have given you a great foundation! Have you thought about a theme or color palette for your wedding? That part is fun!

Thank you guys so much for so much information! I've finally found a package that consists of an officiant, photography, music, and possibly a venue. To Cher: I used to have a color scheme for it, but its constantly changing. I know I want a light shade of purple to be part of it. My theme is rustic/vintage style. And the main decor is going to be books! I love to read.