How early is to early

I would start with a venue. You don't have a date until you have booked a venue. This far out, you should have plenty of choices.

I typically say there's no such thing as too early, but I wouldn't want to commit to vendors 3 years in advance. What if they go out of business or you find someone that you like more? Whole venues could be constructed in that time frame. You could start reaching out to people to get quotes and a better idea of what you're looking for in your vendors, but I would wait at least 6-12 months before making commitments.

I'd say it is a bit early to pick venues. Some may not even book out that far. But maybe reach out to venues you like to see when they open up the scheduling. Once you put down that deposit you want to make really sure you want to have your wedding there. We booked our venue about 18 months in advance. We had a pretty good pick of dates, but a few places we visited were saying people were booking for that year already.

I'd start with venue in July 2020, those you can typically book 2 years out. You may have a hard time getting quotes that early, but I'd go with caterer, photographer and coordinator after that. I wouldn't reach out before 2 years out, so right now I'd just enjoy being engaged!

I think nearly three years is too early to start planning the wedding, aside from casual browsing for ideas on Pinterest or something. I would wait until about a year and a half out to start. It doesn't take as long as you'd think to plan a wedding, I've booked nearly everything in a matter of two months. The only thing that really takes a long time is waiting for attire to come in.

I had a 2-1/2 year engagement and I had a hard time booking vendors before the 2 year mark except a venue. And most vendors want to know what your venue is before you book with them. ALSO some venues have a 'suggested vendor list' or they require you use their vendors only. So I'd say you can book a venue any time and then see what their parameters are for other vendors. I didn't want to book too many vendors over 2 years out because I was afraid they'd go out of business honestly. You just never know.