How long did it take you to plan everything?

I think that really depends on a lot of things. for instance my friend did it in 3 months because she bought a package at a venue where they pretty much did everything for her. now, if you're DIYing yourself, then you can cut out some things like less decor, etc to help you save time and money. i planned mine in i want to say less than a year too but it's because i tried keeping it really simple.

I agree with the PP. so many factors play into how Ling it takes. I planned my in 10 weeks. I had 54 people and it was a DW. I had to find most vendors in an area I was unfamiliar with but I used the Vendor section of this site to help me and I just kept calling around until people responded. You might have to be persistent to get responses but you have time. Good luck.

Daughter planned her wedding in much easier, non-Corona times, with about 18 months from the time of engagement to the wedding date. Honestly, she got most the big stuff done within 6-8 weeks of when they got engaged (e.g., venue [which included both the ceremony & reception sites, all food & beverage], DJ, her dress, florist, etc.). Then, she took a break because some vendors didn't want to book until she was under 12 months. As soon as she hit that milestone, I think she locked in her photographer, officiant, cake, and HMUA within another 4-6 weeks.

Her wedding was at a country club-type venue, in So Cal, for 100 guests, during January (off-season). As pps mentioned, there are going to be a lot of factors that might be specific to your situation. Unfortunately, I think a biggie will be all the uncertainties related to the pandemic -- lots of vendors are dealing with reschedulings and cancellations, tough finances (for them and their already booked clients), and lack of clarity regarding when things will return to normal and/or what "normal" will look like in the future. Sorry.... Good luck!

I had the majority of everything planned and booked a few months after getting engaged. I was called an over achiever, but I just wanted to enjoy being engaged and not stressed. And now covids got me stressed, but who saw that coming?! Except maybe the simpsons, but I digress. Don’t stress

I wouldn't stress too much. I started planning my June 2019 wedding in May 2018. I was basically done and ready to get married by August 2018 lol. Of course I hadn't done little details (seating chart, food tasting, etc) by then, because those things HAD to wait until we were closer to our date... but seriously if our wedding had been in September 2018, I totally could've pulled it off.

Idk, maybe I'm just low maintenance lol but I seriously don't see how more than a few months is necessary! Other than making sure you get your vendors locked down far in advance, of course.

We got engaged in July 2019, though didn't start planning until September 2019. Our 100-120 person wedding is July 2020, so we planned ours in a little under a year.


It's definitely stressful with all places being closed at the moment, though I'm confident that you'll have plenty of time to successfully plan your wedding once things open up. Definitely still try to reach out to the vendors you want, so that you can lock in your date. While waiting for responses from your vendors, you could spend time doing research on dresses, decorations, ideas, etc, so that when places do open up, you'll already have some ideas of what you're looking for. Congratulations, and good luck with the planning!

I got engaged last week of November 2019 and got all my vendors (except for Transportation), venue and picked up my wedding dress, all by the end of February 2020.
I do still need to buy decorations and figure out my timeline/what we actually do day of but that really shouldn’t take me long once I get to it.
You still have a while to go until October 2021 so I really wouldn’t be worrying that much currently.

My husband and I were engaged for 11 months and 1 day and I had most of our vendors booked within the first month. But a lot of your planning will depend on what you want. We created our budget and guest list right away then I found venues based on what we could afford, how many people we were inviting and what I liked. We selected our venue within approximately two weeks. I also knew right away who I wanted as our photographer. A friend of mine got married a few months before we got engaged and I absolutely loved her wedding photos. She tagged the photographer in the photos she shared on Facebook so once our venue was booked I reached out to the photographer to see if she had our date available. Luckily, she did. She sent me the information for the three different standard packages she has. All three were within our budget so we selected the one we liked the best. We used the same florist as my brother so that left me with only a few other vendors I needed to select. Our venue was a hotel so there was no need for us to worry about where guests could stay. They also had an area where my bridesmaids and I could get ready so I didn't need to worry about finding a location to get ready at. My husband chose to use his best man's hotel room to get ready in. They had discussed an airbnb which would have been better, but ultimately decided not to. Our ceremony and reception were at the same venue so transportation wasn't an issue. Our venue provided the food, drinks and wedding cake so we didn't need to find a caterer or bakery. If you plan on DIYing anything that would definitely increase the amount of planning you need to do. My husband made our card box and my mother-in-law made our flower girl dresses and wedding favors. Otherwise, we didn't DIY anything. You still have over a year so you still have plenty of time. Take one day at a time.

My wedding is for February 2021, and I was able to (somehow) book all my vendors during the pandemic by constant nagging and everything. What I usually did was I focused on one specific area, such as videography, and reached out to several vendors until I was finally able to get a response from someone, through there, I reached out to them and kept in contact with them till we reached an agreement and everything.

My wedding is July 2021 and I haven't had an issue with corresponding with vendors, my only problem is that I can't go to see venues in person. This part has me stuck so I can't do anything else regarding vendors until I secure that. One of my top venues has been in constant contact with me since it fits in our budget.

I've started to look at decorations, centerpieces, & favor ideas and I've decided to buy things little by little if I like something.

We got engaged 12/31/18. Married 8/24/19.
So, officially, a little over 7 1/2 months.

Reality? DH was sick for most of January. I was sick for a lot of April. We had to redo our ceremony plans in May.

Most of our vendors were picked out and contracted well before June. After that, it was fittings or playlists or tracking down responses.

You can do it in as little or as long as you want - it's really a matter of your decisiveness, your organizational skills, and your budget.

I planned my wedding in a month the only issue I had was my marriage license and just things getting delivered on time but for the most part everything run pretty smoothly. The justice of peace she was a wonderful ladies I paid her two weeks in advance. I did a small backyard wedding which I just could imagine doing anything bigger I just don’t have the patience and my nerves get bad when it not how I want it.

I am getting married oct 2021 too but I only manage to secure the venue, photographer and a few other things but I still have much more to do

View Quoted Comment Thanks everyone! You sure made me feel better I’m not hopeless anymore lol 😻😻