Long engagement brides getting too excited about planning?

So I have been engaged for a year now and still have 7 months until the wedding. What I did was go through my Pinterest board and remove things I didn't like anymore. I also gathered prices and general information on everything I could.

If I could do one thing differently I would create a separate wedding-Only email from the start..so it's easier to find stuff, vendor threads, contracts etc. If you have only booked venue, you could still do that for organization purposes. I poured over vendor reviews a year out

When I first got engaged I got quotes and researched absolutely everything! I'm still doing this but we have a good chunk booked now. I've began working on decor and little details even though we have a few vendors left to get and almost a year to go. I want this wedding planned as much as possible so I can worry about little things later and not stress as time comes closer. We have all of the major elements taken care of though. Honestly, if someone will take your money early, book them. We have a venue, DJ, officiant, caterer, flowers kind of figured out, colors, I have a dress, a DOC...

My wedding won't be until 2020, and I already have so many questions and concerns. Financially, I don't know if I'll ever be able to plan this thing! But we chose our date based on our anniversary and it only fell on a weekend in 2019 or 2020, and we chose the later date to be safe and to give us time to come up with a budget.

As a June 2019 bride, I would reccomend also booking person specific vendors (photographer, officiant) early as I may already lose out on a vendor to another bride with the same date! Besides pinteresting ideas I have been buying signage here and there with great Michael's coupons and Kmart points lol. It's fun to walk around looking for signs and spacing out spending is one of the best perks of a long engagement. I'm jealous you already have a color scheme! I am having the hardest time with that!

I'm 21 months into my 24 month engagement and I'm telling you. Plan what you can while you can. Everyone thought I was crazy because I planned so much so early. But we just relocated 900 miles away, 4 months before the wedding. Instead of having to worry about catering and flowers and attire, it's all done. Everything is done. I have to fly my ass back there with my dress and get married. Plan ahead. You'll be happy you did.

Wahoo!! We are getting married the same day!! June Brides ;-)

I actually just purchased my wedding dress Saturday and found my bridesmaids dresses during that time too. Though you should go at whatever pace you want :-) I think of it as the more things you find earlier, the less stress later. I'd say since we have June weddings and vendors book pretty fast in June, book early. I would recommend getting your photographer soon. I booked mine a few months ago and will be booking my videographer soon. Another fun thing to plan is how your gonna ask your wedding party :-) I surprised my girls a month ago because they were altogether and it was wonderful! I bought them cute mason jars with their names on it. I have also started collecting things for my centerpieces. Those are the few things done, but those are the big things you can look forward to doing! Go at your pace though, just don't feel awkward starting early :-) less stress in the end!

I am planning now, and then once the wedding is planned I'm going to put that energy into planning the marriage!! like reading up on how to be a good wife.

more time to prepare can't hurt

i'm also getting some bomb lingerie over time so i'll have a lot ready for the honeymoon (gotta plan that too)

I'm a June 2019 bride as well. I am very inexperienced with the whole wedding thing. We started doing some research online to get an idea of what venues cost and stumbled upon a place that ticked all the boxes. We called in early November and they are booked every weekend until April 2019. I was really surprised, not realizing that people book that far out. Needless to say we saw the place and booked for June right after. The venue assigns you a wedding coordinator whose services are included in the rental. She's been a huge help as timelines and expenses vary greatly region to region. She gave me a list of vendors/do do's and it's made things much easier. She recommended to start looking for a photographer/videographer and DJ now, as they book very quickly. Especially for a Saturday wedding in June. So I would start looking into those vendors and doing investigations into reviews now. Plus as PP's stated, the more you get done now, the less you have to worry about later.

I have been engaged since Christmas 2015 and felt the same way. I booked all of me vendors way in advance and I am so glad I did.

Yes! I have already put a soft hold on our venue, the crazy thing was that the venue was pretty solidly booked until 2019 anways so I am glad that I took that step when I did. I also met with a photographer and contacted vendors on my last trip to AZ (destination wedding). I have not offically booked anyone but know exactly who I want.

I feel like doing it this way will take tons of stress off in the end and allow you to actually enjoy your wedding. I think time flies by in the end anwyays so to me it's always better to be prepared.

On this site, I generally find that people post things like "your wedding is 2 years away, you shouldn't be worried about that." I say, to each their own!

Get a subscription to bridal magazines. It is fun to look at all the different seasons and trends over time. We had a two year engagement, and I'll be honest, a lot of my tastes and preferences changed. I look back at some of my ideas in the early planning days and wonder what the heck I was thinking. Book the vendors and big stuff now, but wait to do details and decor items until a few months out. Trust me, your ideas and thoughts will change over time, especially if you attend other weddings in the meantime. Keep mental note of what you liked and didn't like, what worked and didn't, etc. The long engagement does get rough, but hang in there! It will all be worth it!! Good luck.

We're having just under a 2 year engagement and we decided since FH is in school and I'll be starting grad school in January that if we can get the important stuff booked now (venue, caterer, photographer, DJ) early on, that it'll give us a good chance to focus solely on school during those months.

Definitely get some key vendors. Photography, music, hair and makeup artist. June is a popular month and you’re at the perfect time where you potentially have your first pick. The most popular vendors book over a year in advance.

I'm 14 months into my 22 months engagement. I was super excited at first and went into full planning mode a week after engagement. Six months later, I had the wedding 90% planned (my DOC's words when I interviewed her this summer, not mine). Now, I tinkle here and there (e.g. updating the registry, start buying the cases of wine for our BYOB bar, etc.). I find myself looking for new projects to do (i.e. researching lenders and real estate agents for when we buy a house next year after the wedding) because I got the wedding planning on lockdown.

I have a two year engagement, most of the wedding was planned in 5 months. Now we are just relaxing

This thread is making me feel a lot better! We still have a year and 8 months and I've been feeling like I was the only one planning this early! We have a venue booked, I've reached out for some quotes from caterers, and I've got my eye on a photographer, but haven't contacted her just yet. You guys are making me feel like maybe I should, though!

Thanks for the tips guys! That makes me feel a little better. I'm in graduate school, so my planning is primarily during breaks. But I was feeling like I was too far ahead of the game especially when people would seem so surprised I was planning already and would act like I have so much time. I've researched a photographer we like and know which pastor we want for the ceremony (which I'll take care of finalizing both over Christmas break), and I actually just asked my bridesmaids too (which I know WW says is super early, but I'm having a small wedding party of my sister, my one close female cousin, and lifelong BFF and have never wanted anything different). I am also doing my own centerpieces and trialed one before I started buying things to make sure I could do it, and have started collecting stuff for those as well. I just want to do all the fun crafty stuff now but I know I can't! AHHH! But wedding magazines are a great idea! Thanks!

You'll get sick of it. I got engaged a year ago and still have 9 months to go.

Like 5 months after we got engaged I wanted to plan everything. Then I realized I have too much time to be worrying about all the small details.

All the major stuff was booked right away, I am really just now starting to plan the small stuff.

ETA: I agree with your tastes changing.. I wanted a "rustic" wedding and my FH mom went out and bought me a whole bunch of rustic decor and mason jar champagne glasses.. I have now gone in a different direction.

Happy to see this thread! Was beginning to think I was the only one with a long engagement! FH lives in another state and we wanted to leave plenty of time to be sure we were in the same state. I tend to be a big planner and was very excited about getting engaged. Within a week of of getting engaged I had contacted 30 venues. Trying to have a nice wedding, but not spend a fortune doing it. A long engagement means I have time to find a place that is affordable, but is what I'm looking for.