Medical school and wedding planning

It might be wise to hire a wedding planner.

I'm not a med student so I can't answer on when to get married, but I am a PA student so I can comment on the intensity of planning while in school. Definitely get a planner. Mine has taken so much stress off for me especially since I can't be near where we are getting married. She takes care of all the little details so I don't have to worry about them and she does bigger stuff too if I need her. Worth the money

I am! I read somewhere that third year is actually the best time to get married/have kids/whatever. But, it really all depends on you- your stress level, course load, organizational skills etc.

Does that give you enough time to plan and save?

Hi!

I'm not in med school but I am doing a PhD and am getting married around the time of my qualifying exam (i.e. the exam to officially become a candidate).

I'm getting married in the summer, when there is some "down time" which is really helpful in my case. Also, I have been using wedding planning / looking for ideas on pinterest / etc. as a de-stressor, which helped a lot with time management during the semester.

Lastly, if your mom, MOH or FMIL or anyone offers their help (and I'm sure they will!) take them up on it. The most helpful thing is having a team where you can delegate responsibilities if you don't have time/money for a wedding planner.

An example: my cousin got married a couple of weeks after taking the bar exam (also not med school, but still a challenging time), and she said her mom was the one who did most of the leg work with the wedding (i.e. dealing with vendors etc.) so she was able to pull it off.

Just some tips! I hope they help, and congrats on getting engaged and on pursuing med school

Hi there. I'm a doctor. Are you in med school in the US? Third year is NOT a good time to plan your wedding unless you can plan your own schedule. In a traditional US curriculum, you will be on clinical rotations throughout third year and in my case, some were quite demanding. Med students are not protected by ACGME duty hour rules, so while residents are restricted to 80 hours a week, med students are not. This is especially important on rotations like surgery and medicine, where you will easily work 80 hours or more. A typical day on surgery was pre-rounding at 5 a.m., working straight through and leaving the hospital around 8 p.m. 6 days a week (and that's if you don't have overnight call). Medicine was similar, maybe a little more laxed. Neuro was better, but if you end up on the stroke service, it's still grueling. By the end of third year, you're focused on Step 2 (which really should be taken before you submit ERAS). So no, third year would be a terrible time for a wedding, IMO, unless you want to take a step back and let someone else (a planner) do everything. Keep in mind, even then, you will need days to go in for fittings, tastings, etc. and depending on what rotation you're on, some will not allow you to take the time off. I had to go through hell just to get 2 hours off on medicine (with the promise to return) for a doctor's appointment for acute eye pain that was scaring the hell out of me.

The best time to plan a wedding during med school:

(1) First year, once you're adjusted to the curriculum

(2) Second year at the beginning of the year before all the Step 1 nonsense weighs you down

(3) Fourth year, but as long as you actually have the budget for both the wedding and for interviews/travel. Depending on which specialty you're interviewing for, you will likely be too exhausted from travel to do much between the months of October - December, but any other time during fourth year is an ideal time to plan. Just get married and complete the honeymoon before July 1st and be reachable by your residency program from March (of 4th year) through orientation, which should begin July 1st.

Alternatively, depending on which specialty you're going into, residency may be a great time to plan. If you're looking at surgery, maybe not. But if you're going into a more lifestyle friendly specialty, like dermatology or psychiatry, planning a wedding during residency should be a piece of cake (after intern year of course!).

Thank you all!! You have been very helpful. I will try to work something out with my school for 3rd year. If not we will wait. I know it will be difficult to plan a wedding after year 2. I can't really wait 3 years until residency that's quite long.

Three years will fly by. Some brides on here had longer engagements than that. Don't rush just to do it. See what your school says, but regardless, I can't honestly figure out a way to do wedding planning justice during third year because there are only so many cush rotations. Maybe start planning during 3rd year, but schedule the wedding for late 4th year. JMO.

I'm not a med student, but my bff's cousin is and she just tied the knot in December! I know they had a bit of a longer engagement so they could plan while she was crazy busy (i think about 2 years) and they're not going on their honeymoon until April bc that's when she has some time off.

I'm not a med student, but I am a NP student. I graduate in May and my wedding is in July. I have hired a planner to do most of the coordinating for me...I've had a few weeks off over the holidays so all I did (besides work) is wedding planning...I've tried to get as much done as possible during the break. I can't imagine the stress if I didn't have a planner during this last semester of school...

Hire a planner and resist the compelling urge to make planning a full time job.

My friend got married the beginning of 4th year, before she started residency interviews. However, she also took a "gap year" (I'm not sure what it's called in the medical profession) for research between 3rd and 4th year.

I'm a third year law student. I don't know about the med school calendar, but law school follows a traditional US school schedule with winter, spring and summer breaks. I did all my major planning between when we got engaged in May and school starting in August. Wedding planning was on the back burner during the fall and I started more detail type things over winter break and plan to finish it all over spring break. I'm graduating and getting married three weeks later! It can be done, if you manage your time well and plan accordingly!

@Katherine during the third year of med school, there are no breaks in most curriculums. It's a transition to clinical care, so you were expected to work like a real physician with no spring break, winter break, etc. And if you were on an inpatient service, you even worked major holidays, like Christmas day and Thanksgiving day (I worked Thanksgiving day on medicine service). Schools vary on this, but most get rid of the breaks during third year, with the exception of time off at the end of the year for Step 2 study (the second part of the national licensing exam).

My school has some flexibility. We have the holiday season off (a month) and we also have something called CCC is 6 months in family med rotation in a rural community. I asked today and it doesn't seem so bad. So I may work something out. Thank you guys!!! You all helped very much

SIX MONTHS in family medicine and a month off???? Whoa, that's crazy. This is a US school? Not sure how they're meeting AAMC requirements, but lucky you.

I'm not a med student but I got engaged when I was in my second year of law school. We had a long engagement to hold the wedding off until 1 and a half years after I graduated. I didn't want to plan a wedding during law school or while studying for the bar exam and I wanted to have a job lined up. It's all what you personally can handle. I imagine med school is already stressful enough without adding wedding planning.

Lol yes the school was created for the purpose of providing primary care physicians to rural and underserved Michigan. Since there is a shortage here. Before choosing an exact date I will ask my advisor and everything. Let's see what happens.

Wait. No. Not during third year, you'll have clinical year round.

ETA: Just read your update. I don't think it'll help to have us answer because your school sounds really different. Six months of FP? Wow.

I am a medical student at a top tier institution that builds a lot of research time into third and fourth year. I got married September of my fourth year, straight after doing 2 months of sub-I's at away institutions. I didn't need a wedding planner because I knew that I was going to be out of town the 2 months before my wedding and I did as much as I could in the spring (basically I just planned ahead). I got engaged September of 3rd year. I'm very good at time management and am very efficient at getting things done so I was comfortable doing it all by myself. It's really up to you how efficient you are at studying and what your school's work hours are like. If you have a big chunk of primary care that's usually 9-5 and is a good time to get planning done.