Newly engaged! Where to start??

Yes, you definitely want to figure out those to things first as they will greatly impact the venue and vendors that you decide on. You'll want to make sure that once you decide on those things that you then book a venue. You can't really book other vendors until you have the location and date of your wedding secured with your venue. I know a lot of brides get excited to ask people to be in their wedding, but I would caution you to wait to ask anyone to be in the wedding until about 8-6 months prior to the wedding because relationships do change over time. I also would highly recommend getting a wedding planning book. My mom get me The Knot wedding planner and it helped me stay organized during the planning process.

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Wow 6-8 months before asking? I was thinking of asking a year before, so in April '23. But yes, I signed up for The Knot planner online and can already see how much that will help.

View Quoted Comment Unfortunately weddings tend to show people's true colors and come with a lot of drama. Honestly there isn't much if anything a bridesmaid really needs to do before 8-6 months.

Yep. One potential exception would be if you’re thinking of doing a destination wedding or somewhere that’s more complicated to get to, then at least polling some of your friends (and family, of course) who are your must haves about possible dates and locations. But you don’t even have to ask them to be in your wedding party yet to do that. I sent my MOH multiple hypotheticals before I asked her, and she just assumed I was asking a bunch of people lol.

Budget budget budget. Nail that down and then start looking at possible guest counts (think small, medium, large options). Talk to vendors (start with venue, food/drinks) and see what it could cost for each of those. If you love a venue but it can’t fit a large group, you’ll want to know that. And vice versa, if you like a venue that is too expensive to host a large group, you might need to look at different locations and/or change your guest list size.
Food costs can add up super quickly. Per person costs can be anywhere from $80-200 per person on average so keep this in mind when making your guest list and thinking about venue and how many people you’ll be able to serve.
WeddingWire has a great budget tool that gives an estimated breakdown of costs for each category like cake, transportation, food, venue, dress, and so on based on the budget you enter. It adjusts as you work with it so that you can stay on budget. I used it and it helped me think about what we really wanted versus didn’t need to avoid wasting money on unnecessary things.