Plan a wedding in 8 months?

If you're stressed about the time frame you can always push the date back to 2018.

It's a 3-day weekend for them, but it also means everything will be more expensive for your guests.

I would also expect the venue's rates to be higher, along with the rates of every other vendor because of the holiday.

I think it's completely possible if you don't procrastinate. I've seen that some people on here have planned their wedding in 6 months! Also it will be easier if it's a rather small wedding.

I think you need to be very realistic going in about what your options are. But it can absolutely be done.

MNA nailed it.

Do you have a budget set and guest list made up? If not you should definitely do those first. I was in your boat where I didn't want to wait a long time to get married and wanted a specific season. I ended up with a 17 month engagement and it was a godsend! I'm happy I took the time to enjoy being engaged and had a blast planning the wedding I wanted. Plus less stress.

Yea, it's gonna be even more expensive. Honestly with 8 months I would be more worried about finances than time. I'm freaking out about funding everything over 15 months, I can't even imagine cramming it all into half of that.

Hi rp17, welcome to WW! Make sure to upload a picture for your avatar (instead of the default icons) so that we can get to know you and tell you apart from all the other posters.

It's definitely doable to plan a wedding in 8 months! I'd move fast on locking down your vendors because they could be booking up!

How do your budget and finances look?

I think that is one of the hardest parts to put together. Are you flexible on venue & vendors? I bet a lot of venues & photographers are already booked for labor day weekend.

We planned ours in 8 months. Engaged in late dec. 2015 and married in late august.

Honestly, I would never be able to do it in 8 months. Our wedding is a year after we got engaged and I could not imagine cutting any time off of that. My dress alone is taking 6 months to get here and then I also have to account for alterations which that process can take up to 2 months (I am not saying this is true for everyone, but depending on where you get the dress its a factor)

I agree with other pp in that a holiday weekend is going to be expensive across the board, travel is more, hotels, vendors, ect. I would seriously consider pushing it back to spring of 2018 or if you really want to keep it shorter then do a winter wedding, I have been to some GORGEOUS winter weddings. I know that getting married is an exciting thing, but give the process the time it deserves so that you can have the wedding you want and not settle because you don't want to wait.

Wow, didn't expect such quick replies, thanks everyone! I'm not concerned about the financial aspect of rushing things as we both have a good amount of savings, plus parents contributing. It's more the time frame. I know we can get the venue we want on Labor Day weekend. Alternatively they still have some October weekends available which might be a better option - but it will be colder. As Ruth suggested, it will be a smaller wedding, so that should make it easier. We have a good idea of the guest list and will talk to the parents this weekend to get an idea of guests they hoped to include as well, and discuss budget. I did already send an email to the venue today to get details on pricing.

You can totally do it, but you will likely have a hard time finding a good venue that is open on a date you want!

It's totally possible to plan in 8 months but you need to get started NOW on finding a venue/catering, photographer, DJ, and the major vendors you'll want. Once you have those in place, things can fall into place. If you don't have a lot of guests, it may feel less stressful. If it's a "big" wedding or you have your heart set on a certain type of wedding at a certain venue, it might be more difficult.

We are doing it in 5 months and I am full time nursing school during the process I would stay away from the three day weekend though. Where are you located? It may not be that cool in October, that's what we were considering originally. But 8 months is absolutely doable if you have the finances squared away

@rp17 - Sounds like your in a good place then! I know you can do it

We planned ours in 6 months without any problems. I actually wish we had done it sooner since it felt like I was just waiting & waiting once everything was booked. I think the timing really depends on how in demand your other vendors will be. Mine were all easy to book in shorter time frames and my dress was ready very fast. Those might be your only issues...having a DJ or caterer etc.. that books up a year in advance. If you don't have those obstacles you should be just fine!

I disagree respectively with pp about everything being more expensive. Our wedding is the same day and nothing has been more expensive, same as another Saturday. The hotel rates are the same too for out of town guests since we got the room block already.

Only thing that may be more expensive is flights but most of out OOT guests are driving in anyways.

It's definitely possible. I got engaged in November and I'm getting married in July 2017. Do not wait to get started is my advice, get the big things nailed down asap!

Definitely possible. I was engaged for 2.5 years, but we didn't start planning until November/December 2012 and were married August 2013, plus our wedding was a 6-8 hour drive from where we were living, I was working 2 jobs and studying for the LSAT and DH was in grad school and working.

Thanks everyone, you're making me feel much better about the time frame! We did already check with the VIP guests about the location (my hometown 600 miles from where my FI and I currently live), but not the weekend yet as we just looked at the venue's availability today. Will either choose October or check with the VIP guests this weekend. There are some seasonal things in town that close in October which is why September was my first choice.

You'll be fine. I got engaged oct 2016 getting married July 2017. I had zero trouble finding venues or anything else. It's all what you make it.