Short wedding timeline

Unless there is a very important reason why you need to get married in the next 5 weeks, I would try to push the date out. It's going to be extremely difficult to find a venue with availability, let alone other vendors. Your best bet may be an intimate courthouse ceremony and taking your guests to a nice dinner afterwards. Many restaurants have private rooms that you can rent out. Check out Thumbtack for a photographer or any other vendors that you plan to hire. As soon as you have a venue figured out, I would get invitations out ASAP.

View Quoted Comment Yes the reason it’s so soon is because my fiancé is going into the military shortly after the weddings planned date and we were unable to get everything started until now but we really want a real wedding and my family would be very disappointed if there wasn’t one.

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I would suggest going into a weekday, or having a courthouse ceremony. With such short notice anyway, family may not be able to make it.

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A courthouse wedding is a real wedding. If you can find a venue, that's absolutely wonderful, but you should be open to other options since the chances aren't great.

I would start by searching for all the venues in the area where you want to get married..maybe enlist some family or friends help to contact places to see if anyone has availability at all.. you may get lucky, but definitely have to get on it soon.

https://weddingbells.ca/planning/how-to-plan-a-wedding-in-one-month/

Definitely start with a venue and go from there. Try looking at parks, fire halls, and other non traditional venues. Do you have any family members who have spacious property? Ask to use their back yard.

Do you have the budget for a wedding planner? I had friends that had to plan their wedding in 2 months and the only way were were able to make it happen was because they hired a wedding planner.

My sister was in a similar situation. Her now husband was going into the army and they had 8 weeks. With the help of all the parents and friends, we pulled it off like we had a year. It is a lot to get done in such a short period of time but it's definitely not impossible. They found a hotel that was about 45 minutes from home that was available and did the ceremony and reception in the same place. It was beautiful.

First thing you should do is find a venue. Try a state park or a pavilion by the lake or something. In can be an all in one kind of place so you don't need to worry about finding multiple locations. Make a list of things you need in order (food, photographer, music, etc.) and just call around until you can check them off. I don't know how you feel about pot luck but that could be an easy way to have food without needing to hire a caterer. Good luck!

View Quoted Comment A Sunday brunch or early evening wedding might be good and less expensive. If not, because it sounds like just immediately family, consider a Thur or Fri to get a nice venue.

FYI, some venues (resorts, hotels, garden restaurants), might offer affordable elopement/private wedding packages Sun-Thur. But you need to ask because they’d rather sell you an expensive weekend wedding. Also, museums, zoos & aquariums provide such a unique setting and their fees are usually a lot less than typical hotel ballrooms, etc.

Depending on what type of wedding you want, it isn't impossible but it won't be easy. Could you plan a small courthouse wedding now and have a vow renewal/big reception later?