We have a venue, now what? What is the best thing to start with when planning?

I think bridal show is a waste of time. I have been to couple, and most of them are not that great. Plus, you have to pay to get in, save that money and do your research online. There are few options if you want cheaper wedding gown. I am not sure where you live, but LA there are many wedding shop that allow you to rent a gown. I rented my dream gown for 500 dollars. You can also try getting your gown from China, and they are custom made, but material isnt the best.

It's hard to ask people to sponsor you. But I think if you ok DIY a lot of decor and even centerpieces, you will save a lot of money.

Check out this site:

wedding ideas

...... I found a lot of good ideas here.

What I did was...I went to flower market in LA and have flower market vendors made my bridal and bridesmaid flowers. I showed them what I wanted and asked a lot of them to give me a price so I can compare.

Good Luck!

I recommend buying a bridal magazine instead of attending a show. It was nice to check it out but if you are on a budget and unless you want to use the vendors there offering deals, what you 'win' there is not worth the cost of the admission. I won a Garter there which probably only cost 5 bucks. But you also get spammed by so many vendors after.

Try David's bridal,they have cheap and nice wedding dress and stuffs,u can take a look online and when u have ideas u can go try it in their actual stores, hope it helps

Bridal shows are a waste of time, the ultimate goal is to get your information so they can use it / sell it. If you go, give them fake info and DONT participate in the free giveaways, they're a sham.

When I first got engaged, I went to half price books and got some books on planning and my mom bought me some magazines. I haven't bought any more magazines, I don't find them to be all that helpful though they were fun at first. I find most of what I need on wedding wire and wedding blogs.

Hopefully you have a budget and guest list sorted if you've already booked the venue. The first vendor you should book after your venue is your photographer, since they can only be in one place at one time (unlike your florist or caterer, who can do multiple weddings in one day). I would use the wedding wire checklist thing to get you started.

As far as sponsors, I have no idea what you're talking about. Do you mean like a friend offering to provide a service, or your parents paying?

Since now you have the biggest thing done which is the venue; I suggest you book the florist. I left the florist for last since I'm not a flowery person and its been stressful. As for the bridal shows, I've been to a couple and they were all free of charge. They do give you lots of ideas and offer discounts.

My first thing to book was my venue (obviously) After that, I started knocking out the stuff that i knew would be expensive and that were also important to me. I really wanted nice food so I started looking in to caterers. Then I knew I wanted an awesome photographer, so I booked that. Then it was my dress and so on and so on...I just booked my florist and looking in to officially booking my baker.

My advice would be, carefully look at your budget, do your research and know your priorities, then go off that. In the end, if you spend your money first on what was most important to you, then there will not be no room for disappointment when you can't book certain vendors because funds ran slim. Good luck and happy planning!

I think picking a photographer would be a good next option. I know for me that was the hardest decision this far so I'm glad I got it over with early on.

I would start with the catering. That's been the biggest expense so far. Does your venue have a list to choose from or can you choose anyone?

Our venue included catering, so our next vendors were the photographer and DJ. They seem to book faster in our area.

My main 3 were venue (included catering), photographer, and DJ. We booked all 3 within the first 2 months. My strategy: Create a budget, including about how much you want to spend on each category (give yourself splurge room in the 1 or 2 items most important to you). Then, because my budget was strict, I looked at pricing first before looking at photos of how beautiful the venue was/photography style/etc. This strategy helped me to not fall in love with something out of budget. If they fell within my budget, then I'd look further into that option.

For flowers, cake, music, etc., I have lots of talented friends and family who did a lot of the smaller details - and everything looked wonderful!

I went to a couple bridal shows, but they didn't really help me. I mainly did a lot of research online. For the dress, I had several friends get married before me, and almost all of them ended their search at the same shop...so I just started there and found my dress quickly!

If the bridal show is free, it is good to go look. However finding ones that are free is hard, and then once you get there most of them are filled with expensive vendors. Depending on where you live, I would use all your resources, ask all your friends if they know any vendors that are home based. This has helped me a lot, I found tons of home based or 1 person owned business'. But also be aware that you need to get references and make sure they are reliable, or you could get into trouble. Also find out what your friends are good at, If you have a friend that is really good at photography or baking ask them to help. I have heard of some people doing a pot luck sort of dinner with their guest. Which is were the guest bring different types of food instead of presents. Of course this would mean you need to have a website or something that everyone can sign up, so you don't get 10 mac n' cheeses.

I have been to two bridal shows. I got the tickets free. I thought it was worth it. I won a free banquet room at a golf club. I also won a $50 scentsy gift card and an It Works wrap and detox drink pack. I would say caterer and photography. Also a lot of the most popular DJ's book a year in advance.

CONGRATULATIONS HUN!!!!

I don't think BRIDAL SHOWS are a waste of time. And the ones I went to were FREE. I think especially if thats a venue you are considering its best to go there try the food see the venue and talk to the coordinators. The bridal shows also gave us plenty ideas and they were fun.

I would start with venue, coming up with our colors and theme a guest count a budget. Venues book up BUT I think you still have time due to the fact you are having a NOVEMBER wedding like us. It was very easy to find a venue. we started looking in april found one by may. Very easy.

At the bridal shows they have wedding fashion shows you can meet many contacts in your area including photographers video Djs invitations florists.

I have not been to a bridal show and I think I'm doing ok as far as planning goes. I've picked two of my vendors based on things I've read on WW and the others I found by doing my own research.

Catering is included in our venue so the next things we booked were our photographer and officiant. Our wedding is next March and even though we started meeting with photographers and officiants this past March, many were booked for our date already. The photographer is probably the most important vendor to us so we wanted to make sure we could book the one we really wanted. Plus, if you are wanting to get engagement pictures done, it's a good idea to book your photographer early on so that you can have your pictures done early enough.

Congratulations!

From a fellow bride on a tight budget- the best decision ive made so far is finding a dress through from a woman who sells samples out of her home. I got to try on dresses in my size. while the selection was smaller than a dress shop, the prices were definitely worth it.

last minute bride on fb has a return policy and quite a large selection if you cant find someone locally I would definitely look them up.

Congratulations!

Glad you got the venue. You are on your way. I would suggest you start working on caterer and guest list. You have to feed the folks at your party. DIY on as much as you can. It will save a lot of money.

Have fun and enjoy the whole process. This website is a GREAT resource. I love it. Any questions or concerns you have, someone is always there to answer.

Happy wedding planning!!

Honestly..I would buy some mags and start looking online for dresses. There are so many options. I have heard some dresses can take months to order. Next I would say dj...they make ur party fun!

Our wedding is farther away than yours, and I feel like it's never too early to start on stuff. After the wedding venue, we got the photographer, and we just got our florist. Happy planning!!

Since you have your date booked at your venue, next should be an officiant -- after all, it wouldn't be a wedding without one! Then photographer, caterer, DJ, and any other vendors.

Now that you know your venue and season, you can start thinking about colors, theme, and your dress/bridesmaids' dresses. STDs and invitations, decor, etc.

I would find and book some vendors next, now that you have a wedding date and location. Photographer, DJ, officiant, florist, caterer. The nice thing about having so much time is that you won't be rushed to sign on with a vendor; you can have time to find someone you really like.