What did you do 1st when planning?

Budget should be first so you both have an idea of what you want to spend and also can negotiate when you look for vendors.

I think doing a guest list is great as well, so when you go look at venues you can have rough estimate of how much food will be.

Choosing your venue will be second and once you select and book your venue, all the planning will fall in line.

You have plenty of time since you're not getting married until 2022.

Budget is number one. What can you afford? Are your parents willing to help financially? Aim lower than you can afford - many budget for say $10k and end up spending $15k because of the items they didn't account for

Guest list - how many are you inviting? max number? are you doing kid friendly or adult only?

Venue is number two. Find somewhere you like, within budget, with enough space for all your guests

Then I'd start looking at vendors (catering, cake, photography, DJ, hair/makeup) even if you just get quotes and have a starting point.

Then you can start with more "fun" stuff like picking your colors, theme, decorations, etc.

I'd hold off asking any wedding party (bridesmaids) until about 8 months out to avoid bridesmaid regret (it's a big thing).

You can look for dresses whenever - but I wouldn't order any sooner than 10 months out..again a lot of people buy early and regret it.

Rough idea of guest #, just so you know while venue shopping! Venue and date are first

We started contacting venues first and they told us we needed to get a better idea of a guest list before we could check out venues. We got a rough draft of a guest list and then started touring venues. Then it was finding a photographer, dj and caterer.

We booked our venue first, but also had a rough guest list started since this will also be an important key in booking your venue. We also learned that some venues require you cater through them as well and some do not, so be ready to put some thought into this.

Budget, date, and location

We did budget first. Then we did a rough guest list and then searched for venues that would fit that number. They kind of go hand in hand. For example if your rough guest list is 120 but you find a venue you want to tour that can only hold 100 then you have to decide which is more important, those 20 people being there or that venue if you really like it. After we booked our venue and had a set date we booked our photographer and DJ since those were both really important to us and we wanted to make sure the ones we liked would be available for our date.

We are in the process of planning now, and the first thing is determine your budget. Secondly, BOOK YOUR VENUE. Our initial date was snagged really quick, actually the whole month of June was gone causing us to move our wedding up a month.

Start by setting a max budget. Then talk about a guest list/guest count & time of year. Then look at venues.

We did this:

1. Budget

2. Potential Guest List (basically we had 180 people on our list so I looked at venues that could hold 200 to be safe. Now we're down to 165 guests after looking over our list again and again haha)

3. Venues (I would have hated to find a venue we loved only to find out that we wouldn't be able to invite the people we wanted)

Now we're focusing on guest list (we're 98% certain we have it solidified. I'm leaving it alone until July and then on August 1st whatever we have is whatever we're going with since we're sending out STD's on August 12th.

As everyone is saying. Budget, begin the guest list and then venue!

We picked an estimated date and made a guest list

Budget, date, guest list, then venue. I'm glad I started the guest list before we even looked for a venue because the guest list eliminated a couple of venues right off the bat.

I picked the venue and date first! Having a rough draft of a guest list is helpful in determining the venue. I didn't have one but I knew I wanted no more than 200 people. So I went based on that.. A budget should be the very first thing, if you need one. My fiance told me to get what I want and that I didn't have a budget which is a blessing. Now I know that isn't everyones situation. So sitting down and knowing what you both want to spend will help keep things balanced and checked.

Budget budget! Once you know what you can spend and where it's coming from - then the big ones are the venues & guest list. For me, those were more important than the actual date. I had to make sure I had a date that worked for both venues (ceremony & reception) and fit my guest list - AS WELL AS fit in my budget. When I found one that fit all of that, then I booked everything. But you don't know what kinds of places you can look at or how big of a guest list you can create if you don't know what you have to spend!

First thing we did was pick a date and then locked down a venue. Once that was finished, we quickly booked food, photography, and dj.

We did venue then budget. Which I guess is kind of backwards but the same night we got engaged he told me he'd been dreaming of marrying me in that venue since the first time we walked into it. Needless to say my heart melted and that's where we were going to get married no matter the cost lol.

Booked my church! Then my reception venue. Then the dress.

Though the things you should start on are things like budget and guest list and things like that, the first thing I did was pick the way I wanted the cake to be decorated.

I would start off with an estimated number of people on your guest list, then look for a venue. Some venues will have many options that could make your planning easier.