What do i do!?

It can be overwhelming, I know. I suggest you focus on setting a budget and ball park guest count. This will help you find a venue. Once you've got the venue you'll have a better picture on what other vendors you'll need. This app has a bunch of really helpful tools as well, and of course, you can always reach out if you need something. Chin up, you've got this!

Hi Emily, wedding planning can be overwhelming but breaking it down into steps helps. I would focus on your venue for ceremony and reception. Contact your priest, pastor, rabbi, or officiant of choice to see if your date is available and if premarital courses are required. Hope this helps ❤️

Sit down with fiance and decide what is most important to you (most go for the guest experience ( good food/drink/entertainment) and photos. Eliminate anything not important to you.


Decide how much you can and want to spend on your own without help. When you receive money from others, you lose your final say even though it is your wedding and not theirs.
Decide on a ballpark guestlist. Choose only those nearest and dearest to you. Never invite anyone out of obligation.
With all of that, you can search for a venue. Take a look at eventective.com ideas in your area. Decide if you want to leave the planning to someone else with an all inclusive and be a guest or if you want something more customized that you have full creative reign over with a blank slate venue.
Once the venue is booked, then move onto catering (never book without tasting first), photographer, dj, etc.
Browse Pinterest and Instagram for ideas.

Since you have a date selected, I assume you have a venue? If that’s the case, I’d strongly encourage you book your additional vendors now. With the 2020/2021 postponements, vendor dates are becoming extremely limited.

1. Band/DJ
2. Photography
3. Videographer
4. Florist
5. Makeup/hair
6. Wedding Dress
7. Other

So many details and so hard trying to figure out where to begin. I started off with using the wedding wire planning guide. I also bought a wedding planning book off amazon as well. These were nice guides to help me figure out where to start.

I first started with venue/date, colors/theme, dress, photographer/videographer, wedding planner, hair/makeup, dj/band, florist, cake, others. (I'm still in the planning phase and trying to narrow down all my vendors right now) But I've started my research and reaching out, just need to finalize and hire.

Both WW and The Knot have timelines if you're on a normal timeframe!

For me, I started by setting a date and researching ceremony vendors!

View Quoted Comment

What Megan said - both of these websites (and others!) have really handy tools to help you.

Scroll up, and you'll see "Planning Tools". Give it a click - I relied heavily on these!

The first thing you do: take a deeep breath!

Wedding planning can be super overwhelming at first. Your WW account should pre-populate a checklist for you with deadlines of what you should accomplish by which date. These dates can always be changed (i.e. if a vendor wants something earlier or later than recommended by WW), plus you can add/delete things your checklist may not have.

Your absolute first thing is sit down with your fiance & establish a budget. You need to know how much money the two of you can come up with to have the wedding. Have a conversation with your parents & his parents to see if anyone is willing/able to contribute. If so, great! If not, that's fine too. Second is to make a rough guest list. Having a ballpark on the number of people you'll have will determine which venues you can go to.

Second, set a date. Many venues and vendors will want to know if your date is set, or if there are any other dates you're considering. If you're planning a date for 2021 or 2022, it's imperative that you book your venue ASAP. Many weddings that were re-scheduled have taken a lot of those dates.

And third, have fun! Here are some of the websites I used to help compile a checklist of things I wanted/needed that wasn't on my WW checklist already:
https://theeverygirl.com/the-12month-wedding-planning-timeline/
https://www.zola.com/expert-advice/checklist/your-ultimate-wedding-planning-checklist
https://www.bweddinginvitations.com/blog/ultimate-wedding-planning-timeline-43-essential-steps-for-your-to-do-list/
https://www.theknot.com/content/12-month-wedding-planning-countdown

Sit down with your fiancé to discuss budget, guest list & your must haves. I love WW for these forums but I’ve seen too many people have issues with their domains they purchased through WW. I use The Knot for my wedding planning checklist - it’s helped me so much to keep me on track.

Start by setting a budget and making a rough guests list. From there, research and tour venues. Once you sign a contract booking a venue, you will have your actual wedding date. From there, I would move onto photographer and caterer, as they tend to book up quick. You will also have to look into a florist, a DJ, and a cake baker. They recommend ordering your dress no less than 10 months before your wedding. If you choose to send save the dates, they typically go out 6-8 months before your wedding with invitations being sent 6-8 weeks before your wedding.

First is to agree on a budget with your future spouse

Also GoogleSheets has a wedding planning template with a full packet of spreadsheets to keep you on track that be shared with anyone.


Also instead of an expensive Knot binder, make your own at a much lower cost with a 3 ring binder and pocket protectors from Target to carry with you as needed to store fabric swatches, paint chips, printouts of spreadsheets, receipts, etc.