You’re Engaged: Now What? First Steps of Wedding Planning

Unless you work in event planning at Vogue, chances are your wedding will be the biggest party you ever plan. Between the band, the caterers, the venue, the flowers, the invitations, and sitting your aunt that can’t hold her liquor as far away from the cake as possible, you have your work cut out for you. But honestly, one of the toughest parts is just getting started. See below for our definitive guide on getting started on planning your dream wedding.

1) You Engaged! Celebrate

First and foremost – take a moment to take stock. You have found the love of your life, and you’ve taken your first step toward spending the rest of your lives together. You have been dreaming about this since you were a little girl – so take pictures, tell your friends, announce it on social media, and scream it from the rooftops!

2) Buy a Journal, and Use It

There are a hundred billion moving parts and intricacies involved in planning your wedding. A lot of things are going to happen over the next few months that you’re going to want to remember and cherish forever. Almost as importantly, a lot of things are going to frustrate you to death, and you’re going to need to vent. Write it all down. It will keep you organized, give you a living record of your special day, and allow you to maintain your sanity when your bridesmaids are bickering about who gets to plan your bachelorette party.

3) Set the Date

So you’ve told all of your friends that you’re getting married – great! The first thing they’re going to ask you is “so have you set the date yet?” Not only will setting a clear date allow you to answer their questions, but it’s also the first actual, logistical step to planning your wedding. Once you make that first decision, all the rest will come more easily.

4) Set a budget

The second (less fun) logistical obstacle to overcome in the early stages of wedding planning is how much you plan to spend. Work out how much you and your partner have in savings, and how much you could collectively save up before the wedding. Next, talk to your parents. Don’t worry about the whole “father of the bride” Don Vito Corleone trope. No party should feel obligated to drop money they don’t have. But if either or both of your parents have the money, ask if they’d be willing to help out. Once you have a budget worked out, you’ll be able to pick and choose venues, caterers, and everything else based on what you can afford.

5) Choose the Attendants

Getting even a rough list of attendees together for the festivities is an essential step. The number of people coming to your wedding will affect which venues you can look into, and where those venues are (generally speaking, a destination wedding in Montepulciano won’t be possible if you’re inviting 600 people).

6) Put together a list of venues

Once you have a budget, a rough list of attendees, and a date set, you can start putting a list of possible venues together. By now you’ll have an idea of what the weather will be like on the day, how many people you need to feed, how much alcohol you’ll need to by, and how much space you’ll need. For more helpful wedding planning tips, make sure you subscribe to our blog. Need help organizing your wedding? Give us a call today.