I got engaged about 4-5 months ago, and I am planning to have the wedding sometime maybe in late winter/early spring of 2008. How do I start? What should I do first? What are some helpful hints? Should I start dropping off deposits for my vendors? Should I book the bride+groom hotel room? Should I schedule a cake tasting, bride dress fitting, or an appointment with my invitation printer? Should I meet up with my caterer to book my ballroom?
What should I do first/last? Please try to include everything, thanks so,so much!
Tags: 5 months, appointment, bride dress, bride groom, caterer, early spring, helpful hints, hotel room, invitation
I went to the local bookstore and looked at a ton of wedding planning books. Find one that fits you and your plans and budget and use it. I love mine and it really helped to get me started. Also ask other friends who have got married for advice.
well you say you want it in late winter or early spring of 08 well if you want spring of 08 you should start now if you are looking for late winter start looking now at diff rent locations see how they have it decorated for that time of year hey you might get to save on decore if they do it themselves. also talk to your pastor and see if he is free that day to do the service when you have that look at the location and if you totally love it put down a deposit. now this should be done 8 months before to a year about 6 months look for a DJ or band and about 4 months start looking at cakes also 6 8 months before start looking at dresses some have to be sent out to get and take 12 weeks to get in and you might have to get it fitted and that takes 2 weeks sometimes depending on your area hope this helps
also here are some sites i use for helping friends with there weddings or high end party’s that we do
http://www.blissweddings.com/w.....anners.asp
http://www.seatingarrangement.com/screenshots.htm
http://www.mywedding.com/
I would start by checking out customweddingsolutions.com. They have planning guides and just about everything else you need. Very helpful!
1st Book your venue are you having church or cival wedding. if your having it at a couple of different places ie church then to a hotel make sure you can get both of them on the same day. Book photographer for the day as early as possible
2nd go to bridal shops to find your dress as these 9/10 times have to be specialy made and of course bridesmaid dresses
3rd once youve got your date organised you need to do your invites so people have them in plenty of time and have time to arrange days off, wedding gift list so you can send it with invites
4th go and pick wedding rings, book hair dresser and makeup person, Mens wear hire
5th go and see your cake maker as these are made closer to the day
6th if you havent already decided on what food you are requiring depending on where having it this should be done as hotels usually can wait till later but caterers would need to be booked when you have the date organised
by this point you should be having dress fittings
Start relaxing go for hair and makup practice. buy guest book for people to write in do all the little jobs favour boxes etc
Peolpes acceptances should be coming back so start doing table seating if you are having a formal sit down meal
1st thing you need to do is pick a date. There’s a big difference b/n a winter & spring wedding.
2nd pick your colors
3rd pick ur bridesmaids-you’ll need their help
4th pick ur location
5th decide on # of guest
5th reserve ur location
6th start sampling caterers
7th select invitations
8th start looking for dresses
9th start looking for tuxes
10th start sampling bakers
11th decide on favors
12th contact local hotels if u have out of town guest & are paying for their stay
13th have 1st fitting (they’ll tell u when to schedule rest)
14th mail invites
15th choose favors
16th start shopping for bridesmaids & groom gifts
umm, I’m sure there’s tons of stuff I’ve forgotten, like choosing cake topper & registering but this should at least get the ball rolling for you.
First of all, book a the church and ballroom/event center! You need to know the dates available so you can start going on with the invitations and give the vendors an idea on when you would need the things. Then, start looking for invitations, and keep going from there. Once you have those three things set everything else comes into place.
Go to http://www.theknot.com It has everything!! It seriously is the best wedding site out there. There is a checklist of everything you need to do and it gives you dates when you should be doing everything by. I love it and could not plan my wedding with out it. And the best thing is . . . it’s FREE. Yes, some of those other sites charge.
Hi and congratulations!
1st ~ this is the most important! Sit down with your fiance and decide WHAT KIND of wedding you want. Before you do anything else, you need to decide a few things:
a. Church ceremony?
b. Non-church ceremony?
c. How many attendants?
d. How big is the guest list going to be? You don’t need to start writing everyone down. I just mean….are you wanting simple, family only and a few friends….OR lots of guest 150+.
Once you have made these decisions then you can go on.
2nd - if you want a church ceremony. Call and book the church and see what requirements for classes, meetings with the pastor, etc. you need.
a. If you want a church wedding, book the organist too!
b. Do you want a soloist? Book him/her too!
If you don’t want a church ceremony, then you will need to find a venue for your ceremony. This could be someone’s home, a backyard, a park, gazebo, pavillion, beach, …..lots of options. Whatever you want —book it!!
3rd–once you have a venue for the ceremony, you will need to coordinate the "date" with a venue for a reception. Again, you have choices from an elegant ballroom down to a VFW hall.
4th- book a photographer
5th - pick your bridesmaids & groomsmen
6th - start looking at dresses both for you and your attendants.
7th- pick out invitations
8th-meet with a florist
9th-decide upon a cake either from a bakery or a grocery store
10th-book an appointment with your hairdresser
11th-decide on color of tuxes
12th-register for gifts
13th-decide where the rehearsal dinner will be
14th-decide on centerpieces, favors (if you want them)
15th-decide on any decorations for the reception venue
16th-fittings, etc.
17th-have a bridal shower
18th-pick out gifts for your attendants
19th-mail out your invitations 6-8 weeks before the wedding
All of the above can be in any kind of random order. The most important thing is getting a venue. I would get busy NOW. If you live in a city, many things book up more than a year in advance so you may run into a problem. If you are in a rural area, you may not have a problem….but I would book the venues for the ceremony and reception soon! Like start this week!
Good luck!
I planned my wedding in about 2 months for a wedding that we planned for 8 months out.
First I picked a place… one I had the place then I knew the date to find everyone else around that.
Second… I bought a dress… takes time for it to be delivered.
3rd… got the officiant (priest, rabbi, etc)
4th… picked the bridesmaid dresses and ordered them
5th.. got the florist
6th.. got the photographer and videographer (prob would have gotten photographer before florist, they are very expensive and I would have cut back on flowers)
7th… sent out the save the dates… ordered on http://www.vistaprint.com... save tons of money that way… also order your stationary for your thank you cards
8th.. picked out invitation… made guest list… ordered invited
9th… starting to look for ideas for bags for the out of state guests for the hotel room
otherwise i think everything else is done.
Biggest thing is dont stress. It all falls into place.
just go get a wedding pnner book thats wat i did and it really came in handy!
Here is a checklist that might help…
http://www.weddinginsight.com/checklist.htm