How far in advance did you plan for your wedding?

years? months? weeks? I am just interested because my fiance and I have been engaged for about 1.5 years now and every once in a while I look around online for ideas for our wedding. I've gathered some things that I really want to include and have been looking at different styles of dresses. However, we are definitely nowhere ready to actually get married but since I am working on small details such as choosing flowers and color scheme I am hoping to lessen the pressure when we actually choose a date.



I was just wondering for everyone that has been planning their wedding, how long in advance did you start the process? Did it start once the engagement was announced? I just want to get an idea so that maybe when the time is right, I can have a good estimate of how long we would need to plan ahead? Thanks and congrats to everyone who is getting married!

How far in advance did you plan for your wedding?
I've been planning stuff since our engagement, which was a year and a half ago. I mostly just worked on minor things then, a rough guest list to get an idea of what size venue we would need to find, i looked at wedding dresses to figure out what styles I liked, and I after choosing a date I asked my two best friends to be bridesmaids. Then, there was no planning for about 8 months! lol.



For me, the biggest issue we came across was finding a venue. I have always wanted an outdoor wedding so I was trying to find something that was beautiful and would be very accommodating for our needs. I was really stressing about that one and finally found a place two months ago, my wedding is in 4 months. I'm actually pretty lucky with a lot of the things I have to do, I have a friend who is a photographer and is doing our pictures, one of my best friend's family owns a bakery and they are doing our cake as their gift to us (free!), we are having the ceremony and reception at my aunt and uncle's ranch, my parents are catering it themselves, our officiant is a family friend, and my dad is a jeweler. So, in a sense I've got it pretty easy! lol.



I had the same idea in mind as you, "start doing things now and not stress later." The sooner you start planning things, the longer you have to get them how you want and aren't rushed to do everything. My step mom told me that its never too early to start planning your wedding. If you have everything 100% taken care of 6 weeks ahead of the wedding, that's six weeks you get to relax. At this point in my planning, I only have to have my dad order our rings, have a final meeting with our officiant about the ceremony, and buy the food before the wedding.



By you having the minor things figured out, as in the style you like, possible locations, colors, themes and flowers, you're making it easier on yourself later. You even have time to watch for sales on things (i am making my centerpieces myself and some of the items being used are normally $4, one week they were on sale for 75 cents! total bargain!) and get ideas of how much things will cost.



Good luck in the planning and congratulations!
Reply:My Fiance proposed in April 06 and I did not start planning until July 06 when I broke my ankle and did not have nothing else to do. We're getting married September 5, 08 so when the wedding gets here we (I) would have been planning for over 2 years. Don't worry some people have 3 and 4 year engagements. The wedding is one day, LIFE is everyday all day. College, work, family take your time planning a wedding is a JOB in it self!

Congratulations and good luck!
Reply:We set the date about a month after we got engaged. We decided where we wanted it to be, and made the reservation. The rest of it, we put off until about 3 months before the wedding, and pulled it all together.



But we did a lot of stuff ourselves - his uncle was our minister, I made our invitations by hand and did all of the flower arranging myself, my future in-laws did all of the catering, etc. The only real reservations we had to make were for the location, photographer and wedding cake. That was it. We had it pretty easy.



Probably the biggest and most urgent thing to nail down is the location, because they tend to book well in advance. Beyond that, you'll just have to contact individual vendors and see what they have available, or how far out they're typically booked up. A lot of it depends on your location, your budget, and what you want done.
Reply:We planned for eight months, just the amount of time we were engaged. That was the point of getting engaged - to marry as soon as it was feasible!
Reply:A week maybe two. We ran off to Vegas so it didn't take much planning.
Reply:I have been planing mine for 5 months now. I dont think they need that much planning no more than a year I think. That way you know what latest trend you want and if prices have changed and such.



Goodluck and enjoy it!
Reply:My Friend organized her wedding inside the 6 weeks alloted in Australia but I have taken 6 months to organize mine!
Reply:well, we decided to get married at the beginning of the year tog et married in August. I spent a month or so looking for the holiday (getting married abroad) and booked it. Then by chance I went into a wedding dress shop and was told that you need to order your dress at least 6 months before you need it.

I would like to think that I have plenty of time, but I would say that you need to set the date at least 7 months before you want to get married. You have to make sure the venue that you want is available, the dress is ordered and they are the main things I would say. All the other things can be fitted in a little closer to the time, I would say. But it gives you plenty of time to make lists and things of everything you want.
Reply:We've all been planning in some way or another since we were little girls...lol



Sounds like you have already started but what you don't know is that you will, at some point, change your mind about something that you thought you already had figured out.



Take your time...everyone is different and it depends on wedding styles, tastes, size, etc.



Remember once the actual date is set, to pace yourself too. If you have been engaged for a year and a half, I don't think you'll probably set the date for 'tomorrow' and have to go into panic mode...



When you do figure out a date, give yourself about 6 months...you have things to order (invitations) and things to mail also that need a time frame, etc. I think that 6 months is a comfortable time frame and very do-able!



Good luck and congrats to you BOTH!
Reply:we are getting married in 3 weeks and had been engaged for 1 year and 5 months. As soon as we decided on a date we booked all the major things like venue, photographer, dj, and caterer. Throughout the summer we did a lot because we are both in school, and that helped take some of the stress away because then all we really had left to worry about were small things. As soon as you decide a date, I would book major things, because like I said, it relieves a lot of stress, and the less stress you have, the better!
Reply:He asked last July. We're getting married this July. One year. If you go at it whole-heartedly, I'd say no less than 6 months. There are a lot of details %26amp; pre-ordering that you may not be aware of. That depends on what you're planning, of course.
Reply:I started about 9 months in advance. That way the main things can get booked like the actual place for the ceremony, reception site, etc. Then that gives you plenty of time for the invitations, bridesmaid dresses, etc. It really starts to hit about 1-2 months before the date so it is better to start early and try to get as much as you can done in advance. It is a very stressful process but it is all worth it. Definitely keep a folder so you can keep all your information together. Being organized will make the night go smooth!! Good luck!!
Reply:we got engaged on new years eve and got married in early july. originally we wanted a halloween wedding, but in march i found out that i was pregnant and i wasn't about to get married with 8 months worth of baby in me. (btw, we had just started trying to get pregnant. we thought it would take longer to happen, but it was immediate.) we wanted to get married as soon as possible so that i wouldn't be showing too much, and it took about 3 months to plan everything. we would have really appreciated those few extra months we would've had if i wasn't pregnant because even though everything ended up just the way we wanted it, it was all REALLY rushed. it was a stressful couple of months. i wouldn't reccommend taking less than six months to prepare a wedding.
Reply:Usually a year long engagement is long enough to plan a wedding of a decent size, less time for a simpler wedding.

I got engaged in March 2007 and will marry in November 08 and I started planning straight away because we knew when we wanted to get married so I started looking into things and booking them. Nine months out from the wedding and I don't have much left to do so it will make for much less stress later.
Reply:We got engaged on Feb 14th in 2001 and got married June 1st 2002. I started planning probably in May of 2001. It took me a while to come up with the theme and colors but once that happened, everything fell right into place.
Reply:he asked me Dec 20th 2007 and I started Planning Jan 2-3ish. Now, Feb 16th I'm DONE!!!! we just have minor details (i feel) such as the food we are going to eat and the music played (Have a good list though)

We are getting married June 15 2008