Congratulations on your engagement! You have celebrated your big news with all of your friends and loved ones, and maybe even already had your engagement party. Now, let me guess, you have no idea where to start?
After all the fun and newness tapers off and it’s time to actually get down to making this wedding happen, there are a ton of different ways you can go in. Which can happen in lots of different stages, day-after your engagement, a couple weeks or months, and sometimes even after a few years. Don’t let anyone put a timeline on your planning there are no rules to this anymore, and while some traditions are great to embrace this is your day, and your significant other’s. Maybe you are engaged to someone in the military and getting deployed, maybe you have even bigger news and are expecting, or adopting, maybe you want to save some money, there are lots of different types of engagements and reasons for pressing forward or delaying. As long as you, and your significant other are on the same page about how and when to move forward that’s all that matters!
It’s never fun, but it is important to have the big talk, and I mean BUDGET. Again, there are no rules for weddings, which means there are no budget rules either. Traditional and bride’s parents (or one set of parents for gay couples) are paying for the wedding with all things that come included, and groom’s parents are paying for rehearsal dinner, then that’s great! Both sets of parents, step-parents are splitting, you and your fiance are finding a way to divide and conquer, that’s awesome too! You need to know at the end of the day where everything needs to fall in line at the end of the day. It can be a total number you need to stay within, or it can already be broken down into categories (i.e. you want to spend $x on your attire, and your parents are spending $x on the reception, etc).
Now you know where you stand at the end of the day, and now what? Couples come to me at all stages of their engagements, and I love that no two couples or weddings are the same, which includes your engagement process too! The best advice I can give on where to start is what means the most to you about your wedding? You’ve thought about it your whole life, in detail and as a whole. When you can pinpoint what is most important to you, that’s where you should start. Some are obvious, musician and music is super important to not just you as a couple but in life, start there. Do you have a specific vision in mind when you think about your day? If it’s a backdrop, start looking at venues; if it’s your silhouette, then start with attire (and that doesn’t always mean a white dress!). Once you have 1 thing checked off the list everything else will fall into place, and give you a big sigh of relief.
We are here for you no matter where you are in the wedding planning process! We offer complimentary consultations, no matter which package you think you have in mind, and will also let you know during the consultation which package we think is right for you and your partner. You might not need our full planning package, and if you aren’t sure which is the right one for you, check out our next blog for some help!
