Weddings: how long to plan?

[HunnyPots]

My daughter is getting married in July and all we've done is to book the venue and look at a few bridal magazines. There doesn't really seem to be anything pressing at this point. But when I watch those wedding shows or read bridal magazine planners, they all seem to suggest planning a year or more in advance! Is there really that much to do?

How long do you think it really should take to plan a wedding? How long did you take to plan yours? Are we missing something?

 

[JR6ooo4]

DW joined "the knot" and got a free kit that had all sorts of fun things to do. Planners and other stuff.

We got engaged and agreed on a date, 1.5 years. She had the hall booked in a week, eheheheheheee. Turns out it wasn't a moment too soon. It was the only saturday night they had left for the whole year.

Mikeeee

 

[Pomlover2586]

I got married exactly 1 year after getting engaged. I started planning immediately, and while there was some "down time" it was nice to not feel panicked!

I say better early then late.........it will save some stress!

 

[Scornelius]

I planned my wedding in 2 months. I don't recommend it!! lol!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Depending on the bridal dresses chosen will depend on how late you are.

When my sister got married it took a long time to get the dresses altered, etc...

 

[SDFgirl]

I planned my wedding in 6 months. It's definitely do-able.

I think a lot of it depends on the time of year that you're planning the wedding. I was married in December which isn't super popular. May, June and October will probably be hard. July might be a little tough but not too bad, especially if your DD is flexible!

Congrats and have fun! I have such wonderful memories of my wedding.

 

[staley7580]

We planned our wedding a year out. but aside from booking our wedding package, there wasnt much to do. We got married in Vegas though.

 

[mvazul]

I planned my wedding in 6 months. But, I was working on the wedding every single day of those six months.

I am a photographer and booked two weddings the end of October (one for June 13, 2009, and one for July 4, 2009 - brother and sister getting married three weeks apart!). They booke me as soon as they saw my work, because they wante to make sure I was available for their dates. You should definitely get the important things booked - church/hall, DJ, photographer, find the dresses, etc.

Good luck!!

Michelle

 

[photobob]

I'm a wedding photographer and am getting bookings for 2009 now. I've got bookings as far out as December 2009. I'd look into getting a photographer before to very long. Many engagements happen during the holidays and bookings pick up after the first of the year.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

Engaged Feb 14, 2001, married Dec 8, 2001. we were originally planning a Spring wedding about a week before Easter and having a very Eastery theme, but my grandmother died in July 2001 and we decided to get married in Dec, exactly 6 months from my birthday and because the church was already decorated and we didn't need to do much else to it. We also got married at 6pm with a candlelight ceremony, it was beautiful. The bridesmaids wore red and the guys wore red plaid vests and red jeweled buttons at the collar instead of ties, looked great with the girls dresses. The flower girl wore a red and white smocked gingham dress.

Suzanne

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I planned mine in 3 months.

If I get married again, I'll make sure we have a longer engagement. My wedding was beautiful, but it was stressful to get it that way since we didn't have a lot of time lol.

 

[Angelhalo]

We had about 200 guests. We had 6 months from proposal to wedding and we needed every bit of it.

We had to

• pick a florist
• find a DJ (we had to fire the first one)
• find a photographer
• come up with a song list
• come up with special songs (daddy daughter dance, first dance etc)
• find a dress
• find an alterations person that I trusted
• get the alterations done
• book all the guys with tuxes
• find hotels for all of the out of town guests
• find a venue
• try to book the venue (tried 3 before we found one with the right date)
• find a caterer
• pick a menu
• find a baker
• do cake tastings
• pick out a cake
• deliver the cake toppers to the baker
• Set up a getaway car from the wedding
• pick out table decorations
• find a team of family members willing to help set things up on the day
• find an officiant that we liked
• pick out vows that we liked
• pick out invitations
• make a guest list
• wittle down the guest list
• address the invitations
• send out the invitations
• collect the invitations and start an RSVP list
• pick bridesmaids and groomsmen
• pick out their attire
• get the bridesmaids fitted
• have their dresses altered
• pick out a ringbearer and flower girls
• pick out their attire
• find mother of the bride dress
• pick out a groom's cake
• pick out wedding bands and wait for the correct sizes to arrive
• plan a honeymoon

I'm sure I could go on and on and on but thats most of the major things that I can think of. It took us every bit of our 6 months. You have to remember that A) not everything will go smoothly and B) some of your attendents will be slackers. two of my bridesmaids didn't order their dresses until 3 weeks before the wedding. The company was out of their size, they had to order a size smaller and find a genius alterations lady who could use the shawl that came with the dress to create extra panels in their dresses.

 

[mickyzzzzz05]

5 years ago our oldest daughter was engaged in Feb and the wedding date was July 5th. (5 months) Everything ended up working out great although the first couple of weeks were constant phone calls and a bit stressful. We were not able to get the photographer she wanted but otherwise it was great.

Our youngest just got married at the end of Oct this year. She was engaged in April so that gave us 6 months.

We enjoyed planning everything but when the date is that close I think you really need to dig in the first couple of weeks and be super organized!

We had around 350 guests at this last wedding and over 400 attended the first one.

 

[BMNABrinx]

My DD just got married last Saturday. It was quick! We had begun planning when they started talking about getting married, just the little stuff though like colors and cake style, etc. When her new DH thought he was going to be deployed they moved the date up and we actually had right at 3 months to pull everything together. It was an elegant wedding but not over the top fancy. It took place in our church so that was easy. The hardest thing we had to do was book a reception venue. We actually found the perfect place. The wedding was beautiful! They were both pleased and said they wouldn't change a thing. We did work hard on it as we did all of the decorating, flowers and food ourselves. We didn't have a DJ but rented a large stereo system and it worked out just fine. Everyone enjoyed themselves and it was definitely a night to remember.
It can be done quickly as long as you stay on task and organize as you go.
Good luck and don't forget to have fun while you are planning!

 

[IndyBride]

I think it depends. Certainly you can plan a wedding in a very short amount of time but it will be more stressful. When I get married it will be almost a year and a half of planning. I am graduating from the university so this semester I have done virtually no planning but I knew that ahead of time and made sure all my major decisions were done so as early as possible. You can make it as easy or as hard as you want it to be. But, I suggest looking around and always keeping your eyes open. When you see something you like get it booked or ordered or whatever you need to do. Because I had so much time I was able to get discounts on a lot of stuff I wanted because I could wait for them to go on sale. Good luck and have fun!

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

I think that you can plan a wedding 6 months out but its always nice to have at least a year to take your time and not stress out too much. I have been planning for a year and I got most of the stuff out of the way in the beginning. Now its only the little things and I am not stressing which is good because I can enjoy the bridal shower and bachlorette parties!

 

[Cool-Beans]

Gazillions of guys propose on Christmas and New Years. Wedding planners and all that other stuff are slammed with calls the first week of January.

And a whole bunch of those folks want to get married April - July.

If there is stuff you want to book, book it before Christmas.

Other than that, I think six months (up to a year) is a good average. People can do it and do it nicely in less, though.

 

[SpecialK]

I planned mine in 10 months and didn't feel a bit stressed. As a PP said, get the big bookings taken care of before Christmas (photog, band/dj, florist) and take care of the rest after the holidays.

I really think you can be as stressed as you choose to be when planning a big event. They key is being organized and not micro-managing.

 

[Abbie]

Well I'm right there with ya! My DD is also getting married in early July. There was a flurry of activity after they got engaged in Sept. to pick our reception site and settle on the menu but now that both of those are booked I feel like we're waaay too relaxed!

Her wedding is actually on a Thursday evening so I'm not too concerned with vendors being overbooked. My dd is very laid back and non-bridezilla....I keep encouraging her to knock out a few items here and there! We do need to get going on bridesmaid dresses I guess since they can take awhile.

 

[HunnyPots]

Wow! It seems that maybe we are a bit too relaxed after all! I know summer is busy - when we booked the venue (a garden site) we got the last available booking of the summer.

So, dress alterations can take a while? Good to know as we weren't planning to start looking till January - we're hoping for more sales then but maybe we should start looking now?

We do have a photographer; a friend of the groom's family and she's done all their wedding photos. So that's done unless something comes up to change things.

As far as band/DJ, flowers, invitaions, attendants, etc., I can't even get them to think that far ahead! Maybe I should push a little? At least get an idea of what they want?

I have started a guest list for our side of the family but his mom thinks its way too early and hasn't come up with anything. I tried to explain to all three that I can't budget for anything until I know how many people I'm planning for. I'm no wedding planner but I've done enough banquets and big events to know the first thing you do is find out how many times your money is going to be divided!

Well, I guess its not as early as I thought!