Fast Wedding Planning

My best friend planned her wedding in 6 months and it was fabulous. She had a wedding planner so consider getting one if it fits in your budget.

Vendors will not scoff at you, but be prepared with alternative plans in case you don't get the options that you initially want.

We got engaged last January but then my FH was deployed for 3 months. We did not start planning our wedding until June so about 9 months out. We had a few people comment but I just ignored that and continued on our way.

I got engaged on boxing day and by Jan 7 booked my venue for Dec. 31st.

It's definitely possible. Using the wedding wire site and app have honestly been the most helpful keeping everything organized.

Just sit down and power through what you can get through one step at a time and it will come together easily.

First off, congratulations on your engagement! I totally understand the desire to want to get it over and done with (FH were together about 8 years at our engagement and waiting nearly 2 years for the wedding has been daunting).

Second off, you can totally get it done and planned within a year! Just make quick decisions and be confident that the choices you make are the right ones. I saw that you said you have a venue already? That's like, half the trouble of getting married! Everything else is the easy part lol.

Oh and we had no problems getting a venue in September! We were pleasantly surprised that all the venues we checked out had availabilty. We even landed a satuday

Congratulations!!
And no you’re not crazy! We just got engaged and have secured our date for this September. My FH and I are in a similar situation having been together 8 years already, so I can relate not wanting to wait.

We made a point to secure our venue first, and went for a venue that offered catering/bar, linens, chair rentals and DJ to help take a lot of the stress off. Once we secured a date and location it made it easier to secure other vendors. Also being flexible with a date while searching for a venue made the process easier As availabilty was slightly limited.

We started wedding planning about a month ago and have booked our venue/caterer, picked our linens, decided our menu, confirmed our bar selections, booked our photographer, and our officiant and sent out our save the dates.

Your first month or so will be the busiest, then it slows down a bit. (Or so I’ve heard)

Happy Planning!!

Vendors won't scoff, don't worry! We started planning 8 months before ours. My recommendation is to try to get vendors that do multiple things.... Like for us, we got a full-service caterer that does everything from making the food, to serving it, to setting up our decorations, to hiring bartenders. It's a lot easier if it's all together that way.

Congrats I'm currently planning a wedding with 9.5 months engagement (and it's a Saturday in season) and so far so good everybody is usually very nice about being booked up if they are. There is this whole mysterious thing where many people are taking about already booking for 2020 and on, which made me panic a little but now I even feel like I could have taken a little more time to decide on things. There are so many vendors and help available for weddings so I'm sure you'll be fine!

My FSIL did her wedding in less than a year! She got her venue right away, it included food as it was a banquet hall. She secured her DJ next, photographer and videographer and then her dress, etc. She didn’t get a limo. So she saved some hassle that way!

I had a nine month engagement. Book the venue first to secure your date. Then go through the other vendors. The first month was the busiest but after that it calmed down.
It helps if you can make quick decisions and be satisfied with your decisions! I knew what I wanted so we only looked at three venues and met with 2 photographers before booking. My dress was the first one I tried on! I have no regrets going with one of the first since I had done research and new what I wanted before meeting vendors/trying on dresses.
I also recommend simple! No one will remember the decor at your wedding.
And, it’s about you and your fiancé! Tradition isn’t as important as what makes the two of you happy and comfortable!

I am doing 10 months of being engaged. Here are some tips:

1. Plan off season. You will have better luck finding available vendors. I see you're wanting September which is a busy month.

2. Plan a non Saturday wedding. Same as above point- planning for different day of the week frees up a lot of vendors.

3. Start SAVING! Short engagements mean a lot of money being spent at once. I learned THAT the hard way.

4. Buy your dress off the rack, but don't forget to factor dry cleaning into your dress budget as it will likely be pretty dirty from being tried on. (Mine was DISGUSTING)

5. Shorten the guest list- and beware that some people you want there may not be able to make it due to not enough notice.

6. Skip the Save the Dates. Depending on your guest count you may just be able to at this point let everyone know in person or via Facebook.

Girl, if my coworker can do it in 3 weeks, you can make it happen in 8 months.

Popular venues/weekends/vendors might be booked up, but you'll be surprised what you can accomplish in a short amount of time if you're open minded.

Start by reaching out to venues and see whats available.

Congrats and good luck!

I have a 7 month engagement- we got engaged this past September and we knew we didn't want a long engagement (we are getting married at the end of April). I started contacting vendors straight away and had all of the main things booked within the first month and a half! No one scoffed at us I did have to buy my wedding dress off the rack (wouldn't be enough time to order custom), but I was planning on doing that anyway.

It can definitely be done! I am a huge fan of planning things so I just got right down to it and did all of my research...it was a bit overwhelming at first because I was having to research SO many things at once (FH gave his opinion/input as well which helped us narrow things down) but it all came together quite easily. Researching everything and reading reviews on the vendors really helped because we were able to narrow everything down and therefore eliminate a bunch of trips to a bunch of vendors. We basically had them picked out before we met with them, and the meetings were just to solidify our decisions

Not crazy at all! My FH's cousin did/ is doing just that!

First things first though - get the venue, food and your dress!! Once you have those, the rest should come soon but it's not as important. (ex. officiant can be a friend, dj could be spotify, y'know - if you had to pull it together real fast)

Congrats on the engagement by the way!