How soon did you start planning?

I got engaged in January, We have been planing on and off since then. We have really started around mid- april and now we have a venue and a date September 6 2021

Not too early at all! We got engaged in Sept 2018 and began planning almost immediately - now we have almost all our vendors booked. The more we can do now, the less stress there will be in a year. Plus, 2020 dates for vendors are going very quickly and you can lock in 2019 prices if you book earlier.

We are getting married July 18, 2020 and I have already started planning. I want to get as much done as possible up front to avoid any stress later on.

We got enagaged in January 2018 and I almost immediately created a weddingwire account and started browsing venues, photographers etc. We did not really start planning until June of 2018 though. The only thing we did between January and June was set a month as my husband was deployed most of that time. We made almost all major decisions in June though as my husband was deployed from July 2018-January 2019

I started making small plans the end of last year. Now I'm kinda kicking things into higher gear. Our date is May 30th 2020. I'm just trying to make it as stress free as possible, not leave everything till the last minute lol. This summer we will be picking our officiant, photographer, etc. 😊 Hall was booked last August lol

Never too early! I'm also recently engaged but we've had our venues booked and all our major vendors booked too! It's actually saving us a lot of money doing it this way because we get to take advantage of the prices right now vs. what they would be in a year's time. Any wedding-related expense always increases in pricing every year (i.e venues) so if you can, book early and take advantage of the prices now!

View quoted message Aha yes!! I was getting so stressed over doing everything that I’ve decided to just stop for a little I’ve got my important things done that matter the most to me. I am going to look at dresses for the first time next weekend which will be fun I think but other than that I have other things I have to stress over right now haha

View quoted message Oh wow that’s crazy! My venue only had 2 dates booked for 2020 mine and on other but it’s also in the middle of nowhere haha

Not too early at all! I got engaged Dec. 2017 and had the venue booked by March 2018 when we don't get married until October 2019.

You're almost at the 1 year mark so you are perfectly on time to book things and to be honest when it comes to venues you would be considered a little late on booking based off how fast some venues book up!! (The venue we booked only has 2 dates left for 2020 at this point and they book weddings for the beginning of May to the end of October)

Hi Caitlin,

My husband and I did the same thing! We booked our venue and photographer before we got engaged because on the westcoast most highly sought after vendors get snatched up almost 2 years in advance for popular summer dates. Honestly though, because we got engaged over a year before our wedding date, there wasn't much to do until closer to the wedding. There is a wedding timeline you can download online to get an idea of how many months out you need to start getting certain things ready. In the meantime, enjoy your engagement as it flies by. Start looking at when you want to do your engagement photos, then save the dates. And go to some weddings shows with you girlfriends. And the dress =)

Thanks everyone for your input!! I was going Ahead and planning and my mom was trying to tell me I don’t have to do everything right away but I like to get on it so I book who I like

View quoted message Woohoo wedding day twins haha

We got engaged December 2017 and our wedding is Sept 2020. We started to book everything June 2018, never to early in my opinion- 85% of our vendors are booked, we pretty much got first pick of everything, and more time to save money! Hopefully less stressful as the months go on as well! We now just have the "minor" details to decide on. Pre-wedding activities, our vows, our timeline etc.

Definitely not too early! i’m also getting married June 6, 2020 and we got engaged May 2, 2018 and I started planning right away!

I got engaged in October 2017 and didn’t start planning until July 2018. We are getting married September 2019, so just 14 months ahead. I feel like this is more than enough time for my very small wedding. The venue wouldn’t let us actually book it until 1 year in advance, so it depends on vendors.

Honestly, I started planning right after we got engaged. And you are on the right track and not too early.

Even now I am finding that many vendors are booking into 2020 and even 2021. I am a super organized person and don't like leaving things until the last minute. We booked our venue a year and 5 months in advance. I had all the big stuff booked before a year out!

It gives you a lot of time to save, plus you have more time to research, and get the vendors that you really want instead of rushing around

Similar to you! We knew what venue we wanted well before engagement, and the proposal moment was a surprise but I really knew it was going to be the weekend that it was. So within 24 hours of being engaged I had already emailed the venue to see when we could put the deposit down! We are not getting married till Oct 2020, and have the venue, photographer, wedding party , make up artist and honeymoon all sorted Kind of in a limbo stage right now though so I feel you. I was obsessed with it for the first month, pintresting like crazy and its all I wanted to talk about. Now I am just relaxed and letting it go for awhile since summer holidays are approaching and such. I think you should just go with whatever you are feeling!

There isn't any time to start planning as to when you want to get bookings done before its not available to you. Sounds the same your doing about 18 months beforehand as I had started and getting ahead to book the major vendors and then the little details after to follow through your vision.

Just a piece of suggestion while looking into décor/backdrop, consider renting options to save the amount and storage space in your home. It did wonders to get what was needed being enough for the head table of 2 and my dad helping with picking up/dropping off the décor of centerpieces.

Honestly not too early! I had to book some vendors a year and a half and then some bailed so 6 months before still have time to find some. I found even with booking that far in advance there was some vendors that really wanted and couldn't get. Same time I would stress with waiting a little before deciding on theme or decorations! As people normally change their ideas a few times or someone else you know gets married and if you tell any of your ideas they end up using them.

We started planning before we were engaged!

similar to you, we booked our venue in advance as it books up quickly and we wanted a particular date.

We booked the venue I believe in November and I was engaged later in December.

Everyone has their own planning timeline. My friend got engaged and then 3 weeks later bought her dress, my other friend has been engaged for almost 6 months and has done no planning yet.
I personally waited about a month to start planning so we had time to just be engaged and tell everyone before we jumped into the planning

I don't think it's too early at all.. I would be careful with attire and things like that just because your mind could change.. My wedding is in June this year and my first day out dress shopping was in december... It's always smart to book the venue early as they can book up years in advance. I would make a list of everything else you still need to book and at least start researching and setting up consults with them.. Definitely doesn't hurt

We are getting married July 18, 2020 and we are planning as well. I don't think it's too early

I want to have as much done as possible sooner rather than later. Gives me time to plan and look for sales (like for decorations and such).

I think you're right on track planning when your wedding is approximately 13 months away. It sounds like a long time but it isn't! We started planning 18 months out.

We started planning just under 2 years in advance. You're almost a year away from your wedding and for us at that point we had booked our venue, photographer, catering, DJ, officiant and a bunch more. We booked our venue a couple months after we got engaged. It is definitely not too early!

Hey Caitlin,

I honestly think the sooner the better for everything. The nice thing about booking things early is you lock in their current price in most cases. I did have a few vendors (hair and makeup) tell me that they had to sort out their 2020 pricing and get back to me, but for the most part I was able to lock in 2018/2019 prices because I booked things like photography, venue, catering etc early. Prices tend to increase with the new years due to demand and popularity so in all honestly I'd book as soon as you know who you want to go with.
I'm super glad I started planning early because there is honestly SO much more than I could have ever imagined to do... PLUS, a nice bonus is, if you start early (especially for the big things) then you can spread out your money easier. Most places require a deposit when booking. What we did was tried to book or accomplish 1-2 items off of our checklist every month that way we didnt over spend in any particular month out of our bank accounts. It worked out really nicely.

Hope this helps