In need of some guidance

Congrats and welcome to the site where help is always provided for every step of your planning.

Things to consider for the property budget:

1. Space for the wedding indoor/outdoor set up and décor layout.

2. Space for reception and tables/linen/chinaware/cutlery/etc. rental company to provide to you for your event. Same for centerpieces/backdrop if not planning to store after the event is done.

3. Catering food from a private company or restaurant to do the set up and the food delivery for your event. Cost per person will depend and compare with 3 vendors to find the best deal after doing a taste test of course. Bar tender cost per hour and liquor purchases to budget for amount of people attending.

4. Tent rental with side covering along with lights/dance floor/food & cake table/Head table.

5. Create a layout on a paper with what décor you want to have and colour scheme to you both fitting. Décor where is needed and getting quotes based on your design and length required overall.

6. Gift table inside the house for guests to place and guest book at the table if going that route.

7. Seek pricing on DJ/Videographer/Baker based on the budget you have set for time frame of the day and where they will be set up in the house and outdoor. 3 vendors comparison to find the best deal based on your needs.

Congratulations on your engagement!

I'd say first decide on a budget that you and your special someone feel comfortable with, then create a guest list. Utilize the tools available to you on WeddingWire (the checklist and budget tools help a lot for a rough idea of timeline and appropriate ways to divide up your budget), and go from there!

It's all going to come together

Congrats on your engagement! And welcome to Wedding Wire!
Best place to start is with the check list on WW! It gives you a good start as to what should be done first! As Chealsea said, time will go by fast, and a lot of venues and vendors book up fast. My venue is already booking into 2020!
Start with a date, a time of year you both love, a weekend that you like, a date you can remember easily!
Then start looking for a place to have your ceremony/ reception. My suggestion is to have one main date and then a back up in case your venue is not available.
I am also the type of person that when I want something and have my heart set on it I need it to happen. So I booked all my favourite vendors right away to make sure they were available on my day!
The ladies on here are a great help! Ask as many questions and get involved in many discussions! This is truly a great place to start with your planning!

First off- congrats Courtney and welcome to the community!

We had a backyard wedding on my husbands moms property. It can definitely be overwhelming to start planning! I think now is perfect to start planning though- it’s early enough that you have lots of time to do research and make decisions and pay off stuff without being super stressed about it and time crunched. We started planning jan 2017 for our wedding July 2018 and I was super glad we started that early!

The very first thing we did for planning was sit down and make a list of every vendor we needed to book. We also discussed budget and what we each envisioned the wedding to be so we were on the same page from the beginning.

The vendors for us were:
-tent rental
-table and chair rental
-portapotty rental
-photographer
-officiant
-sound system rental
and I think that was it. We did our own music on Spotify, had an open bar (wine and beer) with no bartender, and we self-catered but those might be 3 more vendors to look into.

Dont worry about a final head count until about a month or two before the wedding. I would make a guest list to see what kind of numbers you are looking at inviting and then work with that number. Do not expect 100% of your guests to come, especially if you have a bigger guest list.

We had a guest list of 180 people, expected and planned for about 160 guests, and actually only had 140 confirm and attend. So it worked out really well for us because we were able to reduce our rentals and save some money.

One you have a guest estimate you can start working with that number for bookings. Most companies understand that you dont have a confirmed number of guests until closer to the wedding and will let you change your order. I think with my rental company I changed the amount of tables and chairs I rented like 2 weeks before the wedding.

We sent out our save the dates a year in advance and out invites went out probably 6 months in advance of the wedding and asked to be returned by the end of 3 months. Then it took us the last 3 months to track down and get confirmations from everyone who didn’t respond haha.

Hope that helps! Happy planning!

My wedding is june 2020 and i’ve been engaged since May! the first thing we did was set a date, and then hire a photographer! We were super lucky and were able to book with 2018 pricing for our 2020 wedding! So far i’ve also booked a caterer, a DJ (who is a family friend), a ceremony venue, and i’ve began to look into officiants for our ceremony. time goes FAST so do as much as you can as early as you can in order to save yourself stress later! i would also recommend making a guest list, and then leaving it for a few months. we’re planning on sending out our save the dates in june, one year before the wedding, and then sending invitations in december, which is actually on the early end of what most people do. Our guest list has fluctuated A LOT! Our original list was 131 people, then 6 months later i revised it down to 91 people, and now we’re back up to 111 people