Seems like I'm already too late in planning :(

You can definitely plan a wedding in 9 months. My friend planned hers in 3 and wasn’t missing anything (though she was very stressed!) It can definitely be done. As for stress, if you’re really organized with your timeline, it won’t overwhelm you. You can do it!

Like everyone else says, don't worry about it!

I got engaged in March and started planning in April for our November 9th wedding (10 days yay!!) We were going to plan a longer engagement but we really wanted to marry on our 10 year anniversary. I feel you have more then enough time, might be a little stressful as you will have less time to look around and mull over decisions but I truly feel you can do it. As for the timeline you will just have to adjust it. It says to hire a photographer a few months before I hired mine last week. Also once you get the big things out of the way, venue, caterer, photographer, dress and Dj, everything else will fall together.

My advice is book your venue ASAP as summer weddings are very popular.

Good luck!!

Planning is an every day thing and won't stop at any point. There is no late start as you will always find something needs to get done or booked. Your ok with how you do your searching for vendors and décor purchases.

No dont worry you have plenty of time youll be fine. its just a base for what needs to be done.

I got engaged this past May just before Mother's Day and we're having a July wedding in 2020. I didn't really start planning until August and I didn't have any trouble booking most things, but then I chose a venue that has never held a wedding before either, so there were no issues there. The only thing that took a bit more time was the caterer, but that was partially my fault because I couldn't decide which route we wanted to go lol. So don't worry! Just go at your own pace and choose things that you like and can afford and don't fall for any extra pressure from anyone. I had one caterer constantly telling me to book them quickly if I wanted them since they supposedly had 6 other brides asking about my chosen date. In the end I went with them because they had everything I wanted in one package and it took me about a month to decide on them and they still hadn't been booked for my date.

View quoted message Thanks everyone for your kind comments and advice. It really did help settle my initial nerves. But I finished my schedule now and setup a bunch of meetings for this week with venues and photographers, so I'm feeling much better.

I planned my wedding in 5 weeks, so 9 months seems like a lot of time to me. I was pretty laid back about the whole thing and had no trouble at all finding a florist, officiant, photographer, limo, etc. My dinner venue even changed the day before my wedding, and I was still able to get a private dining room for us.
If there are certain vendors you want and you're set on a certain date then you may have some difficulties. But you can definitely pull together a great wedding in 9 months.

Ideally you want just over a year to plan a wedding - but that's only because most venues and vendors that are in high demand book up over a year in advance.

I know one girl I went to high school with planned her wedding in like 6 months and didn't have a problem! Meanwhile me and my Husband were planning (engaged) for 1 year and 10 months.

If you can get a venue, officiant, and food/booze then plan away!

P.S. Congrats on the engagement!!

Don't let anyone else's timeline worry you!


To make your own timeline figure out what the most important parts of your big day are for you guys and chip away at some of the bigger ones first. For example our photographer was important to us, so we booked that before we had a venue! I felt like so much stress was gone once we ticked that off our list!
A few things like special orders and shipping will force your timeline a bit, but if you're open with your venders they can tell you if it's realistic to be done in time and rush what they need to.

You still have a good amount of time to plan! The biggest things are your venue, and for sure your dress to make sure you have enough time to get it and do alterations if needed.
I found the checklist to be a little off for somethings, so you don’t have to follow it to a T as everyone’s planning styles are different.
Research your vendors, and just be prepared some favourites may be booked up!

View quoted message Definitely try to lock in a venue and DJ/band, photographer as they book up fast!


The checklist times can be a bit off some of them. I would get those three things booked as soon as possible and everything else you can take more time onn

We got engaged early August of this year to be married next September. My advice is to book your venue as soon as you can unless you can be flexible with your date. We are getting married on a Thursday for multiple reasons, one of which being less competition for vendors than if we chose a Saturday ! You're not too late though, I have also worried about not having enough time, I think it comes with the territory. Good luck and try to have fun with it!

View quoted message Thanks for the tip about the dress, I've booked for next weekend at three studios.

View quoted message Started looking yesterday. We decided on timeframe last week, but I started worrying as I'm making my gantt chart and reading online the estimates their giving are much longer than I expected.

I don’t think you’re behind. You have enough time for sure I think.


Do you have a venue booked already?

We got engaged last January and were married in August (8 months later)- we made out just fine. You will find that some popular vendors will be booked- we found our venue almost immediately after being engaged and we got the LAST Saturday spot for that summer. Hopefully you have a little flexibility for the date and you don’t have your heart set on particular vendors. I would recommend getting your dress ASAP, because they say it can take several months (I was told 4 for mine but it took a little over a month).


Happy planning