What do i do - getting started with planning

I love having this much time to plan! We are getting married July 2020 as well. Even though I’m pretty organized and know all details it’s good to have important details booked.

We first went venue hunting. Narrowed it down to 3 and then decided. This venue has an in house DJ so that made it easy to decide on a DJ. We booked a stylist for our decor - she includes some rentals and designs it to my theme/dream. We also booked our photographer and videographer. We know who will be doing our invites and flowers just have to contact them toward the fall/new year. Only thing we’re still waiting on is our Church. The dates don’t come out until the fall so we pretty much have everyone on standby!

Venue first, as that can affect your vendors. After that, you can almost do it in any order that you wish, but certain vendors (photographer, caterer (if necessary), officiant) sometimes need to be booked further in advance.

Ideally you want a venue that does everything (ceremony, reception, food, beverage, linens, decoration, even AV) as this can cut down costs considerably.

The first things we booked were the venue, caterer, photographer, limo and officiant. Soon after we booked a videographer, made up a guest list and I purchased my dress. The timeline for getting things done on here has been helpful I try to follow it as close as possible. I would have added in DJ but a family friend offered to DJ our wedding shortly after we were engaged so I didn’t have to look for one. There seems to be lots of fees out there when it comes to venues I would definitely look into it thoroughly before booking one.

Also if you’re hoping to save money make sure that your venue supplies cutlery, wine glasses, tables, and chairs. Renting those can cost a fortune!

Like the other ladies said, definitely book your venue ASAP. I started planning just 11 months before my date, and my venue only had two dates available in my desired month. I live in a small town so the hall I rented was 850$ with a deposit of roughly 500$ (included in total). Next I found a great photographer for 1700$ ( I dropped pre-wedding photos for the all night reception coverage) and then I started searching up my caterer ( roughly 2500$ for 130 people) and found my dress for roughly 2700$ with alterations. I’d say those are the big three in my opinion. I would also recommend that you have you invitations ordered 6-7 months before the wedding as it’ll take time to get your guest information, writing them up, and finishing the time to send them all out. Also try to be realistic about your budget.. I didn’t plan to spend over 7000$ and I’m up somewhere around ****$ due to not budgeting properly, and your venue is a big key to how much you’ll be spending on decor. My small town doesn’t have much for pretty venues, so I’m easily making up for low cost of the venue in the cost of decor.

I am getting married the same year. I would suggest to do a budget first, then a guest list so you have an idea on how big a venue would need to be/catering as well.

Budget

Guest List (rough draft)

Venue

Catering

Photography

For me these are the biggest items and book fast!

First think about how much money you and your partner are willing to spend on the wedding (like a very rough idea of cost). It would be a good idea to know if your parents are contributing as well. Once you have a rough idea of cost, then you need to book your main vendors.

1. Venue. They book quickly and will dictate the day of the wedding. Typically this can be your largest part of the budget as well.

2. Photographer. The good ones book early.

3. DJ.

The first few things we did when we got engaged was book our venue, our photographer, and a decorator. We booked them right away because we come from a smaller city where we don't really have a lot of options.

As for the venue you have to pay the SOCAN fee and I believe there is another fee as well. You will have to pay a gratuity on the food and drink of 15%. The venue you choose should have all of these details outlined for you in our contract. The price of your venue really depends on where you want to get married. Our venue was a $1000 deposit for the room we are having our reception and $500 for the ceremony space. The rest all depended on the food we chose. There are also costs for bartenders if your bar sales are under a certain amount. When you start looking at venues you should be appointed to a manager at that particular place who specializes in weddings who can give you all of these answers.

Good luck!

Congratulations! A longer engagement is nice because it gives time to compare and gives you “buying power” because most things will still be available and on top of getting 2018 prices you can also get a few deals by booking early. Too 5 things in my opinion are the things that depend on other people reserving the day: venue, photographer, caterer, officiant, and DJ/band. If you’re thinking of a wedding planner for the process or the day of that’s also good to book ahead.

Something i I found really useful early on was to head to a bridal show. It’s a good way to take it all in and the vendors are great at asking questions to help get the ball rolling in your mind. Keep in mind if booking anything really early to use companies that have been around long enough that you don’t have to worry about them folding last minute or quality reduced in a few years.

Best advice I was given was not to picking colours too early!

Congrats Michelle!

I agree with all the PP’s top 5 things to do! I waited approximately 3 months before I started planning too, so I get where you are. Figure out a budget and what kind of venue you’d like. You have a what seems like a lot of time but venues start to book up sooner than later (I found out the hard way), so it wouldn’t hurt to start looking. I’m not sure if you want to stay in Toronto for your wedding or are looking to host your wedding outside the city, but if you do, you’ll find lots of options.

Good luck!

Congratulations on the engagement!

As for the top 5, I would say figuring out the approximate number of guests you'll invite to figure out the size of venue you'll need. Then, deciding what type of venue you want (an all inclusive or one where you can bring in your own food or alcohol, one with a ceremony and reception space or separate places). I think the venue, photographer and caterer (if not included in the venue) are the most important to book first as they fill up fast.

As for other fees, venues add taxes and gratuity to the final price. There may be a fee to play music. You may need a liquor permit, event insurance. Some venues also do not include the fee of the servers in the venue price.

View quoted message Thanks for that just tryna get an idea as to how much this stuff can cost lol

View quoted message Thank you!!!

Venue and date is number one! For sure. Then you'll probably want to get your photography, videography and DJ settled. Or officiant. We did venue, photographer, officiant. Next we will book out DJ and catering. We are doing a lot of DIY stuff so that can wait a bit. Venue prices vary, some include catering, alcohol, servers etc. Others will include one or the other, then some are just the venue. Also some are both ceremony and reception others are not, personally it's easier to get a venue that is both. So depending on whatt the venue offers the price can range from in the low thousands to a few or more thousand, some in the 10 thousands. Venues also book up fast, so the sooner then better! Goodluck!!

Congrats Michelle! Some of the top 5 are venue, photographer, DJ, decor/floral and of course dress! Some of these you can probably book in 2019 depending on how busy they are. But for sure the venue doesn't hurt to book now. Venues vary on what's included and what's not. All depends if you choose a traditional venue or non traditional. If it's traditional more than likely catering and tables chairs ect are included in the price per person. If it's not traditional you may need to provide all these things. So you will definitely have to decide what type you would prefer! So excited for you, welcome to the club