When should you start planning

CONGRATS !
If you have a certain venue in mind, it wouldn’t hurt to book it. One big thing checked off the list and then you can start comfortably planning the rest in 2019.

My engagement is just over 2 years but the only reason it is that long is because he venue we wanted was booked until that far in advance, it’s never too early to book the venue!

You should book for the venue a year in advance before the time of your wedding and remember it goes by the venues availability to know when ur actual wedding date will be

I got engaged May 2017 and we’ve picked a date in August 2020. I just had a baby and we want to buy a house before we have a wedding. A venue is opening back up in our city and I loved it before it closed. I’ve put a hold on the date and we will view it when the renovations are done in a little over a month. I’ll be looking into other vendors but not booking anything just yet

View quoted message Do this if you want a long weekend Sunday too! We booked 1.5 weeks ago and were lucky we did because our other venue options didn’t have our date available.

FYI we are getting married August 2019.

My engagement is two years, and I've already booked a venue. If you are wanting to start planning (i.e. you have a dream venue that you don't want taken on your date), there's definitely no harm in checking places out.

We just got engaged on December 15,2017. I started looking for a venue right away. Our wedding date is April 6, 2019
our Venue is now booked as of today. We’ve picked our flowers and our photographer and our invitations. I’ve also bought my wedding dress. So things are rolling fast. I think that if you are able to get the venue you want the rest can be worked out as you go and at a slower pace. Do what’s comfortable for you and have fun doing it. No need to stress out this is supposed to be fun 😊

Hey everyone I would like to say thank you to those that took the time to answer my question and those that have their congratulations
So we sorta started looking . I went to a bridal show at the Brighton ( I am on Toronto) and we definitely have some work to do like for one choose a date?!?!? Lol but you all are right it's better to be safe than sorry . So we will start looking for sure as of next week

I booked my venue a year and 4 months before my prefered month (November 2018) and we had very limited options for dates. There were pretty much no Saturday's left at all for 2018 (we booked in July 2017). We wanted a Friday anyway, but if you want a Saturday, especially in the summer, I would suggest giving yourself at least a year and a half. Goodluck and congratulations!!

Agreed that it depends on location. I’m in a smaller city in Ontario, and I got the last Saturday of the summer/fall season at my venue. And I booked over a year ahead. Season will also impact the amount of time required with fall and summer being busier. Congrats! And good luck planning!! It’s a ton of fun

I think it depends where you live. We just got engaged at the end of December and have everything already booked for a June wedding at a great venue. I think if you’re flexible, you don’t need several years. Plus, your vision might change. However, if you’re excited about it, no harm in starting to check things out.

I would definitely start planning soon! I got engaged August 10, 2017 and our wedding date is May 11, 2019, but right away I got the venue and photographer booked. We booked our photographer in September 2017, and she already had dates booked in 2020! Definitely don’t wait too long! I know it seems like you have tons of time, but it goes by so fast and things book up very fast

I would start planning a little bit now. Venues tend to book up quickly so you might want to get that done at the very least.

Things I would book now:

Venue

Caterer (if not included in the venue)

Photographer/videographer

DJ (if you want one)

Florist

Officiant

If you lock these down, you will be able to get a good picture as to what your costs will be. Plus, you'll be able to relax knowing they're all locked down. Good vendors book up fast and very far in advance. Plus, prices usually change year-to-year so if you can lock in lower prices, all the better!

Start looking ASAP! You should decide on a budget so you can make educated choices when searching for a venue. We took 3 months to start looking (got engaged October 2017, getting married summer 2019), and several venues don’t have our date available now (we started checking out venues last week).

Its better to be too prepared rather than the alternative. PLUS, if you book something sooner, you get the current rates versus their new rates each year.

Best of luck to you and congratulations! ❤️

I booked my ceremony venue over a year and a half in advance and we couldn’t even get the time we originally wanted cause it was already booked. “Never to early” is a real thing.

It depends on the venue, we got engaged March 2017 and in April started looking into some venues and almost all we contacted were booking into 2019 already, I have been told SO many times that it's never too early to book a vendor. If anything it also gives you more time to save up while knowing exactly what you need to save

I would say it's not too early to start browsing, I would start officially booking vendors 1 yr in advance at least. Generally the venue is the 1st thing you book before the others, it's the venue that books up fast and you can ask the rep at the venue to give you a time line when you should book for the date you have in mind.

I don't know if there is 'too early' to book vendors to be honest.. the good vendors always book up early. I find a year in advance is when you want the vendors to be in place to get the best selection but you can always start earlier if you have a good idea of what you want.

We booked our venue, a year out, and when we went to book it, our first preference in wedding date was already booked!

I booked my venue and other major things earlyyyy so as to get the price from that year rather than get the 2017-18 prices. I got the prices from
2015-16 instead.

our photographer was booked almost immediately, as it's a friend of his who specializes in photography and it's also a gift to us

We booked our venue just over a year and a half in advance, just before they upped their prices, same with our photographer we booked her a year and a half and got all her 2017 deals for 2019.

If you start now and book your venue, you may get a good deal yet the prices could change at their rate. Just look around and see if you can lock the rate without changing. Read the fine print to make sure.

Once you have the venue, then everything will come into princing for the vendors you look into and don't lose any deposits if anything happens.

Do think about wedding insurance if you get concerned in the long term. See what they offer and if it works for you. I personally lost $250 of my deposits and it would pinch after.

Hi, and Congratulations! I started my planning approximately one year before. We were able to go see multiple wedding locations, and take our time deciding on what was best for us, we probably went to 25 locations, and it was lots of fun, and no stress on us. There were many things that I couldnt do, but I did book my photographer. I find for me things didnt really get rolling until the last 5 months with the "little things" deciding on this or that, we get married in 56 days!! High demand wedding venues, you may need to book over a year in advance, and especially if you are getting married in the busier months. I asked my friends and family to be in my wedding party right away, looking back now, I would have waited on that. There has been some stress, I had a couple bridesmaids that had to drop out, for health issues and family issues, which I completely understand and we cried over it, but I'm having issues with my finacee sister, who isnt happy for us at all, and if I had seen this behaviour before hand I never would have asked her.

You have lots of time to look, and find things that you like, change your mind, figure out what you both like and want in a wedding celebration, and all the bridal shows, I just went to another at the beginning of the month, and I added a gelato cart to my late night buffet, there is always something at the shows that will peak your interest.