Where to start!!!

Congratulations Jordan and welcome to the community!Where to start is a good question. I agree with others that have said the budget and also encourage you to pick out your venues. Depending on your locations and area you live in, couples usually book these first. To ensure you have a place for your ceremony and reception contact your vendors to see if your date is available. Cheers!

I was always the girl that swore she would never get married...then BAM! HAHA

I honestly had no idea where to start, so my FH and I decided to book a tour at a local place that is known for weddings...we knew they were all-inclusive but also expensive. We weren't really planning to book there, we just knew that they would give us tons of paperwork with their pricing that we could then work off of. While doing the tour of the location, we were able to get a better idea of what we wanted vs. what we didn't want. We then worked off of that list to make our budget and find places more in line with what we truly wanted.

I actually told a bunch of our friends and family about this, and they agreed that it was a very smart tactic. It also helped to put things in perspective and helped take a lot of stress off!

Good luck!

I agree that budget is a good first place, then potential guest list to get an idea on numbers, and then venue. Once you have that the rest can all be figures out. Also, there is a checklist on this site that can help you, and lots more out there in books abd on other sites. They give you an idea of time line so can be useful.

First of all, congratulations!!!
I would also agree with everyone who said to settle on a guest list and budget.
Then, definitely secure your venue!! You'd hate to fall in love with something only to find out that there's no available dates left.
We started looking for venues in March for dates in spring/early summer of 2018. We absolutely loved one venue we visited and only had three dates left to choose from 14 months in advance.

I would start with getting an idea of your budget then draft up a list of your potential guest list. This was extremely Important for us as some venues weren't able to hold all of our guests so we didn't even bother checking them out.

Definitely make a list with your fiancé of what is important to both of you for your wedding and what isn't important. It will help with making the budget and knowing where to spend a bit more and what you don't need to spend lots on.

Congratulations! First you'll want to secure a venue/caterer and photographer! Happy planning!

I DEFINITELY mean 2018! September 2018 in Ottawa! Phew- yes that would've been bad hahah.

Congratulations!!!! I was going to say exactly what Sara said...first step budget, including who is paying for what! Step two find a venue for ceremony and reception. Step 3 your dress (this is super fun!) And then make a list based on importance to you and start bumping things off your list!

Enjoy! Don't get to stressed! Remember it doesn't have to be the perfect wedding it just have to be your wedding and if everything goes completely wrong at the last minute you will have awesome stories to tell your grandchildren about!

Eek! Agree with Erin. Hope you mean 2018! If it is 2017 you only have 4 months - which will make it super hard not to get stressed if you have to plan everything in that time frame haha.

Venue is super important! I would start with that. We're getting married September 2018 and we missed out on one venue because there was no 2018 dates left, then found another and luckily snatched up the very last September 2018 date!

Congrats, and welcome!

EDIT: Also be aware that September 1st 2018 is a long weekend! If you're cool with that, perfect! Just know some people prefer not to make guests attend long weekend weddings.

Agreed that budget is really important.

Did you mean September 1, 2018? If so, phew otherwise you wouldn't have time to organize anything really.I would start with venues and dresses. Your dress can take anywhere from 6-9 months on average to come in so get some appointments booked. Also, depending on what type of venue you pick a lot of other things might already be taken care of like food, music and bar.

Hi Jordan! Congratulations on your engagement! This time is just going to fly by! I would start by sitting down a making a budget, write down the most important aspects of the wedding and the least (this will help to see where you want to put the most money and the least amount of money). Then I would just start gathering information for venues because you need somewhere to get married to book the rest of your vendors. Hope this helps! Have fun

Congratulations

Hi Jordan! So nice to meet you in the community! Congratulations!! How did he ask you? Maybe you could try our 2 test of the week to see your level of stress: Wedding dresses and the stress thermometer. I hope o see you in more discussions. Did you already look for dresses? xx