You just got engaged! Now what? The first steps in planning a wedding
First of all, congratulations! This is such a special time, and it’s worth taking a few days or a couple of weeks just to let it sink in before diving into heavy wedding planning.
But once you’re ready to start planning, there is so much that needs to get done that it seems overwhelming to even know where to start. This guide is meant to give you the first steps that you need to take that everything else is going to hinge on. There’s really not a lot you can do until you do these.
Pick a Date and Find a Venue
I include these together because there is some give and take in this process. You’ll probably want to go into wedding planning with a number of dates in mind and if you’re really set on a specific venue or a small set of venues, you’ll want to be flexible based on their availability. And the further out you can book a venue, the more you’ll be able to choose your date. Venues often book a year to a year and a half in advance, so you’ll want to move pretty quickly.
This is absolutely the first step you need to take, though, because everything else is going to depend on what your date is. Every other vendor that you’re going to need to book isn’t going to be able to do much for you if you don’t already have a date chosen so they know if they are available.
Find a Photographer
There are three reasons that this should be what you do right after you book a venue and have a date picked. First, photographers book fast. Most wedding photographers book 9 to 12 months out from the wedding date, and sometimes even further. If you want to get a photographer that really matches your style and jives well with you, you want to move fast. And it takes some time to find a photographer.
Second, photographers can be a huge help in the planning process. We’ve seen it all, so we can give you a good idea of what works well and what doesn’t. And there are a lot of things you can do to your timeline to make for much better photos (a future blog post on that to come). If you book your photographer early, they can be integral to your planning process. We recommend trying to meet with them about once a month if photos are a big priority for you.
As a tangent related to this point, there’s a good chance that your photographer is going to be spending more time with you on your wedding day than your future spouse. We’re with you from early in the getting ready all the way through the reception. That’s another good reason to start the process early – you want to have a good relationship with them.
Third, your photographer is probably going to be a fairly large part of your budget, so it’s a good idea to know what you’re going to be paying early on in the process so you can better plan out your budget.
Find a Videographer
If a stunning wedding video is a priority for you, you’ll want to start this process early on as well for many of the same reasons as finding a photographer early. Videographers often don’t book as far out as photographers, but they still book early.
But if you really want a phenomenal video, there are some things that you’re going to want to make sure you make time for in your timeline (a future blog post on this to come). That’s a good reason that you’ll want to get your videographer involved early on. And you probably want to get your videographer and photographer talking as soon as possible so they can coordinate the impact they have on your day.
As a shameless plug, one of the advantages of booking with us is that your photo and video team are under the same roof (figuratively in terms of the company and literally since we’re married). This means we act as a well practiced team and it will never feel like your photo and video coverage are competing for your attention.
And onward!
Once you have these three things lined up, everything else starts to come into play. It can be helpful, but not necessary, to hire a wedding planner. There’s a lot to do and so much to think about, but we promise everything will come together! We really feel like the most important part of this process is to use it as something that you can enjoy doing with your fiance. No wedding day is worth overly straining that relationship. Ultimately the only things that are essential for your wedding are the two of you, an officiant, two witnesses, and a marriage license. So try to enjoy the process as much as you can!