I'm Engaged...Now What?
Congratulations!! You got engaged a few days ago, you’re coming off that post-engagement high, and, if you’re like me, you are doing all the research to figure out what you should do next. Well, you are in the right place. I got married two years ago and love making and crossing off lists more than a lot of other things in life, so that should make me qualified to help you out, right? Right. :)
So...where to start?
1. Choose a season
I’m sure that you and your fiance’ have discussed this, but if you haven’t, now is the time to start. If you want to get married outside, you should probably consider spring and fall. If you want to do an inside wedding, feel free to choose whatever season you’d like! Ultimately it is YOUR big day, but I think you should consider how your groom will feel in his tux or suit and how your guests will feel during your ceremony.
Some other things to consider when you’re choosing. When you picture your wedding and the photos taken, do you want possible snow? Pretty flowers? Green grass and leaves? Gorgeous red and orange leaves?
Why do I suggest choosing a season and not specific dates yet? Because you need to leave yourself open in case your DREAM venue or your DREAM photographer (insert other DREAM vendor here) are not available on the specific date that you have chosen.
2. Set a realistic budget
Some things to consider when setting your budget include: how far down the road are you planning your wedding? If it is a long ways away, that gives you time to save up for your big day. Who is contributing to your wedding? Are you and your fiance the only ones and you’re just out of college? You probably shouldn’t plan a $50,000 wedding (because I don’t recommend taking on debt to fund a wedding--or really anything for that matter, but that’s another story). Are you crafty? You can probably save quite a bit of money making your own decorations, addressing your own envelopes, etc.
3. Figure out what type of venue you want and start exploring them!
Now starts the fun part! What type of wedding do you want? Rustic, whimsical, traditional, modern? Choose your venue based on the feel that you want. Find venues in your area and look up their websites and their pages on Facebook and Instagram. Once you’ve narrowed it down to a few that are in your price range, reach out to them and book a tour.
4. Start following photographers on Instagram
Some ways to find photographers in your area? Search relevant hashtags. Getting married in Fredericksburg? Try #fredericksburgweddingphotographer. Want a more broad range? #vaphotographer. Honestly, this is how I found my wedding photographer.
Another way to find photographers is to just Google “fredericksburg wedding photographer” or “virginia wedding photographer” or whatever is relevant to your area.
Once you find some photographers that you like, I recommend looking back through some posts, getting to know who they are through their captions. Looking at some of their past work to see if it is a similar style to what you want for your wedding. Check out their website to get to know more about them and get an idea of how they’re priced and compare that to your budget. Finally, if you like them as a person, their work, and the pricing works for you, reach out to them! I’m sure they would love to get to know you more!
5. Choose a date based on venue and photographer availability
Finally, choose a date based on when both your favorite venue and photographer are both available in the season that you want to get married in! It makes it a lot easier to choose a date once you know the availability of your two most important vendors rather than choosing vendors based on whether or not they are available on the date that you chose.
There you have it, friends! The first five things that I recommend doing after you get engaged and start planning your wedding. Doing these five things should allow you to book your (in my opinion) two most important vendors and choose a date they are both available!
Want to learn how to build a wedding day emergency kit? Check it out here!
Want to see some of my wedding blog posts? You can see Megan and Anthony’s here!