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How long did you plan your wedding?
Hey, ladies! I was just in a beautiful wedding yesterday (my MOH got married to her childhood sweetheart!)...and it got me to thinking...
We planned and executed that wedding in 3 weeks...and let me tell you...it was beautiful! I was the defacto coordinator, since I had just planned my own wedding, and knowing what I did from my experiences (she used many of my vendors), we were able to crank that baby out in under a month. Made me wonder - is it really even necessary to spend months or even a year or two to plan weddings?
I was married 8 months and 2 weeks after we got engaged...and even that seemed like a short period at the time. What about some of you ladies? How long did it take you to put your big day together? If you could do it all with hindsight, do you think it would still take the same time? Just wondering!
ps - I also served as the florist, ordering flowers from a wholesaler and doing her floral arrangements (bouquets, which doubled as centerpieces)...let me see if I can get a picture in here!
Re: How long did you plan your wedding?
I planned for 14 months. Engaged in Feb. I could have done it much faster (lots of my clients for my 9-5 need me to plan things in under a month sometimes in a week) However my issue would have been not finding vendors because I used some popular ones, and not having my dress/BM dresses on time. Off the rack would have been difficult for my crew.
BTW you did a really nice job with the flowers!!
We got engaged on April 11, 2009 and married on April 17, 2010, we booked our venue about a month after we got engaged. So I guess technically 11 months. It really did not take that long to plan, but my venue is one that books up really early, in fact when I booked there were only 2 Saturdays left in the spring. So no, I do not think it takes that long to plan a wedding at all, but how far in advance you start is probably dependant on your vendors.
We were engaged in Oct 2007. I had refused to even think about a wedding until we set a date. I have a very wishy washy husband, who takes his time, he took 9 years to propose!
We set our date in late May/early June 2009. We had booked our venue in June 2009 and they still had room at our venue like a couple of months before the wedding. We got married on a Friday, so that could be a part of that. I really needed things booked early because I too used a couple popular vendors in the area and I am a teacher. My school years are crazy busy and last summer I worked hard to have things booked. Of course, I still had work for the wedding to do throughout the school year, but I liked that I could take my time and really put thought into what I was choosing. It took me almost 6 months to choose my invitations.
My step-sister planned hers in 3 months. But she also had 20 people and it was a destination wedding and we had 170, so I am sure that has a lot to do with timing as well.
Good topic! And good job on planning one so quickly.
Danielle
@ Laurms - Thank you! Gardening is one of my hobbies, and I love making bouquets for the home and to give as gifts during the Spring/Summer season...this was my first time doing anything for a wedding :-) I may have found a new hobby!
And I would have to agree - while it was pretty amazing how quickly we were able to put this together, I think I would still take about the same time to plan my wedding if I had it to do over again...and the venue would be a huge part of that, as pp have noted. I had my heart set on a historical inn type location which provided in-house catering (and the food also had to be exceptional!), and those just aren't sitting around vacant on plum weekends in the springtime...
@Danielle - to your point - My MOH only had 45 at her wedding - it was very small and intimate - whereas we had about 115...so that really does play into the planning time a bit more!
We were engaged for 16 months, but didn't really do any serious wedding planning until 9 months out. It was nice to plan at our leisure and we really did want to enjoy being engaged, which we did
That being said, it is amazing that you guys could plan a beautiful wedding in 3 weeks! yikes! you go girl!
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We were engaged on May 8, 2009 and booked out venue by the end of May, so it was 11 months of planning. By time the holidays were done (New Year's), we were pretty much working on the wedding non-stop until the day of (we DIY'ed our invites and programs), though we took a leisurely summer and fall to pick vendors and dresses and such.
We picked April because it was off-season for Cape Cod, which helped enormously with costs and vendor choice. I doubt I would have been able to get the wedding vendors we did if we'd been on-season. Some people on my local board were/are booking a year and a half out!
I always said during the planning process that I wished we'd had MORE time... partially because we are procrastinators (in which case more time wouldn't have helped at all) and partially because we were a bit over-ambitious with some of the stuff we chose to do (turned out perfectly, but I feel like I'm still burnt out)!
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We were engaged for 1 year and 5 months. It was too long! But if I am rational about it... we wouldnt have gotten the awesome reception venue if we married in october like I thought we would. The photographer was also booked in october too... and I just had to have him!
My dress took the full 6 months to come in...
and another huge thing that made our engagement to HAVE to be so long...is our catholic church.
We had to take premarital classes...and we took 7 months of classed EVERY wed... so my husband could be baptized and confirmed catholic...and me just confirmed. ( it was important to us to have our marriage be a sacrament of marriage)
So over all Im glad we had the engagement we did!
wow - 3 weeks! good job!!!!!!!!!
our engagement was almost exactly a year (april 10, 2009 to april 23, 2010) and i wouldn't have done it any other way. one year was plenty of time, but i also had enough time so that i had my choice of available vendors and plenty of time to make decisions without feeling rushed. i also made sure i enjoyed every single day of being engaged, because, as we all know, the wedding day goes FAST!! i can't imagine planning a wedding in 3 weeks, but i'm glad it turned out so great!!! congrats!
Def kudos to you guys, 3 weeks, wow!!!!
We were engaged on June 6, 2009 and married April 3, 2010, so we had about 10 months to plan.
Wow 3 weeks - very impressive! Glad everything went well!!
We were engaged on December 5, 2008 and were married on April 24, 2010. So, we were engaged for almost 17 months. We booked our venue right away in January (it was a good thing, because they were already booking for fall of 2010 when we booked) and booked our photographer in March. We booked everything else about 8-12 months out.
We were engaged for 1 year and 4 months. It was just right...although I was anxious for the day to get here, the time we had to save was really what made it worth while. DH and I paid for about 3/4ths of the wedding.
We booked our reception venue first...our photog...and then from there I can't remember!
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We were engaged in the 19th of July- a year ago today! So it was almost 9 months. I definitely didn't need it to be longer. I also have a wishy-washy husband who took his time to propose like coreysmomma so 9 months was plenty long enough. (We lived together for about a year at that point too) I started doing research on diff topics about early- mid August and booked the reception site in late August, then didn't do anything else until September except a little research. I thought it was just right for us- it didn't feel rushed but not dragging out.
You did a wonderful job on the flowers btw!!
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@Jessy GREAT point haha I forgot all about those pesky church rules. Mine asks that you book 1 year out...actually shortly after I booked a random girl on my local board was like I tried to book the 3pm wedding at the church (she was NOT a member) and it was booked now I'm annoyed and don't know what to do. I felt a little bad but I've been a member since birth (got ALL my sacraments there) and I was first. But I was glad I booked when I did!
We got engaged August 1, 2009, booked our venue and date on August 14th, and got married 8 months and 11 days after that. For us that was the perfect amount of time. The only thing I felt a little rushed with was picking the dress because I fell for the whole it takes 6-8 months for a dress to come in thing. I think it helps that we got married on a Sunday so there was plenty of availability with vendors; I think out of all the vendors I contacted, only 2 weren't available on my date. The main thing was that I didn't "shop around" as much as other brides do. For example, I only met with 2 photographers I selected based on their online portfolios, good reviews and pricing, whereas other couples meet with a lot more. Of the 2, I picked the one I liked better and moved on to the next thing.
I don't think I would have done anything differently timing wise. By the time the wedding came around I was ready for it all to be over.
I wouldn't have minded doing a quickie wedding, honestly. A small party in a restaurant... that would have been nice. Not that I would change anything!
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Great job with the flowers!
We were engaged on April 21, 2008 and were married 2 years later on April 24. We took the long engagement because of the Catholic church and also because I didn't want to stress out. It gave me plenty of time to do a lot of DIY stuff but still maintain my normal life. If I had to do it over gain, I probably would have shortened the engagement a little bit.
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Roughly 14 months. Engaged Feb 9, 2009, Married Apr 17, 2010. We book our reception venue Apr 17, 2009. I was told if I was getting married in Columbus, you had to plan a year ahead at the very least to get the vendors you wanted. Well, that was most certaintly not the case for use, since we did not want the same-o same-o wedding, and I could have probably planned it with booking vendors about 4-6 months out. I think an 8 month engagement would be the perfect amount.
But you want to be legit about it, I started planning my wedding in high school, lol! My mom did weddings when I was a lot younger, and I've always been surrounded with wedding stuff. But to be honest, since my wedding, I don't even look at wedding things anymore. Moved on to baby stuff (which is so bad of me - we're waiting for another 2 years).
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We got engaged on October 16, 2008 and married on April 17, 2010. We did not really start planning until March 2009 when we picked a date and booked the location. I would have shortened the time and done a summer wedding in 2009 if I had already graduated from college (a promise I made my parents). The time frame worked well with what we had going on in our lives.
We got engaged in August 2008 and started planning almost right away. It's not like we were continuously planning the entire year and a half, but over that period of time we planned the wedding. My mom and I did everything and we had a DOC that our venue provided and helped us with choosing a menu, linens, room setup, etc.
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I loved reading all of these responses! It really confirmed how I felt too! My MOH (and bestie )and her fiance were initially planning their wedding for next July, but then decided "why wait?"...a little background on them...I think their story is so cute:
They were boyfriend and girlfriend and best friends from 3rd grade through 12th! They were both musicians and were in a traveling orchestra (they have both done professional recording work) and literally were two peas in a pod growing up just a block from each other...They sort of went their separate ways during college and eventually married two other people, had kids (her one, him two), and got divorced from their respective spouses.
Fast forward to a year ago. He is on Facebook and sees her picture, and "friends" her, they begin dating...and the rest is history! I loved him like a brother the minute I met him :-) He proposed and they were gonna get married next summer...but while talking with her 13 year old son about it, her son asked them why were they waiting? And they looked at each other and were like, "why are we waiting? we've known each other our whole lives!" And that's when I got the call 3 weeks ago that they were getting married and needed my help - and voila! Beautiful three week wedding :-)
At their wedding on the mantel, they had a framed copy of a love letter/poem that he wrote to her when they were 10, about how he was going to marry her and love her forever...we were all in tears at the wedding! Alongside that poem, was their 3rd grade class photo, with him, her, and her oldest friend (who was her MOH)...just the sweetest love story. I am really so happy for them both!!
ps - thanks for the compliments on the flowers!! It was my first time doing anything for a wedding, and I was a little nervous!!