am I too keen?

Don't feel embarrassed, for most girls getting married is a big deal and it's super exciting, bridal stores have seen it all! The only thing I'd say is, get your own dress sorted before you look at sorting out your bridesmaids. By all means pick a colour but you need to know what you're wearing before you sort out what they're wearing.

No not at all. I went to a venue open day on Sunday and everyone there were looking for a 2017 wedding. I overheard more than one bride mentioning having been shopping and trying on dresses, one had even bought hers already. I would advise that since you have a large amount of time before the wedding not to overwhelm yourself with dress choices. I've seen a bride melt down over too many dresses

Is it really supposed to be bride before bridemaids? Ooops. I have a good idea of what dress I want (untried on but have found a shop that sells it) but as I'm currently pregnant I wont be able to try on until January :'(, so I was planning on getting the bridesmaids sorted before then.

I would say do whatever you want! I'm looking for my dress now and its a year away, and quite a few of the shop assistants were like "oh you've plenty of time" and looked a bit shocked, but tbh, if you want to get a dress now you do what you want!

I'm not really understating the post above about not getting the BM dresses without getting yours first.. Unless you really really want then to match in style, I don't think it matters? I'm not bothered about it, they're not linked in my planning.

Thanks ☺ yeah I just want to get an idea on the colours I like as it will determine a lot of different things with the wedding as want it all to match colour! I won't be picking the dresses just yet I change my mind to often ha!

The reason why it's suggested you sort bride before bridesmaids is because you won't always buy the style of wedding dress that you had in mind before you went shopping. So if you dress your bridesmaids in something frilly/fussy/sparkly and then you go and choose an understated/plain/elegant style then they might not work together. That's the advice I was given and it made perfect sense to me.

I wouldnt say your too keen. we booked 21months in advance. id get looking now to get ideas but id look to sort your stuff out before bridesmaids

I went to a wedding fayre yesterday and was surprised by just how booked up a lot of vendors are for next year 2016. The photographer that we have booked has 45 weddings lined up for next year already, you're probably off planning with lots of time to spare to get your pick of the market!

Not too keen at all! There's no prescribed timeline - you do what you want to do. We got engaged in June 2014 and are getting married in August 2016. I had an initial planning and Pinterest flurry post-engagement, then decided that I wasn't going to get too far into choosing colours and styles etc until January 2015 because I wanted to prolong the excitement. I did spend quite a lot of time on Pinterest and various websites though, and it helped me to get a realistic idea of styles and prices.

You can never be too keen! It pays to be organised! lol. We got engaged Dec 2013, by March 14 we had the venue booked and by June 14 I had bought the BM dresses. Got my dress in Oct 14 so after my BM dresses. There was a reason for me getting the BM dresses so early, I had just been a BM for my friend and she had really struggled to get us nice dresses in her chosen colour so she sort of settled on one 3 months before her wedding. I decided I didn't want that trauma and so when I found ones in the right colour and a nice style I got them, my reasoning being if I don't find any better than I do have ones that I love, but if I do find ones I love more I can sell these on etc. (They were only from Quiz and cost me £80 for 2).

So feel free to be keen and explore your options! It cant hurt!

We booked our venue and date in feb 2014 for aug 2015. I made several major decisions (like bm colours etc!) far too early. I wish I'd waited til around 9 months before and had spent time LOOKING rather than deciding. Hope that helps!!

Also the things I WAS keen to sort asap were the church, the reception venue, and the photographer. Everything else (dresses, colours, decorations, etc) I felt could wait until about a year before.

We got engaged on Christmas Day 2013 and I was looking at dresses on my phone whilst making the Christmas dinner! I started getting everything booked in January/February 2014 for our wedding which is October this year. Everyone said I was mental and "oh how super organised". Whilst I am very organised, the band we wanted weren't available on our date and the car we wanted was booked up the day before and after ours! Some things you HAVE to book early if you want your first choice ?

Re your BM dresses, be careful. I got these early on, but now they've all gone into super gym-aholic mode and will all need altering ? I asked for sizes at the time I bought them, they should have told me then!

Oh I'm a little bit jealous that you're right at the start of it all! I absolutely LOVED the initial planning part, would sit there with a pile of bridal magazines, a cup of tea and loads of choc! Heaven!

Enjoy all of it, the time will pass so quickly and your day will be here before you know it

My dress was one of the first things i brought last year after booking the wedding.

I booked the wedding in Feb and purchased the dress in March. It just gave me enough time to save the money to pay the remaining amount of the dress off and didn’t have to worry. Luckily enough my place said the dress would come in, in March this year (which it did) so I had plenty of time.

I would say, go have fun, no one really thinks you’re being keen, with people booking their weddings well in advance due to money, they will have probably seen a few 2017 brides already.

It will come around so quickly so it's never too early to start planning

I started planning January 2012 and we get married in August!!!! People said we were crazy but we got first choice of everything. I know quite a few people have tried booking my venue and church on the same day as me since. I've had my dress since March 2014 and everything booked since November 2013. It's an exciting time but I also found the initial "well meant advice" (every Tom dick and Harry chiming in on YOUR day ?) seems to die down too if people realise there's still quite a way to go leaving you and your htb to plan in peace (with whoever else you wish to include). It's a fun time. Just enjoy it x

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that yes sorting out I. E. Buying BM dresses is a bit too soon with 2 years to go. So much can change in that time it's not fair to your BM'S to pin them down and your tastes as well as what's in style may change

By all means research & get an idea of what you want, cost etc.

Personally I agree with Chucklevision, but you dont need to please anyone so just do whatever you fancy

I'm getting married in August 2017 too! I've not only picked but bought the bridesmaid's dress. I'm only having one bridesmaid which probably makes it much easier. I've also booked ceremony, reception, photographer and dj - which means I get them at 2015 prices. One place I talked to said that she couldn;t give me a 2017 price. I responded that I could see how it changed 2015 to 2016 and make an educated guess. She reckoned that as it was ONLY an increase of £150 'or so' it wouldn't matter. Welcome the wedding industry! I'd never heard the word 'only' in conjunction with £150 before.