Beginner advice!

Hello and welcome! Congratulations on your engagement

Ok, first things first would be budget and numbers.

Have a think about how much you have and can save up before the wedding. It's important you think about this now as costs can run away with you if you're not careful.

Then make a list of everyone you want at your wedding, day and evening (if you're having a separate evening reception).

One you have an idea of how many you want to invite and how much you can afford, you can start looking at venues to set a date. Do you want a church or civil ceremony?

First thing to do is to look for your venue and grab a date! Once that's sorted you'll be able to start booking suppliers like florists, photographers, etc. then I would sort out the dresses and extra decor bits!

Hello and welcome.

Exactly this! If this means emailing a few places to get a rough idea of cost then do that so you are not surprised when the quotes come in double what you thought.

Hi! Congratulations on your engagement!

We started with a budget, after having made some enquiries about costs of venues as that has been our biggest expense by a long shot. We then booked to see our venue and put the deposit down, and the church was booked around the same time. A photographer was really important to us, so we booked them next.

One thing I would say is don't wait too long to start trying on dresses. The lady I spoke to at the weekend said some designers can take 6-8 months to send the dress, and she said to allow another 8 weeks for alterations. This meant that I couldn't order anything "off the peg". It is probably a bit different for each dress shop to a greater or lesser extent, but get looking now (and enjoy!).

Good luck!

Congratulations!! First things first sit down with your OH and decide what kind of wedding you want. ie. destination or if you're going to have a breakfast and reception or just have a late ceremony and reception and then look at a guest list (rough one because this will change) and venues!!

Eeeeek It's so exciting - hopefully you will loose the overwhelming feeling soon

xxx

Congratulations and welcome :-)

I would start off by looking round at a few venues, getting prices and seeing how much things are and how much you are willing to budget for the wedding. I'd say to nip the venue in the bud, especially if it's for August next year. After that, you'll be able to plan everything else and it will all fall into place slowly. How exciting! Good luck!

This. The woman speaks a lot of sense (as usual)!

I'm getting married next August too. Got engaged at the start of Zmay and we've just paid the deposit on the venue at the weekend. Weekends get booked up very fast. We're getting married on a Thursday as I'm a teacher (summer hols) and he's a policeman so works a lot of weekends anyway. As many of our friends are in the same careers getting time off shouldn't be too much of an issue. It might be something to consider if you have a particular venue you fall in love with ( I did and was willing to compromise on a weekday and the fact that they won't perform ceremonies before 4pm. Anywhere else this would have been a deal breaker but as soon as I stepped in the venue I could imagine the whole day!).

I've also found a dress I love (probably too early!) on a shopping trip with my mum.

Beyond that I haven't done much and don't feel too much pressure to book a MUA, TOG or band immediately as weekdays don't get booked up as fast for that sort of stuff.

Getting my maids together at the weekend as one of them is moving to Kenya soon and I want them all to meet before she goes

Hi, Congratulations!! I am also getting married August (2nd) next year, an so am a beginner myself. We could help each other along the way X

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Thank you everyone for responding.

I can see that I need to start with a venue and budget!

Will get onto it

xxx

Congratulations

I also recently got engaged(27th May) and we've also booked our venue and registrar for August next year. We're getting married on 1st August 2014 which is also Yorkshire Day (we're both from Yorkshire and getting married there so pretty much suits )

We initially wanted a Saturday but practically all the venues we loved were already taken. We opted for a Friday in the end, because of this but also it's more beneficial with our chosen venue.

Once you've got venues booked provisionally (we're having all at same place) then you need to contact registrar to confirm you can have them on that date and also to set a time for your ceremony.

Our next step is booking the photographer and car.

The cake,hair and make up (all friends and family so free! wheeee), adult bridesmaid dresses have been purchased too.

Have also booked myself in to start trying dresses now!

It's such an exciting time

Best of luck and I hope you find your dream venue for the date you require ?

Stef x

Congratulations!

Budget, numbers, church (if you're having one) and venue. Then the fun stuff.. dresses, wedding party, wedding fayres etc. Get booking appointments and have a few tours round venues and enjoy every second of it!

xxx