Help - newly engaged and don't know where to start!

Hi welcome and congratulations...

Im getting married in August 2012 and have started booking stuff, such as venue and photographers. If you have a venue in mind I would suggest speak to them soon as they can get booked up very quickly if its popular.

You will get some great advice/support and ideas from here too

Firstly, congrats on getting engaged! And secondly welcome to Hitched!

First thing is venue. If you are having a church/religious wedding you'll need to co-ordinate a date between venues!

I spent ages looking at venues on the internet. Most have online brochures that give you an idea on price. Then ring them up and arrange to view it!

I guess it depends on what type of wedding you want and your budget. I.e. are you looking a castle/stately home, or a function hall/restaurant?

Where abouts in the country are you?

Hey, congratulations

We got engaged in July and booked the venue 2 weeks later, we viewed lots before we found the one we wanted! I'd say if theres a particular venue you want book it now and pay a deposit, by doing this at ours we secured this years prices for July 2012.

Also we have booked the church - were the first 2012 couple to book lol. Also we have booked the DJ, chair covers, cars all to freeze the prices at this years and avoid VAT going up.

Oh and I have brought my dress because it was being discontinued

Congrats!

Talk to your fiance about budget and what kind of wedding he would like. Speak to your family about money too, they may want to contribute. Then, when you know how much you can play with then you can think about looking at venues.

I think 18 months is more than enough, we have 12 (or 10 now) months to plan ours. We booked venue, registry office and hired a band within a week or two of getting engaged (but we are very decisive!).

Hi,

Welcome to the forum ?.

you will get a lot of help on here, and hopefully have a lot of fun,( warning very addictive)

What area are you looking for a venue?

Welcome to Hitched ?

First things first, congratulatison on your engagement. It is a very exciting time for you and your OH to get stuck into planning. You have plenty of tiem so don't panic.

Best advise I would give is to go to Wedding Fayres to get ideas of prices you could use this website to find ones close to you: http://www.allweddingfayres.co.uk/

Also booking your venue before January next year may be an idea due to the VAT increase, and to secure your dream venue. We booked ours a year in advance and our date was the only day left in May at the church thankfully ?

Have fun, and try not to get stressed aong the way. Planning can become stressful but you just have to think positive...I found that's what got me through it at times!

? Hello and welcome, it's a very addictive place!

18 months is fine for planning - just make sure you get your 'big' stuff (venue, TOG/VOG etc) booked early. Also, if you're having a civil wedding (not a church wedding) you need to 'give notice' to the registrar where you live.

Thanks everyone! It is TOTALLY addictive - have spent so much of the last week researching venues and thinking over the details!

We are hoping to get married in the peak district, so there seem to be lots of lovely opportunities in the area, although some do have limited availability already.

Thanks again for all the advice - great to know there's so many people out there ready to help!

xx