Help, Where to start!?

Hello cheeky! Welcome to hitched!!

First thin to do is to look at venues and decide a date. some get booked up way in advance - I got engaged last august, spoke to the venue that same august and they told me they were actually starting to take bookings for 2011 already!!! So that's where I would start. Also, if you're having a church do, make sure they have the same date free before confirming with the venue.

Hope this helps!!

Mel x

Thank you, i can't believe how much there is to do, we are looking at 2011 so thats great to know to get onto it asap.

When are you getting married?

x

What Mel said - you can start thinking about your dress and colour schemes etc but the most important thing to get booked first is the venue(s) and date and then everything else will fit in around that.

Firstly - CONGRATULATIONS!

Secondly - enjoy being engaged!

I started by writing a rough guest list (helps you get an idea of numbers when looking at venues). Bought some magazines to start getting some ideas. Set a rough budget. Talked about the type of wedding we wanted. Got an idea of the date we wanted to get married, then started googling venues and getting them to send out information.

We then went and booked the church and saw several venues. Once we'd found one we liked we booked it (the venue can be of the big things, but can also mean you have booked location, food and drinks all in one go).

I have now bought my dress, we have booked the car and found the dresses for bridesmaids (currently looking round to see if we can get them cheaper somewhere else). I still have over a year to my wedding but by keeping on top of it, it is keeping me calm :o)

Your timescale might affect how quickly you need to do things, but my advice is just take each element one thing at a time. Also speak to people you know, you'll be surprised who can make cakes, do flower arranging, knows someone who does make-up and hair etc

Most of all - enjoy it.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Completely agree with Mel - its certainly date and venue(s) first. Also might be fun to get a wedding magazine or 2 to get general ideas (and as far as I was concerned, to help get even more excited!).

Tell us all about the engagement then!

Well he took me to Cornwall where his grandmother grew up and where he went on a number of holidays when he was young. We walked to a beach where his gran always made him look for queen shells, i had never heard of these before, and when we found one we went and sat on a bench looking over the sea, the bench had been put there in memory of his grandfather, so a lovely family tie, it got cold quite quickly so he went back to the car and got my coat as i put my hands in my coat pocket a i felt a box in there, i took it out and he opened it, my dream ring was inside and then he went down on one knee and told me how much he loved me and never wanted to be without me and asked if i would be his wife, i said yes within seconds, we then snuggled looking out over the sea, it was so perfect.

Thank you for all the great advice already, i have a feeling ui am going to obsesed withy this site! :-)

x

Hi Cheekymonkey,

How exciting congratulations to you both

My word of advise to you both is to choose a date..depending where you are getting married check availability of the venue,church/registrar,then if they are all free on that date ,then book as soon as possible,,some venues for instance book years in advance,especially summer peak times. At this point decide whether are not .you require a wedding planner, because if you do they will help you source out the venue for you if required,but many brides to be really enjoy the build up and excitement of planning there own wedding, it just depends on how much time you have really.

Then go on to book your photographer /entertainment./Car/Florist /cake, and choose the person who will be doing your stationary,. When all those key people are booked and in place then its your turn to go and choose that beautiful wedding dress, and enjoy every minute of it., then go on to choose underwear/jewelry/shoes . Then I would go on to choose the person who will be doing your make up and hair for that special.

Hopes that helps. Enjoy your planning

Elizabeth

Hi Cheeky congrats and welcome! ?

Have you got a date yet? I would do that first and then, think of your budget!! doesn't have to be precise but it will dictate a lot of your decisions. then I would do number of guests, then venue (unless you want a wedding abroad and then it's venue and then who can make it).

I kind of worked out those three things first more or less at the same time.

hope this helps!

Welcome!

I'd say you need to decide your budget first as that can dictate the type of venue you can / can't afford. then I'd start the venue search!

Heya,

welcome to hitched and congratulations on your engagement! the way he propsed sounds lovely! i havn't got any other bits of advice to add, but saw you were thinking of 2011 so here's a link to the 2011 thread. think it's quite quiet tho tbh.

https://www.hitched.co.uk/Chat/forums/t/107820.aspx

hth, donna xx

Thank you Donna, that is great.

Congrats on your baby daughter

x

Thanks! She's gorgeous, even if I do say so myself lol! It's the main reason I'm waiting til 2011 so she'll be almost 2 and possibly our Flower Girl! Have you got any little ones yourself? xxx

My fiance has two boys from his previous relationship, they are gorgeous and will be our page boys. i love the idea of children being involved in the wedding it brings the aww factor into it.

So when are getting married? and have you decided on dress and colour theme?

x

I know what you mean about children and the aww factor...that's why a 7yr old boy will be 'helping' Hannah up the aisle lol. However saying that, we're possibly bringing the wedding forward to next summer, so Hannah will be too young to be a flower girl!

Erm dress, yes I think so, but I havnt been dress shopping yet, and everyone says that you change your mind and it's a real eye opener. This is the one I have my eye on anyways: http://www.houseofbrides.com/product.php?productid=25005&cat=445&page=5

and colour scheme will be Chocolate Brown and Baby Pink.

How's the planning coming along? Where are you getting married? xx

Hi and Congrulations!

I also only got engaged a few weeks ago and have booked my venue and decided a date so far.

I am now starting on a scrapbook of all my ideas and visions for the wedding using magazines and the web and its actually very fun! I am getting married in January 2011 so the same year you are thinking and I plan to spend the next few months deciding on exactly what I want so next year when it comes to booking alot of it I know what I want.

Mostly enjoy it and try not to let it overwhelm you!

Laura

x

Hi Ladies!

I'm getting Married in April 2010(!) and have not done half as much as some of the V organized hitchers on here, but each at their own pace. I don't know if this will help or not but got it in the knot newsletter - 10 common mistakes of planning and how to avoid them, here is the link

happy planning!