How far in advance did you plan your weddings?

We got engaged 30 April this year, and we're getting married 22 Feb next year! I personally didn't want a long wait from engagement to wedding, I'm impatient as it is! If our financial position was different though we might have had to wait, so I understand why people do. You have to do what's right for you. I think it's good you've started planning, what I (personally) think is completely pointless is when people get engaged then say oh we're not getting married for 10 years though. What's the point of being engaged! Fair enough if unplanned things happen that delay the wedding, but why go into an engagement without the intention of getting married at some point in the near future!

Just don't put too much pressure on yourself to get it all done in Jan! I had just under 10 months from engagement to wedding, and even I've had massive lulls in the planning process. Spread it out so you can enjoy it more!

We got engaged a couple of weeks ago and are getting married on Christmas Eve this year....so not long lol

Congrats!!!

We got engaged in Feb this year, and are getting married in May 2015 - I've pretty much booked everything

I'm the type of person that when I pick something I don't change my mind, but if you do change it then don't do too much in case you decide on something different later on.

Only things I've got left to do are actually decide on things, which can be done next year, people told me the same thing but I thought, meh! If you want to do it, do it but make sure it's not something you'll regret later, that'll cost a lot to change (like the dress)

Good luck!

Congratulations and welcome to Hitched!

WE got engaged end of Sept 2012 and will marry mid March 2014. So 17 months for us.

We got all of our main bits booked pretty quickly and for me that was the best way, as I've not had to stress about anything... yet!

What's your date? I'm a July 2015 bride too

We planned with 3 years to go

We got engaged September this year and are looking at getting married September 2016 :-)

i have already planned the favours (about bought the bits to do them with), I've bought bits and bobs for little extras we are planning, I've got my veil and some shoes already.

The only thing I worry about, with planning and getting things so far ahead, is that I may run out of things to sort and plan! Lol

i say go for it! Plan and get ready as much of the wedding as you want, because nearer the time, you will be focused on other things! X

Bad? Not at all!

We started planning around July 2012 for a September 2015 wedding, so over 3 years for us. 18 months is (apparently) the average timeframe for planning a wedding in so you're about right there. Jan 2014 sounds like a good plan too, definitely get the big things booked as soon as possible. You'd be surprised just how far in advance things in the wedding world seem to book up.

Welcome to hitched and happy planning ?

Congratulations

We got engaged on 22nd September this year and have booked our wedding for June 20th 2015 I started planning as soon as we got home from our holiday the week after the engagement and this week we booked the church and reception venue! I think it's a bit early for dresses yet so I will probably start looking for something next summer! however every day I am looking online for favours, decorations, cakes, flowers, aqccessories! lol

Mickey&Minnie i'm 18th July 2015

And brill was looking at church and venue to book in January as very specific about where I want so don't want to miss out, but dress etc will def be at a later date as I just gave birth on Halloween so major damage control on the tum is needed next year

Glad I'm not the only one who started so early, just seems logic to pre-plan before the official plans are set in motion and work out what I'm paying for and what I can do myself, plus been so much fun speaking to my MOH about colour schemes etc gives my fiancé ears a rest ha ha Im also quite lucky that I have friends that are photographers, DJ's or work in catering or beauty business so no need to book them or work them into overall budget as they are happy to offer their services at a discounted rate or free as a wedding gift

Have fun planning all your days ladies & fingers crossed your forward planning makes the next few months that much easier for you

Depending on your venue availability 1 year is a good starting point? Depends on the size of your family and friends and if they've booked any holidays way in advance?! Saying this we have bookings in the diary for end of 2015 x

Congratulations!?

I got engaged at the end of July and we've getting married 1st March so that's about 7 months by time we get wed. Loads of time! ?

We started off with 18months to plan, planned it all then changed our minds and bought it forward by 9months..... 5 weeks to go!

we decided the big white wedding we planned wasn't what we really wanted , we just want to be together, it was making is miserable saving all our money too. This way we can start our married life in 2014 and have lots of money to spend on all the lovely things we want!

Everyone is is different there's no set way or rule

Nope I bought me dress I'm march 15

We started officially planning in August and we're getting married June. Get as much done when you can It flies in and you'll have less to do and more of a budget nearer the time. Can never plan too early i'd say especially since you can book big things like TOGs, cars etc

We got engaged in September and getting married in May....

Just engaged and planning on wedding end of 2014.. depending on venue availability!

Hiya, congrats on your engagement and welcome to Hitched!

We got engaged in May 2012 and I started planning in June 2012. Wedding in July 2014. Times goes so fast and I wanted to make sure to have first pick of suppliers, and was glad I started early!

Good luck!

H booked our wedding in Sept 2011, to get married Oct 2011.

He phoned me up, and said "thought i'd let you know, we're getting married on Halloween..." Simples.

Hi,

Congratulation!

We got engaged beginning of April 2013 and decided to get married end of April 2015.

I've booked / sorted everything apart from my dress (leaving this until Feb 2014 as advised to by the bridal shop i want to go to to get the fresh collection) and bridesmaid dresses (as i just havent found any)

Only downside is I have nothing to plan now until 6 months before the wedding when meetings with people start to finalise details! I just couldnt resisit, and found loads of suppliers gave us a heavy discount for booking over 18 months ahead.

Good luck with the planning

We got engaged June 2010 and planned our wedding for March 2014. Was meant to be 2012/2013 but things came up.

I started gathering ideas straight away and after 3 years I feel like I have had just enough time to obsess over every little detail. Haha. More excited than ever now!!

Congratulations and welcome

You are not the only 'early' planner. We have been engaged since August 2012 and are getting married in August 2015. So far we have a venue, caterer, tog and a dress. I love that I have so long, it means that I haven't found anything stressful and I haven't made any impulse purchases!

18 months for us, we got engaged last Christmas and get married in June next year. I can't believe we've been engaged almost a year - it really does fly by. We did consider getting married this year in September, but decided against it because I wanted to spend time enjoying the planning process. I'm glad we did too, because it took me ages to settle on a dress!

18 months for us too. I felt it just right, long enough to know exactly what we wanted but not too long I was getting impatient.

We will have been engaged 3 years almost to the day when we get married. I started looking around at ideas pretty much straight away but didn't start any real planning/booking until April this year, so 13 months. At the time it still seemed like ages away but now I'm staring at the ticker saying 5 months and 1 week and thinking it's going way too fast!

Never too early! Gives you longer to get the best deals and it also drags it out which is nice. The planning is a really enjoyable experience. I got engaged Christmas Day 2012 and we are getting married July 2014.

Congratulations!

We got engaged February 2012, planning a wedding for May 2014.

By the end 2012 we had booked our venue, caterers, tog, music, registrar, hair and make up lady, florist, chair covers, cake and made our save the dates.

So glad we did as got first choice on everyone, and felt organised to have it all booked up.

Once those things were done the pressure was off and you do lose your mojo when it feels so far away. Get things done now while you're feeling pro-active becuase I guarantee there will be times you will go months without even looking at your planning!!

Now we are at five and a half months to go and there is still lots to be done that creeps out of the woodwork!!

So my advice is get things booked up, pick your favourites before they go to someone else. Don't buy the fluff, the decorations etc, you will change your mind and theme again during wedding planning!!

I saved my wedding dress shopping until about 14 months before the wedding...(yes it was torture not trying any on before then!) but in hindsight I'm glad I did it a bit later in the planning, it gave me something to look forward to (and time to lose a bit of chub) and once I found my dress and bought it, it gave me some ooomph back into wedding planning.

Have fun and enjoy! We've had so little stress the last 21 months and have enjoyed every minute... I'm sure there is plenty awaiting us in the next five months though.... must start my diy invitations soon!..... (soon aka known as next year!!!)

xxxxxx

We got engaged beg of Dec 12 and getting married end of Aug 14. It's long enough i think to plan everything without rushing.

We only had the choice of 1 saturday for our venue which was a cancellation when we booked in feb 13 so the earlier you can do it the better. When we booked our TOG and florist in the summer they were already nearly full for 2014 and taking lots of bookings for 2015. If you like someone don't hold on too long.

As others have said, it's sensible (but not completly necessary) to get your suppliers booked in, especially those who will only do one wedding per day or weekend. But I would recommend leaving the creative decisions for the timebeing as things do change very quickly.

Hi

We got engaged on 27th May 2013 and had our venue booked and deposit paid by the 10th June 2013, and it wasn't the first venue we saw.

I'm still planning, but most things are done now.

We get married on 1st August 2014 ?

Hi all,

We got engaged March 2011 and only set a date a couple of months ago. We get married 21st March 15 and I have pretty much booked everything!! I didn't want to leave things until last minute and the good thing is majority of suppliers are available as its so far away so I can I have my first choice for everything!! Xx

We only got engaged a month ago so we haven't bought or booked a single thing yet. We are thinking of having a 2 1/2 to 3 year engagement so marrying around spring/summer 2016. I would like to start looking at venues in the new year as some places get booked up literally years in advance. The OH is a lot more laid back about it and doesn't think we even need to think about planning yet.

We got engaged November 2012 and are getting married July 2016. It's a long wait but it's just more time to save, plus I'm super organised and like to get everything done well in advance!