Feeling panicked

No need to panic - You have plenty of time. We got married less than a year after our engagement, and it was fine, and you have already started planning and still have over a year to go.

Booking a registrar/officiant is the most important thing (assuming that isn't already covered under 'venue') as you can't get legally married without one! They should let you make a provisional booking which can be confirmed when you actually give notice.

If that's done, I'd say wedding dress is the next thing to be sorted - you still have plenty of time, but you don't want to feel any pressure if you don't find one you like straight away, so starting now gives you a few months to make a decision. (I started dress shopping 8 months before and they did say I needed to make a decision more or less immediately to ensure the dress arrived in time)

I'd also start looking for a photographer and florist. And a cake if that's not being provided by your caterers. Then hair & makeup if you are booking those, and wedding transport. Basically, anything that needs to be provided on the day since there is no flexibility on date. Things like rings, orders of service, invites, favours etc can be ordered much later since they don't require someone to be available on your actual wedding day. (For rings, it's worthwhile keeping an eye on jewellers for any promotional sales - we got the cheaper of our rings half price by doing this!)

No need to panic at all but I can only talk from a photographers perspective in this scenario, but I've already started taking some bookings for 2025 so it will be worth taking a look around now, better to be prepared :-)

View quoted message Thank you so so much for your reply! It's given me a really good idea of what I need to do next as I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with it all! Do you know where to or how to find a good wedding shop? I'm a teacher so I think May Half term would be a great time for me to start looking. Would you recommend doing a lot of shops in a day or just 1 or 2? Also how do you go about finding a good photographer/florists? Sorry so many questions. Thank you so much for your help x

I just Googled for all three. With the wedding dress, I was on a tight budget, so I narrowed down to those that said they had a budget and/or sale area and then rang to check they had enough dresses within my budget to make it worthwhile.

With the wedding photographer, my OH and I both shortlisted a few favourites, picked out our top three to speak to, met up with one in person and booked him.

With the florist, I'd originally booked a friend, but sadly her business didn't survive Covid lockdown, so I needed a replacement fairly last minute. I checked out 3 local wedding florists and found one where I loved every single arrangement on her FB page - and there were a lot! So it was a no brainer to book her.

I'd probably only do a couple of dress shops in a day so you don't get confused. Also, I found it quite tiring getting in and out of the different dresses and trying to decide what I thought - but then I hate shopping! If you like it, you might find it less tiring. And either go on your own or just with one or two people you can trust not to try to push you toward something you don't want! I had a friend who went shopping with SIX of her bridesmaids, and it was a disaster!

Firstly you got THIS

Planning a wedding is stressful we are getting married in Feb 2025.

Have you thought about entertainment? Are you having any flowers or dressing the venue? Have you thought about wedding dressing shopping yet? As it can take a few months for the dress to be delivered to the store. I went dress shopping end of March told dress will take about 6 months could be quicker.

Hi Charlotte. You have a lots of time. Don’t panic enjoy the process with your fiancé it is the first project together are you getting married by civil or religious ceremony?
I think it is also important to have kind of preparation for the marriage itself