Help - When and where to start

I can’t really advise, but I can tell you how my planning is going! We booked our venue in June 2020 for February 2022. We have already booked our caterer (separate from venue) and purchased our wine (pre-Brexit from France). Still to organise is the DJ, photographer, flowers, hair and makeup, and transport for guests. I’ve made myself a timeline for what I think needs to be booked/decided by when so I don’t miss anything.

View quoted message Thanks Charlotte, that’s actually really helpful, we are looking to book our venue as soon as we are out of tier four so we can see it in person first. I think I’ll copy you and make a list of everything

First, set your budget. Then do some rough work on your guest list - you may increase or decrease it slightly, depending on final costs, but there's no point looking at a venue that can only take 40 if you are going to invite 100 - or looking at a place with a minimum guest number of 150 if you only want 30! And no point setting your heart on a venue (or anything else) that is way beyond what you can afford.

I know some people have booked their photographer or florist first because they absolutely can't imagine getting married without that person on their team. But generally, it makes more sense to book the venue (at least provisionally) and then find suppliers that can work with your venue & date. Don't forget to book the registrar though - we found our venue, thinking we'd got loads of time to book the registrar, but when we rang up two days later, they only had one left!

I will echo the above poster. We started to look at venues before we did a rough guest list, found some venues that we really loved, only to realise they were probably too small and not feasible for the size of our guest list. So get a rough idea of that first so you know what venue capacity you are looking at.

I appreciate you want to see your venue before you book it but a lot of places are now giving virtual tours. Not ideal but given the current situation and the amount of couples having to postpone, many venues are filling up quickly and you risk not being able to get your chosen venue if you wait until you are able to visit in person. I guess it depends how flexible you are with your day / date? If you don't mind getting married on a week day then you will probably be fine to wait until you can see venues in person, but weekends all the way up to 2023 are being taken quickly. Our venue is completely booked out at weekends until 2023!

My advice would just be to get your main things booked as soon as you are happy, especially if you have something / someone specific in mind. Venue, ceremony, photographer, videographer, cake, entertainment. We are getting married April 2022 and I started to book things almost 2 years in advance. I do feel it has paid off because I don't feel stressed at all now the big things are out of the way. I've also noticed prices of some suppliers are creeping up since we booked!

Good luck and happy planning - despite the current situation I have enjoyed every minute of it so far xx

Hiya!
I'm getting married in November 2022 and booked my venue back in November last year but only because it was a super popular venue! I've made a list of things to check off each month and it's really helped break things down. The person that we booked the venue with told us to prioritise 3 main things you want your budget to go towards and that's really helped, if you're looking for a band we were told they can get booked up quite far in advance and the same with photographers we ended up booking the venue 1st and making sure the registrar was free on that day, getting wedding insurance and we've just ordered our save the dates...just getting things sorted gradually so it doesn't break the bank ? hope that helps!

View quoted message Hiya


It really is helpful, We have booked our venue now based off of a virtual tour as it was filling up for October 2022, however I still get nerves as we weren’t able to see it in person ?. I now looking at photographers as they are getting booked up, but I keep questioning if I’m doing it all too early but your message helped. It does make sense as these two and the dress are going to be the most expensive part of our wedding probably
I hope the rest of your wedding planning is going ok? I have started a Pinterest board but Going backwards and forwards on theme.

Hi, we got engaged over christmas as well and started with a making our guest list and our parents list to get an idea of a numbers then looked for venues that could at least accomodate the people we wanted and if they could also manage parents guests then bonus. We then started contacting venues for costs and dates they had available for 2022. We have now booked the venue off of a video call but thankfully they are being really good and if when lockdown lifts and we can travel again we dont like it then we can get our deposit back.

I'm now looking for what dresses I like and on waiting lists for appointments as well as looking for the main vendors like photographers, florists and hair and make up.

Hope the planning goes well

View quoted message Thanks Ashleigh


I hope the rest of your wedding planning goes well if you don’t mind sharing when is your wedding booked for in 2022 ?

View quoted message We are booked for August 6th 2022

View quoted message Ah exciting ! We are October 2nd hope the rest of your planning goes well. I feel like I’m on hold now just waiting to see what happens and if lockdown lifts

View quoted message Good luck planning. We feel the same, we've been getting quotes from suppliers jut feel like we can't book yet because we haven't seen out venue in person yet and my fiance is sceptical to start putting money down when we could change our minds but its unlikely

Hope the planning is going well. We got engaged Christmas Day and have booked for sept 2022. Unfortunately we have had to book the venue with only seeing a virtual tour. The venue have been great and we haven’t had to put deposit down until we actually see it.


Does everyone think numbers will be ok for next year? Keeping all my fingers crossed

View quoted message Congratulations!


We also had to book from a virtual tour due to it booking up but unfortunately we did have to pay a deposit. I’m a little worried we won’t like it in person but my friends been there and thinks it’s nice. I can’t believe how quickly things are booking up :0.
I hoping we can have our planned wedding late next year with a min of 60 guests but can’t be sure /: xx ! Nervous times I bounce between being excited and feeling like I’m ahead of myself now and just need to wait till closer to the time.

Hi, I’ve had similar thoughts! I’m working on the basis that with so many weddings cancelled or postponed from last year and this year the sooner the better to book things. We’re getting married in May 2022 and have booked venue (which comes with a caterer)/ photographer/ videographer/ band / florist. Haven’t thought about dresses yet though and was going to leave hair and beauty a while but have no idea if that’s the right thing or not! I don’t think I would want to book that until I’d had a hair trial or whatever. We sent out our saves the dates a couple of months ago as well, figured we might as well lock people in once we knew the date and venue! X

View quoted message Hi ?‍♀️


I’m the same as you. I feel a bit lost and confused at the moment as I have the photographer, venue and DJ but I don’t think I need to do anything else yet as it’s so far off. I’m wondering when to send my save the dates and ask people to be my bridesmaids have you done this yet? Xx

View quoted message

Hello ,

I asked my bridesmaids back in July within a few weeks of getting engaged. My personal opinion is once youve booked the venue you might as well send save the dates, people will probably stick them on their fridge and forget about them but at least theyre done! Although I think also fine if you wait a few months! I was going to leave the florist until closer to the time but one of my friends has started a small silk/ faux flower business and told me shes getting bookings for next autumn already and strongly recommended that I booked my florist. No idea how representative her experience is of the whole but again, thats why I booked my florist already!

What do you / everyone think for booking hair and beauty? I notice someone else commented that they have booked theirs for next year already. xx

I booked my venue in March 2020 for May 2022. Since then I’ve sorted my caterer, wedding dress, DJ, entertainment and photographer. Got some invitation samples coming this week. I know who I’m using for flowers and cake. Still need to sort cars, hairdresser and MUA, bridesmaids dresses and shoes etc. Hotels for guests and taxis xx

View quoted message Ahh thanks for the advice, I think you are right about the save the dates.
I hadn’t even thought that the florist may be booked up! I was hoping to could go to wedding shows to get some inspiration.
Hair and makeup I have had a look at local ones to get an idea on cost. I want to be able to have. A trial before I book with someone though so I will probably wait till closer to the time as I’m trying to grow out my hair xx

View quoted message I wish I was as organised as you. I keep going through bursts with planning then not doing anything. I hope you like your invites
How have you found planning it during lockdown ? Where you able to meet with providers or did you have to do it all virtual?