Is 12 months too little to plan?!

I’m attending a wedding in July that was only booked last summer. As long as you can get all your key suppliers booked in asap then you’ll be fine. What I would say though is my friend whose wedding it is has changed a couple of suppliers so I think she may have jumped in and just booked people cos she needed them booked but has then realised there is better options out there so do consider your decisions carefully.


We booked our wedding 18 months ahead of time to not put pressure on ourselves to save money quickly and are currently sat twiddling our thumbs waiting for it to come around! I think you’ll be fine for a year ahead.

View quoted message Oh brilliant! Thank you so much for responding and for giving me this confidence. That's it, I don't want to be sat twiddling our thumbs as we are keen to get planning / booking now. I hope your wedding comes around soon!!

I think it’s definitely do-able!! You may not be able to secure the most popular vendors however but except this it’s definitely possible x

I got engaged last July and our wedding is this August so only just over a year and it has been absolutely fine! Once we got engaged we just wanted to get straight into it and I felt too excited to wait any longer!


We are having a midweek wedding which perhaps has helped but we haven’t really had any issues with the timescale at all!
Best of luck with your planning! X

View quoted message Thank you so much for the reassurance, Sarah!

View quoted message Ah that is so good - congratulations Rachel! This has made me feel loads better. I'm exactly the same with wanting to get everything sorted ASAP! Best of luck with your wedding! X

I’ve just booked my venue for our wedding in May 23 🙈. We have booked the key suppliers, so far the only issue we’ve had is not as much choice and having to make quick decisions. So a year ahead will be absolutely fine.

You should be ok, as long as you get all your key suppliers sorted. I'm doing mine in under a year (10 months) and I've got lots sorted in first 3 months. Look out for any free wedding fayres nearby, you can meet suppliers there and get a feel on their prices, availability and if you like them.

A few years ago the average was 18 months but gradualy that has changed to 12 months.

For the peak dates which are Bank Holiday weekends then maybe you need to book a bit sooner. Remember that suppliers will always be wanting you to book as far in advance as possible and as soon as possible some Venders are also very good at telling you they have limited availability yet suprise suprise they have your date available

I am leicester based so if you need any advice on leicester venues then I am happy to help. I have 22 leicester wedding venue galleries on my website

YES it is doable.

I got engaged on 17th March last year. We viewed our venue on 26th March, confirmed the booking a few days later and are getting married in a couple of weeks time, 1st April!

We couldn’t believe we found the perfect venue with Saturday availability in spring just a year ahead. We have had no problems with booking registrars or suppliers (although I’m doing our flowers so we didn’t need that one, and food is in-house at the venue).

The key non-negotiable in terms of confirming your date is to make sure you can get the legal bit done. So if you’re having a legal ceremony on the day, making sure that the local registrar has availability.

Other than that we’ve found it easy to get everything done in a year, and there have been several periods of time where we haven’t done much - the planning process ebbs and flows!

The one area where we do wish we’d left maybe a bit more time is around finances - we had a decent amount saved already and have been saving hard this year, but a few more months of saving would definitely have made the bills all coming in right now easier to manage! We’ll be fine, we’re just having to dip more into our individual savings accounts alongside our joint wedding one, which is something we wanted to avoid doing.

We got engaged April 22 and married November 22 so only 7 months. I don't know how much being off peak season helped but we didn't struggle to get any suppliers we wanted. We still had many weeks during that time where there was nothing that needed to be done.

I wonder if some of the longer planning times is to give more time to save for it. We had a relatively low budget compared to average and savings already so we didn't need a long run up to find the money.

Totally doable. I planned ours in 3 months for 70 people for around 14k and that was for everything, including my dress, husbands suit, bridesmaids dreses and shoes, groomsmens hire suits and a free bar for a few hours. It was in London, booked my dream art deco registry office, had 3 hours to kill so had prosecco and nibbles in a park nearby (we lost the early registry office slot and couldn't start at the reception till 3 hours later). It's was a brilliant idea as it gave everyone a chance to decompress and chat ready for the reception. The reception venue done everything, we just chose place settings and food. We had to bring our wedding forward due to a family illness and, although I had no idea of what perfection was, it was perfect, everyone loved it and got on so well. It was just the best day ever!

My friend (who I was bridesmaid for) got engaged in the February and married in the August. 12 months is definitely doable!

I’m currently doing our wedding (next June) with only 10 guests including us. If you prepare well, you’ll be fine! X

Our wedding (150 people in the church and 100 people for reception) is being planned in 6 months. We are currently on month 4 and it’s going well, you don’t need crazy time - just a willing fiancé and supportive families!

View quoted message Ah Anna how wonderful this sounds! Thank you for the reassurance. Good luck with the rest of planning ☺️ x

View quoted message How lovely! We are also looking to do something small - the smaller the better! Good luck with your wedding, Danielle ☺️

View quoted message Oh wow, a quick turnaround! Thank you for the reassurance ☺️

View quoted message Wow this sounds brilliant! I'm so glad you managed to have a lovely wedding day!

View quoted message Thank you so much for all this information - super useful! I will keep this noted as we start to plan! ☺️

We’ve booked our wedding for next April. We’ve just started planning as well, definitely think it’s enough time. We are also having a small wedding (under 40 guests). It’s definitely do-able

View quoted message How lovely Sophia! We are also aiming for under 40 guests so I'm pleased to hear it's do-able! I hope your planning goes well ☺️

View quoted message Thank you! Just remember it’s about what you both want and it’ll work. We’ve found making decisions really easy. We’ve made a spreadsheet of what we think we’ll spend so we have a rough idea. Also bought a wedding planner which is amazing as it mentions things you probably didn’t think of! It’s from Blush and Gold.
I hope your planning goes well too ☺️

View quoted message Ah we must be on the same wavelength as I've been looking at wedding planners! I've seen mixed reviews on the ones I've seen so will check this one out for sure. I'll also start a spreadsheet to keep on track of spending as we are keen to not push the boat out too much 😂 My first port of call was to buy a bridal magazine when the engagement bubble settled but clearly have some other bits to check off now! Thank you for your wonderful tips, I feel much more settled!

View quoted message Also have a look if there are any wedding showcases near you. We went to one and it gave us some inspiration!

Totally doable. We got engaged in the October and married in July of the following year. (Should have been June, but this was 2020...) That was for 30 people, but I have a friend who organised a wedding for 80 in 3 months!

The key is to be flexible about venues, dates and suppliers. No point setting your heart on a venue that gets booked up 2 years in advance! I'd suggest blocking out the dates that would work for you (as many as possible) and then checking if venues have availability on those dates. Also, if you're fussed about the kind of wedding dress you get, you need to order that asap. But you can get second-hand, sale samples or mail order in a much shorter timeframe.

View quoted message We are booked to go to one next weekend! I can't wait ☺️ I'm hoping it can give us more of an idea but getting stuck into the details of everything. Did you book anyone from the showcase? I don't know how/if the pricing is usually good there or not!

View quoted message We’ve booked in with one of the cake people as they cater for allergies. We’ve got the tasting booked in for May. But other than that no, it was nice to see the ideas etc but some our way out of our budget. But it’s nice to see the place they are hosting in, we’ve decided on the venue where we went to the showcase

I planned mine with around 6-8 months 🤣 last min decision to do something big. It's definitely doable. You got this! Mine is in june! And most things are done now. Just the final details in April

View quoted message Oh how brilliant and exciting this is!! Not long to wait now. Good luck with the final planning ☺️

No. If you are doing early spring not so popular so less likely to be in position where all good suppliers booked up. We found our venue and set the date on 5th November 2022. Getting married in 10 days. All been fine. Got great suppliers too.

Hi Claudia,


Congratulations on your engagement. Very excited for you both.
Yes it is absolutely doable. We are having a Christmas wedding this year 2023 and just finalised planning and putting down deposits for our big day. It might seem like it’s too soon but it never is. If the time is right for you both then go ahead and plan your beautiful wedding. Everyone is different and want different things at their wedding, but it’s never too soon or late. Yours sounds very similar to ours, close family and friends and a beautiful intimate wedding.
Hope you both have a great wedding.