How far in advance did you start planning your wedding?

[VuittonGal]

And am I insane to try to do it in a little over a year?????

 

[ame]

No, unless you have an in-demand date and highly sought-after sites and vendors.

We got ours done in a year. Just book the ceremony, officiant, photographer, reception site/caterer, flowers and limo immediately.

Where are you looking? I lived in North Hills for 2 years. I moved back home thought about 2 and a half years ago.

 

[lilyinct]

I got engaged April 27th, and getting married this Friday...so that''s a little over 4 months.

Totally do-able! Though it helps that everything is at my parents home.

 

[VuittonGal]

I am getting married in Ellwood City, PA and hoping to have the reception at the Marriott Pittsburgh North in Cranberry. I''m already spastic waiting for the Marriott to call me back and I only left them a voice message last night and sent them an e-mail today! If they don''t call me back by lunch, I''m calling them again!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

 

[ame]

holy crap. I lived in Ellwood with my former and his dad and former stepmother (on Border!) for almost a year before we rented a house in Koppel. Where is the Marriot? That's not the Four Points is it? Or is it off 228? My ex is from that town and has lived there for a long time! We might know each other!

I miss that area. I worked for the Trib while I was there. I miss Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe and Ritas Ices SO BAD.

Congrats!

 

[MINE!!]

We have waited until 9 months out to book a recpetion!! Stupid Stupid Stupid US!!! Very bad.. we are having a hard time finding something on our date in our area. We may have to change the date. But our pickin''s are not that great here anyway!

 

[curlygirl]

I got engaged in April and am planning a wedding for February--just under 10 months total. I picked an off month to get married in because the place I wanted for my reception was available and less expensive at that time. I don't really think you need years and years to plan a wedding. I have found that days, even weeks, have gone by and I've done nothing yet I see other people freaking out about weddings that won't take place for another year--and my wedding is now less than 5 months away! I think once you take care of the major things (date, place, music, photgrapher, dress), the rest just falls into place and you don't need to be stressing out about it 24 hours a day for months and months in advance. Just my opinion, but it can be done in a short amount of time if you just remain calm!!

 

[aljdewey]

7 months from engagement to wedding; 6 months total to plan.

Booked the ceremony site, reception site, and photographer right away---also picked a dress right away.

The rest was done within 2-3 months of the wedding.

 

[jennyann2]

got engaged march 7, getting married october 22.

we booked the location within a week and got a dress and then after that it''s no big deal, as long as you don''t have very specific vendors that you have to have. we were flexible.

 

[Mara]

we visited the venue in hawaii in september 2003 and then set the wedding for may 2004. it worked out perfectly. but then again with our destination wedding, it was not the same as a local booking, aka it was less crowded (though we had to change our date 3 times to find one that worked with our venue esp since we were going to be staying there for 2 weeks) and the vendors didn''t ''book up'' like they did locally. in fact we did almost all the bookings when we visited in september, or at least got our date on their books so the actual ''planning'' part took maybe 2 months and then i had this big gap of time where i just did dress and bm things. it worked out great. i think that too far ahead in advance and you start to obsess too much over stuff that can go wrong or it being too perfect. if you have a shorter timeline, you are more apt to just get the stuff done rather than worry or obsess over making it perfect. my thoughts!

 

[MelissaSue]

I got engaged October 20th 2004 (I can''t BELIEVE its been a year since my LIW days.. this time last year I was such a freaking MESS!)
We are getting married May 27 2006.. About 19 months engagement.

You don''t NEED all that time to get the stuff done.. The hardest part is running into vendors that are already booked. Which I found SO disappointing, because that is the reason why we wanted to wait and plan so far in advance so we could get whereever/whoever we wanted.
My first choice reception location was already booked (not even for a wedding, for a bar mitzvah! apparently those are planned crazy far in advance too!)
After we decided on a reception location (it took 4-5 months by the time we found out for sure the one place was booked... they gave us a lot of run around).. then we started looking for a photographer. Ran into at least two photographers already booked for our date.. about 15 months ahead of time! But then our photographer acted like we were a little nuts.. booking that early..

But.. if you''re willing to be flexible and stuff.. its definitely doable!

I had one friend do it in exactly a year.. Lots of PSers have done it in even less time (like the always amazing JCJD!)

 

[blueroses]

ummmm.......31 years??

 

[Tacori E-ring]

we got engaged may 27th, 2005 and will marry Aug 12th, 2006. Everyone was asking us why we were having such a long engagement (is it that long???) b/c we have been together for so long. I just wanted a summer wedding (my brother, his sister are in college and it seemed like the easiest time) and I was not going to get the venders I wanted in 3 months, so I am fine with it. We have booked reception (they had lots of openings next summer), photographer (we got the last saturday for next summer), dress, florist, hotel...I think it is doable to do a short engagement but you can''t be as picky. It sounds like you are very close to be being engaged so I don''t think there is anything wrong with starting to plan now so you can have a shorter engagement.

 

[glaucomflecken]

We got engaged July 04 and at first set our date Sept 24, 2005. It was to be over a year only because I wanted a fall wedding, due to the cooler weather and the pretty colors. I called our reception venue to book that date (which was available the day before) in August 04 and someone had booked that date TEN minutes before I called. So we changed the date to Oct 15th, which is perfect for us because its closer to our first date date, the fall colors are in full bloom, and (hopefully) the weather will be nice. So the hot reception venues, DJs and photographers may book early as mine did. I went through a lull for a while. It was frenzy last Aug/Sept booking the church, hall, DJ, photgrapher, etc, and then I had nothing to do for several months until I started getting my dress, shoes, baker, florist, etc.

Totally doable, and a lot of fun.

38 days to go!

 

[icekid]

I''m going to have 2+ years...

good thing, I am a busy one these days!

 

[JCJD]

Engaged Nov 19, 2004; married June 24, 2005 - 7 month engagement, didn''t book our reception site until January I think! My new SIL did it in 3 months, from VA (wedding in NE). I have another girlfriend on the verge of engagement who is planning on a 3 month engagement too.

Date: 9/7/2005 1:40:52 PM
Author: MelissaSue
Lots of PSers have done it in even less time (like the always amazing JCJD!)

You''re too sweet Miss Melissa!

 

[JessesGrl]

I had about 10 months. It is MORE than enough time despite popular belief. I am getting married in October, which in the hudson valley is the most popular month to get married. I booked EVERYTHING by feb/march and had more than enough time. I would book ceremony/reception and get the dress right away

 

[jellybean]

We planned our wedding in just under a year but honestly I didn''t need that much time. If you''re looking to get married in a popular month like June, you may need to book your reception hall a year out. Like the others, we booked our hall and a few other things right away then kind of sat around for a while.

My sister got married in August and planned a November wedding, so just under 3 months. It helped she picked an off month and even though she did scramble a bit, she was able to book all the vendors just fine. Her and her husband didn''t want a long engagement so that''s why they planned everything so quickly.