Summer 2008 Brides--The Big To-Dos!

[Haven]

Hello, fellow summer brides!

This is a sort of follow-up to my thread asking what I should be doing nine months out from the wedding. Harleigh's suggestion that I post the to-do lists from my Emily Post Wedding Planner got me thinking--I'd love to have a thread for brides who are getting married next summer so we can compare notes and share what we've done and what we're working on.

I don't know about everyone else, but all of these lists and time lines are just plain overwhelming, but swapping plans and peeking into others' planning methods seems to make it all seem more do-able.

So, here it is!

Emily Post's Master To-Do List

The first steps: 12 to 24 months in advance (Or, You should have taken care of these things already!)

- Announce your engagement to friends and family, and in any newspapers if desired.
- Decide the date and time of your wedding.
- Choose the style of your wedding--formal or information, traditional, theme, or destination, civil or religious.
- Determine a budget.
- Create a filing/organizational system for wedding paperwork.
- Decide on the size of the guest list and number of attendants.
- Meet with your officiant or clergy member.
- Meet with family members to discuss plans and the division of expenses.
- Decide whether to hire a wedding consultant.
- Choose your ceremony and reception locationis.
- Investigate the legal requirements to acquire a marriage license.
- Select your attendants, both male and female.
- Interview and book wedding professionals, including the caterer, florist, photographer, and musicians.
- Research honeymoon options and destinations.

9 to 12 months in advance (Or, you should be pretty darn close to finished with these items)

- Select your wedding gown and accessories. Look for bridesmaids' dresses.
- Finish hiring wedding professionals. Sign contracts for services.
- Decide whether to include children and guests of single friends.
- Create a master guest list. Get the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of all invited guests.
- Make honeymoon reservations.
- Open gift registries and start selecting items for them.
- If desired, create a wedding web site.
- Create a gift record so that you can record gifts as they are received.
- Promptly write thank-you notes for gifts as you receive them.

6 to 9 months in advance (Or, things we should be thinking about doing very soon)

- Order bridesmaids' dresses and accessories.
- Order your invitations, announcements, personal stationery, and order printed accessories and invitation enclosures. obtain envelopes in advance.
- Schedule the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Notify attendees of the schedule.
- Schedule religious or personal counseling sessions, as desired or as required by your faith.
- Select the groom's and ushers' wedding attire; schedule rentals as necessary.
- Help your mothers choose and coordinate their outfits.
- Plan/reserve accommodations and activities for out-of-town guests and attendants as necessary.
- Discuss prenuptial agreements. Draw up with lawyers if needed.
- If you want an out-of-town officiant to perform your ceremony, consult the local clergy to ascertain related regulations and requirements.
- Choose your reception menu and the type of food-and-beverage service.

I also have Martha Stewart's keepsake wedding planner, but this list should suffice for now!

So, ladies, where are you on your to-dos? Share what you'll be planning this weekend, and what you've already planned, and if you have any pictures of anything for your summer wedding, please share those, for goodness sake!

I'm looking forward to sharing all the planning details with my fellow summer brides!

 

[Independent Gal]

Wow, that list seems ambitious! I like my much more tame Modern Bride list:

By 6 months out they only suggest you have to:

Announce engagement
Set a date
Set a budget
Pick ceremony and reception sites
Meet the parents
Meet with the officiant
First draft of guestlist
Choose attendants
Choose a caterer
Register
Order your dress
Book DJ, florist, photographer
Save the dates
Shop for BM dresses

It seems a little early to be setting a menu, doing thank you notes, etc.?! Do people really get gifts that early? My list puts ''discuss menu'' at about 2 months out.

Well, we''ve done all of this except our DJ may be leaving the country. WAAH! I loved her.

Our big headache now is collecting documents for our marriage license. This is CRAZY COMPLICATED when you''re dealing with four different countries. His country needs a copy of a document about me that doesn''t EXIST in my home country. Plus we''re trying to do all this by phone across multiple time zones. The FedEx bills are mounting... along with the frustration. We can''t book the civil ceremony site (which books up fast) until this is all taken care of. So, that''s a bit stressful. I hope we won''t have to change the date AGAIN!

 

[zoebartlett]

Thanks Haven! It will be fun to plan along with all of the other summer brides. I think I''m good for now, as we have the bigger things booked.

Hopefully this weekend I''ll e-mail the papers with our engagement announcement and we''ll get the save the dates ready to go. I''m chaining my FI to the computer at some point this weekend so he can choose which options he likes for the ceremony.

We don''t have to meet with the restaurant until the winter to figure out the food, so that can wait. We do need to get in contact with the BBQ place that is catering our RD and figure all that out, but I''ll put my FI in charge of that.

Tomorrow is an in-service day so we''ll probably get out of school a little earlier than usual, and Monday''s a holiday. With these few days off from work, I''d like to get the above-mentioned things checked off my to do list.

 

[Haven]

IndyGal--I like your list, too! I think I''m going to stick with that one, Ms. Post has my blood pressure rising!

I''m excited to hear about all your plans, ladies. And if you have any pictures of decoration ideas, dresses, flowers, etc., please post them! I could use some summer inspiration!

 

[Harleigh]

Well, crap! According to both lists, I am WAY behind!!!

Thanks for posting these, ladies...guess I''d better get my little butt in gear!

 

[anchor31]

Let''s see how I''m doing...

Emily Post''s Master To-Do List
The first steps: 12 to 24 months in advance (Or, You should have taken care of these things already!)

- Announce your engagement to friends and family, and in any newspapers if desired.
- Decide the date and time of your wedding.
- Choose the style of your wedding--formal or informal, traditional, theme, or destination, civil or religious.
- Determine a budget.
- Create a filing/organizational system for wedding paperwork.
- Decide on the size of the guest list and number of attendants.
- Meet with your officiant or clergy member.
- Meet with family members to discuss plans and the division of expenses.
- Decide whether to hire a wedding consultant.
- Choose your ceremony and reception locationis.
- Select your attendants, both male and female.
- Interview and book wedding professionals, including the caterer, florist, photographer, and musicians.
- Research honeymoon options and destinations.

9 to 12 months in advance (Or, you should be pretty darn close to finished with these items)

- Select your wedding gown and accessories. Look for bridesmaids'' dresses.
- Finish hiring wedding professionals. Sign contracts for services.
- Decide whether to include children and guests of single friends.
- Create a master guest list. Get the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of all invited guests.
- Make honeymoon reservations.
- Open gift registries and start selecting items for them.
- If desired, create a wedding web site.
- Create a gift record so that you can record gifts as they are received.
- Promptly write thank-you notes for gifts as you receive them.

6 to 9 months in advance (Or, things we should be thinking about doing very soon)

- Order bridesmaids'' dresses and accessories.
- Order your invitations, announcements, personal stationery, and order printed accessories and invitation enclosures. obtain envelopes in advance.
- Schedule the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Notify attendees of the schedule.
- Schedule religious or personal counseling sessions, as desired or as required by your faith.
- Select the groom''s and ushers'' wedding attire; schedule rentals as necessary.
- Help your mothers choose and coordinate their outfits.
- Plan/reserve accommodations and activities for out-of-town guests and attendants as necessary.
- Discuss prenuptial agreements. Draw up with lawyers if needed.
- Choose your reception menu and the type of food-and-beverage service.

At 9½ months out, I seem to be little behind... I still need to sign contracts with my videographer, florist and ceremony musicians, finish picking and ordering everyone''s outfits, do something about the honeymoon and stationary, register, get everyone''s addresses and take care of some legal stuff. Yikes!

 

[Haven]

Seriously, Anchor, I think you are in really good shape! We''ve barely looked at vendors, let alone chosen anyone for anything.

I know I''m so behind but I have a bad case of ambivalence toward the wedding right now--I just don''t seem to care about any of it anymore. I don''t know what happened, but I''m just so over it! I wish we could run away and get married at a remote location and email our pictures to everyone! Of course, I do want to share the experience with our loved ones, but all this planning is more than I can handle right now.

And, FI saw my synagogue''s new social hall on Saturday and he does not like it, so it looks like we need a new reception venue.

I''m much more interested in house shopping than I am in wedding planning--we''ve decided to buy a house on Chicago''s north shore, and that''s all I really care to research right now! I need some serious wedding morale boosting!

 

[zoebartlett]

Well, according to Indy''s list from Modern Bride, the only things we still need to do are to register and do the engagement announcement. I''ve written it and we''ve chosen one of our engagement photos, but I still haven''t sent it to the papers.

 

[Independent Gal]

Well, we''ve now also:

- ordered the invitation kits
- as of Monday, filed the necessary legal papers with 4 different countries

Our next big tasks are:
- sort out the honeymoon
- solidify the March 29th city hall date (couldn''t do that until the legal papers were filed)
- print and assemble the invites
- book all our flights to WP1 WP2 and honeymoon.

In the December sales, FI will go buy a new suit for WP2 (P1 is black tie). I''m planning to give him a fancy tie for the suit as a wedding present.

I still have to accesorize and get my alterations done.

Then I think that''s all the major stuff!

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

oh this is fun! my wedding is june 15 so it's not quite summer but close enough...

wedding and reception locations have been booked, dress has been ordered, BM dresses picked out, honeymoon being booked next week, met with photographer and will be booking within next two weeks, invitations selected & need only be ordered, favors selected and need only be ordered, extras (ring pillows, flower baskets, garter) selected and need only be ordered, registry finished about a million years ago (i work at one!)...officiant, flowers, food, cake, all taken care of my reception site who have advised us not to choose until 2 months before the wedding...

only thing really not looked into yet, DJ!!! i must make an attempt within the next two weeks!

 

[Pandora II]

June, July and August are Summer here, September, October, November are Autumn etc - so you are a summer bride, at least as far as the UK is concerned!

This TO DO LIST freaks me out somewhat, I must say!

Emily Post's Master To-Do List

The first steps: 12 to 24 months in advance (Or, You should have taken care of these things already!

- Announce your engagement to friends and family
- Decide the date and time of your wedding.
- Choose the style of your wedding
- Determine a budget.
- Create a filing/organizational system for wedding paperwork.
- Decide on the size of the guest list and number of attendants.
- Meet with family members to discuss plans and the division of expenses.
- Decide whether to hire a wedding consultant.
- Choose your ceremony and reception locations.
- Investigate the legal requirements to acquire a marriage license.
- Select your attendants, both male and female.
- Interview and book wedding professionals, including the caterer, florist, photographer, and musicians.
- Research honeymoon options and destinations.

9 to 12 months in advance (Or, you should be pretty darn close to finished with these items

- Select your wedding gown and accessories. Look for bridesmaids' dresses.
- Finish hiring wedding professionals. Sign contracts for services.
- Decide whether to include children and guests of single friends.
- Create a master guest list. Get the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of all invited guests.
- Make honeymoon reservations.
- Open gift registries and start selecting items for them.
- If desired, create a wedding web site.
- Create a gift record so that you can record gifts as they are received.
- Promptly write thank-you notes for gifts as you receive them.

6 to 9 months in advance (Or, things we should be thinking about doing very soon)

- Order bridesmaids' dresses and accessories.
- Order your invitations, announcements, personal stationery, and order printed accessories and invitation enclosures. obtain envelopes in advance.
- Select the groom's and ushers' wedding attire; schedule rentals as necessary.
- Plan/reserve accommodations and activities for out-of-town guests and attendants as necessary.
- Choose your reception menu and the type of food-and-beverage service.


I don't know if I feel better or worse! Somethings I'm ready to go on, but it's too early to do them (in case I end up a 2 invitation bride or similar!). Others I'm going to ignore. Our honeymoon won't be till the December anyway, so I'll probably do that after the actual wedding.

My big nightmares at the moment are the music, the registry and my dress.

Music: FI, my parents (who are paying) and I can't agree. My parents and I want jazz/swing with an 'ipod disco' of contemporary music later. FI doesn't like jazz. We have a lot of older guests attending and I want them to enjoy the music too. FBIL had contemporary only and a lot of people left very early - the same people will be at ours. I will win here I think!

Registry: We're in our 30's, have lived together for 3 years and FI has an obsession with cookshops! What we'd really like are ebay vouchers, but that's not very romantic and it's like asking for money. I'm trying to see if there is someway of having a registry where we can put lots of odd things on from different shops rather than just a one store registry.

Dress: I have found an amazing dress-designer who specialises in historic corsetry and she's going to make me a bespoke wedding dress in silk for less than the average off-the-peg in the UK. Hooray!
I've spoken to her on the phone and sent her a mega-email with all my ideas and pictures etc on Sunday - so I'm going to feel nervous until we are at least at the toile stage...