i'm engaged! now what?

CONGRATULATIONS PArt of the fun and exciting part of being engaged is the planning of your special day! First of all, consider who is paying for what - like are you paying for this yourselves, or are parents involved! Is your mother going to help or his mother with wedding plans? Often times they love to get involved. You need to figure out a budget for the wedding. Pick your wedding party and ask them if they can do it? Flower girl, ring bearer, bridesmaids and Maid of Honor, groomsmen and best man, preacher, ushers- basically all those who will actually do something in the wedding! Vocalist, someone to oversee guest book, pianist or organist etc. What are your favorite colors? Decide that!

Base your wedding things around those colors. Have the bridesmaids go with you to choose dresses. My mom and sis sewed all ours for us! of course you must get your gown and the guys need to pick their tuxes. There are many ways to have a BEAUTIFUL wedding without spending a fortune if you are on a tight budget! You need to choose a florist. You will also need to plan a wedding rehersal which usually come with reherrsal dinner (which could be potluck style) and what kind of reception are you going tohave? Will it just be cake and drinks with minling, a band, a dinner or what? For all these get togethers, you need to know how many people you want to invite so start working on your guest list now! You'll also need to think about little gifts for the wedding party, and YOUR INVITATIONS are a biggie! Each person like the maid of honor and best man have roles they play in preperation for your wedding- this established by ettiquette. So dont be afraid to ask them to do their jobs because it isnt just about standing in front of the church looking pretty! (http://www.weddingplanner.co.uk)/ and dont forget the CAKE! We made all our cakes in our weddings and now I do it for my kids! I also made all our invitations which were beautiful! And we made little bird seed holders to throw instead of rice! Ask the church what is allowed- rice, bird seed or bubbles, or confetti! Your endeavor is fun and stressful and you may become overwhelmed. Most importantly, EVERYONE you know will have ideas about how THEY think it should be! Although you dont want to step on toes, just remember that this is YOUR DAY not theirs! Dont let any one guilt you into doing it their way and regret it later! Thank people for their suggestions, and YOU make the final decisions! SOmeone needs to write a book to answer all your questions! Ohhhhhhh there are books to help you and tons of websites! Look Below and best wishes for a wonderful day!

The main things you need to decide are: When, Where, How big/small, How formal/informal, and What is the budget. Everything else will fall into place after you decide these.

The first thing you should do is come up with a date range (i.e. Mid-December through Mid-January, June or July, etc) that would be acceptable, rather than just one date. If you have a date range, you'll probably have an easier time finding a location than if you were completely attached to only one date. Also, if you are flexible with the actual time of the wedding (i.e. you would be ok with a noon or afternoon event) you may also have an easier time booking a venue. The more flexible you are, the more options you'll have. You didn't mention where you live, but in my city most venues are booked 8-12 months in advance for evening weddings and about 5-6 months in advance for daytime weddings. Similar time frames apply to caterers, too.

Remember: the more you plan in advance, the less stressful your day will be.

Once you have a time and place, you'll be able to decide the details like decorations and clothing.

- Talk to your fiance about what would make the day perfect for both of you. You may not have a “dream wedding” in your head, but you’ll find you do have ideas of what you want. Play 20 questions with each other and you��ll have a better idea of what you should plan.

- Tear out pages you like (and make notes on them) from bridal magazines. You'll start seeing a pattern of what ideas you like for dresses, reception, etc.

- Think about location (city) and what the associated costs are. Many couples are from different towns and live in a third place. Who needs to travel where? We are having a smaller destination wedding at a fraction of the cost.

- Start an Excel spreadsheet. I made one with 20, 40, and 80 guests across the top and all the expensives down the left. A $4 favor seems cheap, but with a spreadsheet you can see how the little costs impact the total budget of the wedding.

- Visit a large bridal place to try on a variety of dresses. Places like Alfred Angelo and David's Bridal have less expensive dresses and a huge variety. The first visit is mainly for research - try on a variety of styles.

- Make a preliminary guest list and ask both parents to give their feedback. Many an engaged couple thought they would have 40 people only to discover that each set of parents had 50 additional guests in mind (especially if they're paying!)

My wedding is next fall too, when we started planning I was very overwhelmed! I thought it was going to be impossible for me, mostly by myself to plan a whole wedding and expect everything (well most things) to go as planned. I'm moving out in a few months, to live with my fiance, right now we live 800 miles apart. So, it's a little hard. I do have my dress picked out! it's the very first thing i decided on lol. I suggest for the first few months, just research venues & ceremony sites, dresses, colors..etc. Just so you can have an idea for what kind of wedding you want, or if you want a theme. Most bride magazines have 'countdown calendars' to give you an idea of when you should do certain things, i.e. go looking for dresses, buying this or that. But anyways congratulations!! I hope everything goes well for you!

Well, budget would be an obvious place to start. How much do you see yourself spending? Figure out what the "must-haves" are. Do you want it to be simple or elaborate? Church or secular? Big or small? In-town or out-of-town? Formal or informal? I would go from general to specific. Check www.theknot.com for tips and planning tools. Sit down with your fiancé and throw ideas around. Start putting together a guest list - include everyone you'd like to have at your wedding, then start cutting back if you're over budget. Call around some places you would consider as locations or caterers - chances are, a lot of them have done weddings before, and can help answer your questions. Just start narrowing down your options.

A lot of people have given good advice. It's true that venues, caterers, photographers, DJs, and florists book up months to a year in advance, so that's a good place to start.

theknot.com is good. So is perfectweddingguide.com--they don't have all the venues, etc. in a local area, but they have a lot. You can also keep an eye open for bridal shows in the area (be forewarned--you will be sent a lot of emails, mail, etc. if you sign up for drawings and so on at bridal shows).

One important thing is that while it's great to buy a bunch of books about planning and ettiquette (or check a few out from the library and buy others), be aware that all of them are different. If you get one and it seems to traditional/too non-traditional, get another & it will say something different!

Good luck with your planning & your marriage!

start by picking a date a budget then a venue!! Then you can go from there look for dresses color schemes if your want one! Some venues you have to use there caterer so that will take care of food! If not shop around for caterers djs and photographers! Most women start the planning a year in advance so dont be surprised if some venues are reserved already!! Good Luck And Congrats!!!

Start off by printing off some checklists... http://www.bridestuff.com/wedding_checklist.asp

Get a three ring binder to put everything in. Be as organized as you can.

*Sounds like your hubby-to-be has a job that is really gonna help with hooking you guys up with some really good deals AND the fact that he is wanting you to get started hopefully means that he will be more than willing to help. But, don't forget to pick the brains of all your friends (his too) and your family (his too) and see what ideas everyone has and who they know that could help! What they are willing to help with. If they are creative and can help make stuff or if they have a business sense and can get you better deals.

Even tho you have a whole year to plan don't put stuff off. If it is something that can be decided on then decide...don't say "o, well, I can do that later" cause then you might start making a habit of it and thing will build up and then you might put yourself in a crunch!

*CONGRATULATIONS!

Maybe you should go to a bookstore and browse the wedding section to see if you can find a good wedding planner. You can also go to this site, for a start. I'm also in the wedding planning process, and I'm almost in the same boat as you... never pictured a dream wedding and haven't been to many (especially not a mardi gras one, haha)...

In my eyes, there's no certain why to be engaged. Many individuals do it many one of a kind approaches. It's all approximately what works for the individuals concerned. For my husband and I, we mentioned short of to be married (peers of ours had simply gotten engaged, and I mentioned whatever alongside the strains of, "So, do you consider a good way to ever be us?" and the following weekend we had been watching at jewelry!). We didn't recollect ourselves engaged till he proposed to me. I might had been pleased to be engaged with out a ring, however he desired to be extra conventional. Since we each owned a condo in combination earlier than we bought engaged and I am enormously impartial, he didn't believe the have got to ask my dad and mom for his or her "permission" (plus I'm no longer near with my father). I knew that he had bought the hoop, however didn't understand how or whilst he used to be going to advocate. He did an excessively candy shock thought that ended with him on one knee, asking me to thrill marry him. he would not allow me positioned the hoop on till I mentioned sure. Then we viewed ourselves engaged. In the United States, there's no legality concerned with being engaged - marriage is whilst legality comes into play. Long tale quick, a pair is viewed engaged once they make a decision it is proper. For a few individuals it is conventional, for others it is simply as you place it - "k, candy, we are engaged now."