Newly engaged and planning to have the wedding in 11 months. How do I plan?

I remember being in the same situation. I knew nothing about planning a wedding and I had no one to help me. The good thing is that you have plenty of time. I planned mine in less than 4 months. Here is how I planned (and still planning) mine:

1) Come up with a realistic budget with your fiance. What can you afford? Also come up with a tentative guest list for quoting purposes.

2) Decide what type of wedding you want to have. Do you want to have your ceremony in a church and then the reception at a hotel banquet room? Do you want to have your wedding at a house?

3) Research available venues. I wanted a beach wedding so I googled "beach wedding venues in the bay area" and came up with a ton of information.

4) Check date availability and get quotes. Prices vary greatly from place to place. I found a place that wanted to charge $80+ a head and the place I booked is much nicer and only charges $45 a head.

5) Make an appointment to meet with the wedding coordinator to look at the place. If you like it an can afford it, make a deposit to hold your date.

6) Research and get quotes from photographers

7) Research DJ's or band in your area and pay a deposit to book their services. I found a company that offered a showcase so I got to see what they were about before I booked. Companies are better than booking individuals because they have backups if the DJ gets sick or can't make it for any reason.

8) Get an idea of what you want your colors, flowers, or themes to be. Print pictures of flowers / bouquets off the Internet and show them to florists. Get quotes and book your florist.

9) Look at wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses, and print pictures of ones you like. Make an appointment at your local bridal shop (give yourself at east 4 months or more). The dresses usually take up to 16 weeks to be tailored and sent to the bridal shop. I chose my bridesmaids dresses the same day and at the same shop I got my wedding dress from.

10) Book your officiant / pastor / rabbi. If the one you had in mind is busy on your wedding day then ask him or her for a referral. I got my officiant through a referral and she seems really nice.

11) See if your hairstylist can do your hair /and or make-up the day of your wedding. If she or he cannot travel to where you will be married then look around for local salons and get trial hair and make-up to be sure you will like what they can do for you.

12) Look for bakeries that do wedding cakes and choose what type of cake you want and how you want it to look. Book their services for your date.

13) 3 months before you wedding (no earlier than that or it will expire) obtain your marriage license permit in the county you will be married in. You might have to go down to the clerks office with your fiance and show your ID's and make a payment. Call or search the county recorders office in the county you will be married, and ask what they need from you. Also ask your officiant if all they need is the permit. Our officiant is going to take care of the documents after the wedding, we just need to give her the permit.

14) Search and purchase your wedding favors and wedding party gifts. Look into table numbers and seating assignment charts if you will be assigning seating.

15) Make sure your fiance makes an appointment at a tux shop with his wedding party to pick out their attire. This can be a few months before the wedding.

Note: When selecting your vendors, make sure you tell them you are on a budget (if so) and they will almost always go down in price. Our photographer gave us $500 off his regular fee and I had one guy go down half his price when he found out I was choosing another vendor who was cheaper.

I'm sure I left some things out. Just look up a wedding check list and check the items off as you go. Happy planning!

if you are clueless where to begin, get yourself a wedding planning book. There are several ones available and it gives you a good breakdown of 12 month prior to the wedding planning.

Since you have 11 months to go, get a venue first!!! I waited too long for my dream venue and it is booked 2 years in advance. Good venues book fast!!! and it is the most important thing to get out of the way. Second start looking for the dress. I've been looking for 2 month and have not found one yet. Some dresses take up to 8 month to make (some are as little as 3 month). Then get your caterer, florist, lighting design etc...

Go to bridal fairs in your area! I love bridal fairs, you get a lot of really great ideas this way.

And be happy!

One more thing, if you know your date already, sand out save-the-date cards, so people can reserve that date for you.

Happy Planning!!!

Congrads!

get yourself a bridal magazine. specifically, find one that has a timeline/planner thing in it (they ALL have at least a rough version of one). this will give you at least a basic idea of what order things should be done in. just to keep you focused, im not saying it all HAS to be done in that order, but its mainly just to keep you headed in the right direction.

ask vendors about tips for other vendors. example: a lot bakerys put fresh flowers on cakes, so you might be able to get a good tip on a baker from your florist, or a good tip on your florist from your baker.

organize. getting a binder or file folder specifically for wedding stuff is a good idea. you can put all your contracts in there and keep track of payments made and when payments are due

RELAX!!!!!!! plan a few days in your timeline to go out with your bridesmaids and just have a good time NOT thinking about wedding stuff. the less stressed you are the better, so a few days here and there to spend doing absolutely nothing wedding related can only help.

be calm. not everyone is going to make it to every little wedding related event that you have planned. your going to have reletives that cant come to the shower. a bridesmaid may miss the bachlorette party. your mom may not be able to come pick out flowers with you. these things happen. yes, it would be nice if everyone could attend every little thing, but sometimes, **** happens. im not saying you are the kind of person who would freak out over something like that, but i am on this site often, and i cannot count how many times i see questions where the bride is freaking out because "oh a bridesmaid missed this and my aunt tilly missed that, and blah blah blah no one cares". EVERYONE cares, but their lives happen first, no matter what is going on in yours. so if someone cant make a particular pre wedding event, just let it slide. the only event you SHOULD insist on is making sure your bridesmaids are measured and fitted for their dresses, and that the dresses are ordered in time. this may mean making more than one trip to the store.

First of all, you should start off by deciding on a budget. You can include any contributions your parents or anyone will be giving you, plus what you guys would like to spend. Here's a budget worksheet to help you plan out how much you can spend.

http://www.realsimple.com/static/pdfs/budget_works...

Then you can hire a wedding planner if you would like to. If you have a higher budget, I suggest getting one. They can be extremely helpful.

Next, you get to start your guest list and choose your wedding party, if you want one. It's easier to find a venue once you have an estimated head count.

Then you should find the venue you want and book it as early as possible.

Then I suggest researching vendors you might want to have and put information in a binder that you shall call your wedding binder.

And then you can throw an engagement party if you wish!

Here's an amazing checklist to help you with planning:)

http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/we...

And here is a list of articles that can help you a lot.

http://browse.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining...

Email me if you have any questions or anything and happy planning:)

don't worry about agendas and timelines, things happen when they happen. first find a venue and caterer. then you'll have your date nailed down so you can get STD cards and invitations printed, and you'll know your rsvp deadline. then you can start finding other vendors- DJ, limos, cake, florist, photog, salon etc. I had my venue booked after I was engaged for 3 weeks and we'll be engaged for 9 mos total.

Here is a Wedding Planning Article and Website which may be very helpful to you :)

http://www.wedding-and-party-ideas.com/weddings.ht...

Depending on where you are located...I might be able to help! I'm a wedding & event coordinator...I have been in the business for 10+ years. If you are in Southern California, I would be willing to donate my services to you! No gemmicks, no catch! Business is a little slow at the moment, so how can I help you?? :-) By the way, congratulations on your engagement!

register on the knot.com they really help!