You're engaged! Now what?

First of all, congratulations! This is such an exciting time that you will remember for the rest of your life. Also, remember, like all precious times, it is fleeting so soak in every moment you can.

First thing- just enjoy being engaged

Do not feel rushed to JUMP into planning your wedding. As a wedding planner, I really suggest just waiting for a minute and being in the moment. Celebrate with your friends and family, stare at your ring. This can also be a chance for you and your fiance to make sure you’re on the same page on big things- kids, ethics, finances, politics, how to celebrate holidays- you’re about to commit to FOREVER so taking it slow isn’t a bad idea.

now, let’s talk wedding planning

Now once you’re ready, begin talking with your fiance about wedding plans. This is when you should discuss scope and priorities. Are you eloping or having a large affair? Does one of you have family or VIPs that will have to travel, would being close to an airport or having guest transportation be a must? It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to discuss where you’ve always envisioned your wedding- have you always wanted a beach wedding or somewhere tropical? Has your partner always wanted a Christmas wedding or a mountain view? Having these conversations BEFORE you really begin planning will make the process smoother and stress free. It will also help make the budget conversation much more productive. Be open to compromise and remember- the wedding is about BOTH of you.

on to the budget

Everyone’s favorite part of planning. This is the MOST important part of your planning because it will dictate every other aspect. You have to discuss budget. Going into planning with a vague plan of “keeping things ‘budget friendly’” or “not going overboard,” is going to lead to you going over what you can afford. You need to come up with actual numbers and and estimates for each category. Now, early on, you won’t know what you don’t know. So, look up average cost of weddings in the area you’re looking in and over estimate and leave room for the unexpected. Richmond Weddings blog features real weddings with budgets listed which helps give an idea of cost expectation. When figuring out how much your families are contributing, don’t count on money until you have it. When figuring out how much you two would like to (or have to) contribute to funding your wedding day, take into account how long you’d like to be engaged.

Here’s a blog on wedding budgeting.

guest list

Now is the time to start discussing and thinking about who you actually want there. Begin with the people you HAVE to have there- parents, siblings. Then span out from there. You have to make sure your vision, budget and guest list are aligned. $30,000 for 50 people will be a very different event than $30,000 for 250 people. You also have to consider plus ones. If they have a ring (engaged or married), live together or are in a known relationship- think facebook official, introduced them to family, then you have to include their significant other. This is also when you should discuss whether or not to include children. Keep in mind you will never make everyone happy.

booking vendors

This is the fun part. Now you get to find the team to bring your day to life. Research venues first. Once you’ve decided on the area where you want to get married, decide what features you want your venue to have. Consider getting ready space, accessibility, location in relation to airports. Once you’ve found 3 venues you think you could fall in love with, reach out and tour them. Once your venue is booked and locked in, work on finding all remaining vendors. I recommend to clients to not reach out to more than 3 per category. Couples often go on theknot and inquire with 10 vendors and then get inundated with responses. Keeping it limited helps to actually see what makes each individual vendors different and valuable. Experience, size of team, scope of services all go into the price points you will see.

Wedding planning can be stressful, but if you go into it with a strategy, you can keep calm and organized. If you’ve just started planning or you’re nearing the end, we would love to chat with you about planning or coordination services to alleviate stress and make your day run smoothly. We offer services from one-time 2 hour virtual planning sessions, coordination to tie up loose ends to full service planning to take you from yes to I Do. & if you’d like to meet us in person along with some of the best vendors in RVA, check out the Richmond Wedding Show at Main Street Station on January 7th 2023.