Woohoo, you just got engaged! Cue the confetti! 🎉 You might be asking yourself “how do I even plan a wedding?”

Sound like you?! Fret not, friends — we got you! 

One of the biggest things we always preach to our couples is no matter what, there’s no right or wrong way to do anything when it comes to YOUR wedding.

Don’t just do things “traditionally” for traditions sake. If it doesn’t matter to you or doesn’t fit your vision or who you are as a couple – toss it! That includes the planning process.

Here’s how we encourage our couples to approach things, though!

Share the good news…

First things first, you’re excited… we’re excited for you! And while figuring out how to plan a wedding is a timely (and yes, time-sensitive) process, that doesn’t mean it has to start the very moment you say “yes” to your future hubby!

Take a breath. Soak it in. Celebrate!

Share the good news with your people and enjoy the feeling of being a “fiancé!”

When you’re ready to dive in, it’s time to get organized with a planning timeline and have a good approach to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Get organized and set a (coffee) date!

Let’s face it, it’s easy to get lost in the endless Pinterest scrolling for inspiration. Sometimes it’s necessary to deep dive in previous wedding galleries when you don’t know where to start or what your style is.

I always say planning is done in phases…

1. The “oh, sh*t, this is really happening phase — let’s set a date and select vendors!”
2. The “oh, sh*t, this is really happening phase — what is this for and do we really need it?”
3. And the “oh, sh*t, this is really happening phase — we’re getting married in 45 days and need to finalize some details”

All jokes aside, it is incredibly helpful to have a clear strategy for how you want to approach the planning and breaking it down into smaller bites does help!

Here’s a few ideas on how to break it down: 

Make wedding planning fun!

Some days, wedding planning can often feel like you’re taking on another full-time job.

One thing that was really helpful while planning our own wedding was Nic and I set up coffee dates together once a week in the beginning. During these uninterrupted times together, we were able to sit down and talk about ideas, vendors, budgets, guest lists, etc.

During the week, we tried to write down and save all of our questions for these coffee dates!

It was fun to look forward to quality time together and we both knew we were in a good place for receiving information and discussing the details for the wedding planning process!

Coffee date topics

• What’s the budget? Pro tip: Weddings undoubtedly cost more than you anticipate and things can add up quickly… consider the “high end” of your expected budget whenever planning. You can’t have a $100k wedding if you can only afford $20k

• What’s our style? What kind of venue do we want? Modern and chic downtown city vibes? Vintage and romantic? Boho? Whimsical? Garden? French country? Rustic? Have fun and daydream a little! Highly suggest creating a Pinterest board or getting a wedding magazine to flip through!

• How many guests do we want to invite? This also goes back to the budget too

• Figure out the non-negotiables. What things are most important about the day? Is it the ceremony? Invest in dreamy florals. Is it the reception? Maybe spend a little more on a checkered dance floor and live band for an elevated experience! This will help you decide areas you want to spend more time, energy and budget on.

Select THE date

The next thing we encourage our couples to in the wedding planning process is nail down a date. This can really go two ways:

1. Select a date that you’re firm on (a significant date to you and your fiancé, favorite season, etc.). Then, take that date to potential wedding venues to see their availability.
2. Narrow down your dream wedding venue (with maybe a backup or two) and see what’s open on their calendar and choose from there.

Find your people

When we say “find your people” we mean ALL of your people.

Your bridal party, your photographer and videographer, your wedding planner — all of your wedding vendors.

Your team of wedding vendors are the people that are going to be responsible for bringing your vision to life and are arguably the most important pieces of the puzzle in whether your day goes off seamlessly! 

As you’re researching wedding venues, you’ll like want to see what other people have done with their weddings at each venue. This will start to give you an idea of who some of the main vendors in your area are and also some great wedding day inspiration!

We strongly recommend nailing down your venue, planner/coordinator, and your photographer and videographer as soon as you can. These are the wedding vendors that tend to get booked up the fastest and furthest out. PLUS, you get the added benefit of leaning on your vendor team for referrals and suggestions for other vendors you still need to book! They can also help you consider things you may not know about or have ever considered when it comes to how to plan a wedding!

Remember to take it all in one day at a time and the decisions you make early on are going to set the tone for not only your big day but also the entire wedding planning process.

Breathe

Seriously! Trust us, we know planning a wedding is a whole whirlwind roller coaster of emotions and it can feel overwhelming if this isn’t something that comes natural to you.

And that’s totally okay! There’s a lot of little decisions you’ll need to make, but once the early and “big” ones are knocked out, it’s totally normal to take your foot off the gas a bit and slow down.

You’ll have plenty of time for figuring out the smaller details and particulars throughout the next few months.

It may be your first time planning a wedding but it’s not for your vendors. Let them help guide you and take the stress away! It’s one reason we *highly* suggest having a wedding planner by your side throughout this process and/or having a day-of coordinator.

There are so many questions and decisions that need to be made towards the last few weeks and on the day of the wedding and it will let you be present to enjoy your big day. It goes by so incredibly fast and before you know it, you’re eating cake in your hotel room wanting to relive it all over again!

Once all of your major vendors are in place, take this time to get your engagement photos done, mail out your Save the Dates, try on wedding dresses and dream of your honeymoon.

You’re almost there!

Church bells are almost ringing! The decisions are made, seating chart is finalized, you just came back from your bach getaways, you know who is in charge of gathering your wedding gifts at the end of your big day.

You made it! And hopefully with your sanity still there.

The last few weeks of planning a wedding seem to disappear. You’re celebrating and thinking about your wedding day 24/7… but also waking up in the middle of the night wondering if you sent off your final guest head count to the caterer.

We get it. We’ve been there before!

This is a phase of tidying up the details, timelines and making sure everyone knows their place (we’re looking at you Dads).

Your big day will be here before you know it! Remember to get plenty of rest leading up to your wedding and don’t skip out on breakfast the day-of.

You are about to be MARRIED!

Plan your wedding!

Having an actual plan is the key for how to plan a wedding!

Download our FREE Wedding Planning Checklist to get your free year-view at a sample wedding planning timeline.