How long to plan

[WebLady]

So I was thinking; how far ahead of the wedding did you plan/are you planning?

*poll coming ;)

[lizloveskar]

almost 11 months ahead!

[SkippyNXC]

i started a lil under 15 months ahead of time. in my area most women start planning somewhere b/w 1-2yrs in advance. Those that want the pick of the litter obvi start on the later side. I found 15 months was perfect... MOST reception halls were still available and all of the vendors were still open. so i booked the hall in feb n just booked my photog last weekend the other stuff i'll get to eventually...

[*andrea*]

8 months....we got engaged on valentines day this year and decided we didn't want to wait too long. we knew we wanted a spring or fall wedding so we figured we could pull it off this fall. we haven't hit any snags yet and we were lucky enough that everybody we wanted as far as photography, cakes and what not were still available.

[KMS]

We got engaged on Christmas eve, started planning about 2 months later, and got married in January...so 10 - 12 months. Time flew by!!

[snu]

1 year, 7 months.

We knew we wanted a summer or fall 2010 wedding. When we realized our 5th anniversary fell on a Saturday, we decided to go with September.

[Katie-ryn]

We set a date almost 2 years ahead. We set our September 2010 date in October 2008.

I'm more in the looking stage right now, but even then most elements are already planned, things just need to be bought/paid for now.

[Whitewater]

Well . . .

Started planning in Oct of 2007. Getting married June of 2009, so . . . 18 months, approximately.

And believe you me, I needed ALL that time. Not only did I need to book some vendors VERY early, but I needed that time to figure out color schemes, design the dress, plan a budget, save money to pay for it all, and so on.

And we both wanted a long engagement so that we would be able to experience the joy of being engaged without having planning the wedding taking up all the time. We just wanted to be able to be engaged without any expectations or planning stress, which is exactly what we got!


Whitewater

[lizloveskar]

Wow that is crazy. I don't feel like its okay for me to start picking stuff.

[Whitewater]

Huh, what? If you've got less than a year to go, I would politely suggest that your wedding will be here before you know it, and now is the perfect time to start picking things out!


Whitewater

[lizloveskar]

Well he proposed on March 20th. Me and my FH were talking about how our lines are because his family is religious and he has never seen a wedding where you watch them say i do. So i was explaining our lines and stuff to him and his mom jumped on my case saying not to plan anything its to far away. My mom and sister both told me that they would help me. It was just weird cause his mom was all excited and looked at dresses with me and even asked me to put her wedding dress on??!! Mixed signals much...

[mitch]

Got Engaged in the September of 2007. But didn't get a date sorted out until the April of 2008.
Our Witness was in a Band that did Gigs every Weekend and We had to wait for bookings to come in for that year. (He has since left the Band to return to Australia)

When i pointed out that October 11th was Six Years to the day since i met DH. Our Witness phoned up the Venue and cancelled the Gig for that night.

So i had Six Months to pull it off.

Having said that i never actually did any looking or planning until the May but it all went smoothly. :)

[KristinGriffin]

I'm a bad example for wedding planning. While we had talked about it a lot, we weren't "officially" engaged until about 4 days before we eloped! :)

DH was going to Australia for the year for a masters degree and I was coming along... I couldn't get a visa for that long w/o "proof" we were a serious couple, so we moved up the wedding and went to the Valley of Fire (outside of Vegas).

Guess I missed out on all the fun planning you all are doing here, but being in the business, I'm not sure that would have been for me anyways!

Will be interested to see the results of the poll!

[MrsDM]

We got engaged February, 2007 and getting married August, 2009. So, about 17 months. It actually worked out because I was able to book my vendors in the first couple of months and have been able to slowly work on things throughout the next several months. I don't feel stressed at all! I can honestly say I've really enjoyed being engaged and the whole planning process!

[Ninedays9]

We got engaged about a year and 5 months beforehand. We didn't start seriously planning until about one year before. We still have sooo much to doo, :(. And I haven't even been thinking about it in the last week because of moving and all we have to do with that.

[savepaws]

We got engaged Oct. 19, 2008. We started planning the very next day. :) So I guess we will have had about 7 months to plan.

I wanted a year to plan but FH took his sweet time getting my ring and once he finally got it (in August), since I knew about it, he had to wait and keep me in suspense as long as possible. LOL We both wanted to get married in June and we didn't want to wait til June 2010.

[f77g4]

Engaged June 2008 and getting married August 09 so 14 months.

[sandy03]

By wedding day it will be about 17 months - I made it very clear before we were even engaged that if he didn't want me going stark raving mad, I would need ample time to get everything done.

Right now I'm planning the wedding from about 175 miles away, going to school full time, working part time, preparing to graduate two weeks before the wedding, moving twice in a month, getting ordained, and finding a "big girl" job!

No pressure!

[ChristineLS]

In theory about a year, in practice we didn't make any decisions until about 9 months before. I keep reminding myself of my colleague who put a wedding together in 17 days (traditional and fancy at that!) if I think it can't be done. Her husband was being deployed for a year, and they didn't want to wait. No reason to panic. :)

[mitch]

I keep reminding myself of my colleague who put a wedding together in 17 days (traditional and fancy at that!) if I think it can't be done. Her husband was being deployed for a year, and they didn't want to wait. No reason to panic. :)

A bit like Jade Goody (UK Reality TV Star some may of heard of Her). She was diagnosed with Cervical Cancer back in October and tried to beat it. She was eventually told it was Terminal and planned Her Wedding in less than Six days from a Hospital Bed.
She walked down the Aisle to all the trimmings. Every Family Member available, Four BM's, Her Two Sons as PB's. Plus the UK Media following Her every move.

She pulled it off in a Fancy Hotel not far from where i live. And sadly passed away aged only 27 Two weeks later. :(
Her Funeral is Tomorrow and it passes through Town at 12pm.

A very sad ending. But proof that no matter what, She was determined to be Married. And that's exactly what She did. R.I.P.

[WBandMe]

16 month long engagement for us. Will have been 'actively' planning for about 14 months by the time the wedding comes.

ETA--although a lot of this time hasn't been very active. We did a lot between last April-August, then when I went to school for my last semester, we hardly did anything until December. Did a little more in January and now have a lot of free time again. Definitely not a stressful planning period.

[lillypad]

Just around 13 months, and it is not enough time! Things around here book up very quickly so you really have to start that early. I remember trying to find a photographer and a year in advanced the first three I tried were already booked.

[MrsFuchs09]

We had 15 months. Now it's down to five....stressing BIG TIME.