Engagement Season is Upon Us!

You've just said yes to marrying the love of your life. The moment was perfect, everything you could have dreamed of and more. You and your partner are filled with so much excitement and joy, and if you are like most couples... the questions and advice from well-meaning friends and family members have already started rolling in. While this is a very exciting and happy time in your life, it is easy to very quickly feel overwhelmed!

With 40% of proposals occurring between November and February, roughly 20% of these specifically in the month of December according to Wedding Wire, engagement season is officially upon us. If you find yourself in this statistic and are newly engaged, unsure where to start and looking for a few actionable next steps, read on!

1. Breathe! Take some time for just you and your partner to enjoy the beauty and excitement of this recent commitment. If Pinterest and similar sites are something fun (and not overwhelming to you!), head there and start getting a feel for what your dreams and visions for the day might entail!

2. Have a candid conversation about an overall budget with your partner and any relevant parties who may be financially contributing to the wedding.

3. Create a spreadsheet for your guest list - this goes hand in hand with the line above as your guest count will heavily impact your total spend.

4. Start researching and contacting venues! It may be helpful to go into this with a few specific dates in mind, or a general season/month depending on what dates they have available. If you are working with me as your wedding planner or coordinator, I would recommend utilizing your Vendor Research tracking spreadsheet for this step (as well as all other vendor booking processes).

5. Start researching your other key vendors based on the availability of your chosen venue. To start, I suggest the following order for booking: wedding coordinator (;)), venue, photographer/videographer, catering (if not included with venue), band/DJ, officiant.

6. Confirm a wedding date after making sure that it will work for your immediate families, key vendors, and closest friends.

7. Start looking for your wedding dress! Sometimes this will be the first dress you try on and other times this can be a lengthy process. I encourage you to make this process fun and memorable - consider going out with your girls for a brunch beforehand or drinks after etc.!

8. Make a plan for some form of pre-marital counseling! Every single couple can benefit from this. Oftentimes this can be done through your church or officiant - if you are not sure who will be officiating your wedding yet, you may want to start there and then see what they recommend for this process!