You're Engaged! Now What? The top 5 details to start with

Congratulations! You and your partner have decided to get married! But that was the easy part… what do you do next? While it may be fun to hop on Pinterest and start pinning beautiful images of what your dream wedding looks like, here are some important details that you should actually start planning.

1. Budget

Are you planning to pay for the wedding yourselves, or will your family be contributing? How much do you feel comfortable spending? The budget will dictate a lot of the rest of the planning, so it’s important to decide on this early on so that you can adjust your other decisions accordingly.

1. Date

While you don’t necessarily need a specific date right off the bat, it’s a good idea to think about a general timeframe for your wedding. Do you love winter weddings? Is spring a really busy time for you at work? Are there any weekends that you know won’t work? Sit down together and figure out a general idea of what works best for you.

1. Style  / Theme

Take a few minutes to think about what kind of style or theme you want for your wedding. Rustic and outdoorsy or swanky and modern? Do you want to be indoors or outdoors, or do you want a destination wedding? Figuring this out early will help you narrow down the search for venues and other vendors.

1. Planner

Finding a planner that you like and having them work with you from the very beginning will save you time, energy and stress on all of the coming steps!

1.  Venue

The dates that are available at your dream venue may be a big consideration when it comes to picking a date. Talk to your planner to find venues that are within your price range and that fit the style or theme and find out what dates they have available. Once you find one that works for you, book it! Venues fill up quickly (sometimes more than a  year in advance!) so make sure you get to it early.

Once these things have been decided, you’re well on your way to planning your wedding! Keep in mind that if you have any specific vendors in mind, it's a good idea to contact them early. This is especially true for vendors that can only book one event per day – your favourite photographer or musician, for example. Vendors who can book more than one event per day – bakers, florists, etc. – can wait a little bit. Work with your planner to come up with a timeline that works for your specific wedding, and have fun!

Photo by Laura Kelly Photography