How do you even get the ball rolling?!?!

[Kelli]

Hi all! This is my first post in this particular forum. Without trying to bore anyone, I''ll give a little background info about me. I got engaged last March but haven''t planned a thing. My fiance and I just bought our first house, so the wedding has been pushed aside for a while. The time has come that I''d really like to start making some plans, but the more I think about all there is to do, I just get SO overwhelmed. I can''t figure out how to narrow the guest list, or pick a place. I don''t even know where to start! The one thing I do have is a date. We''ll be getting married on our TEN YEAR anniversary on the 26th of February in 2010, which is a Friday. I live in Florida, and the weather could range from very hot to very cold, you just can''t really predict it. What I wanted to ask, how did you guys get started? What was the first thing you did? How did you figure out who and who not to invite? What colors would be appropriate for this time of year? OK I realize you won''t be answering all those questions, but any input you could give me would be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU!!

 

[Sabine]

Welcome and congrats! I think there are probably 2 things you need to do before anything else:
1. SET A BUDGET! This will dictate the choices you are able to make on everything else, so it''s important to at least have a ballpark.
2. Brainstorm your "vision" for your wedding. Do you want a traditional church/banquet wedding, something modern, something huge, something intimate, etc.? Once you have a general idea, you can start narrowing in on some of the big decisions like how many people to invite and where to draw the line (immediate family, all family, etc.), kinds of places to look at, kinds of themes.

 

[Kelli]

Thank you Sabine! My fiance told me yesterday he was thinking maybe about $20K as an estimated budget, and we are definitely not the traditional church wedding type of people, so I guess I''m thinking more modern, party style of wedding rather than something too serious and formal. My guess is that it will have to be BIG, because we both know a LOT of people through work, and many of them will probably expect an invitation. It kills me to think of spending that much for one day, so if I could lower that price I probably would. I know things do tend to add up though. We had talked about a Friday night beach wedding just before sunset, at a nice beach hotel. I like that idea, I''m just not sure about the weather. It could be absolutely beautiful, or it could be freezing! I suppose if it was too cold we could just move the ceremony inside, since that''s probably where the reception would be anyway. I probably wouldn''t flip out too much if I had to make some last minute weather changes. My sister keeps suggesting the Gaylord Palms resort in Orlando, which I know is incredibly beautiful. I''d be open to that too, but I''d really need to find out just how CHA-CHING that would be!

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Just wanted to say that I feel your pain!! Haha FI and I just took a big trip and have been busy planning that and busy with work and stuff for the past few months, so we haven''t even made our first big wedding decisions yet! It''s supposed to be towards the end of this year - sometime in the fall I think. So we''ve narrowed it down some, but did that months ago! We have a reception place we like and that still has some dates open, but we never picked a ceremony site, so nothing is booked! Now it''s the hardest thing to catch us both at a moment where we''re both in the planning mood... it''s usually more me than him lately - I''m feeling such a push that I REALLY need to do some things here - SOON (aka NOW! haha). But it''s so hard to make these decisions to me. Anyway, just wanted to empathize!! And I''m very interested in the advice others give you on this thread too.

 

[Bia]

I can''t be of any help because I too am at a total loss. I know I want an end of the year wedding (2010) but a part of me feels like starting to plan now is too early (?) Am I wrong to think that???

 

[Kelli]

LOL good luck! I''m glad mine isn''t until next year, but I''m sure we''ll both have a good time. That''s my biggest thing, I want it to be fun not stressful, and I am NOT a good planner!

 

[Kelli]

Date: 1/26/2009 11:56:45 AM
Author: Bia
I can''t be of any help because I too am at a total loss. I know I want an end of the year wedding (2010) but a part of me feels like starting to plan now is too early (?) Am I wrong to think that???

Probably not. I got engaged almost a year ago and it would be nice if I had made some kind of headway by now.