planning a wedding in 6 months

[Diamond Confused]

I am getting married in January and I''ve done absolutely nothing. My fiance and I are SO lazy when it comes to planning. We are out of town every weekend in May and have finals the 1st week of june. Basically we can''t do any wedding planning until June. That leaves 6 months to plan the wedding. Is this enouh time???

The only thing that has been done is booking the venue. It includes the food and we already chose the menu and alcohol.

We know which florist and bakery we are gowing with but we haven''t actually chosen the cake or the flowers.

I don''t have colors or BM dresses

No invitations

No DJ or photographer.

No dress no shoes

Oh I''m in trouble aren''t I?

 

[Inanna]

You''ll be fine!

If you find any free time between now and June, do as much online research as you can. Put a list together of potential vendors, dresses, etc.

The venue and food are the biggest hassles to book and you''re done with that. Start researching photographers now and contacting them about availability, as they can book up far in advance. Call the photographers you like whenever you have a moment of free time (meshing with a photographer personality-wise is just as important as their talent IMHO).

If you plan on going through a bridal shop for your dress, keep in mind that it can take 5 months for some brands to arrive after they''re ordered. At an additional expense, you can put in a rush order - this counts for your BM dresses also, although they''ll probably take less time.

Seriously, you''re gonna be ok. Actually, I was thinking just today that I totally could''ve put together my wedding in 6 months instead of a year.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Not in trouble at all--6 months is plenty of time!

You already have a venue, which is the most important, so that''s great!
Next should be the dress. It usually takes four or five months to get the dress, so I''d do that in the next few weeks.

Unless you have your heart set on a specific vendor (photographer, officient, etc.) then everything else can wait until June. I didn''t start booking vendors for my September wedding until June and even that was plenty of time. You just need to be flexible. I have a feeling you''ll probably have good luck since your wedding is in January (not peak season, I assume?)

Good luck and don''t stress! Stay focused on finals and you can worry about the wedding afterward.

 

[LadyBlue]

I''m agree with the girls, 6 months are enough time. You will be fine, just make a list and start working on that.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

You have plenty of time. I would start with booking your church and/or caterer and then moving on to the dress.

 

[doodle]

You''ll be okay, but I highly recommend jumping on finding a photographer--I live in a really small town that happens to have a lot of wedding photographers because the local college has a good art program, and even with that factored in, we had a really hard time finding a photographer for my sister (and she was looking 9 months in advance). That''s the one thing you don''t have yet that could be more difficult with less time, but it''s also the one that''s the easiest to do some research for ahead of time on the internet. Best of luck to you!

 

[portia]

Yes, 6 months is definitely enough time to plan a wedding. My DH and I planned both a destination wedding and formal reception back home in 6 months so it can be done. I think if you don''t have your heart set on anything specific and can be flexible with your plans you''ll be just fine.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Ditto the others - you''ll be fine, just start looking for photographer and a dress ASAP

 

[bee*]

I think six months is fine too, especially as you have your venue booked. We''re getting married in 7 weeks and still haven''t got our invites out so I know how it is to be so slow with the planning!

 

[chiquitapet]

No trouble at all!! 6 months is plenty!!

We had 4 weeks to plan our wedding and at the same time I was studying for my end of 1st year medical exams, which were on couple of weeks after our wedding!! Both went great and we were stressed only for 4 weeks!

 

[NakedFinger]

Personally, I think 6 months is plenty. And actually believe I can pull it off it 4 months.

However, the biggest concern isnt the "time", its that many people have at least a year engagement, and therefore vendors tend to get booked a year in advance. So while you should be able to pull everything together in that time, you may have to sacrifice a vendor you may love, because they may not have your date available. So be prepared with several options for each. It really doesnt take much time to book things, its just the decision making. With 6 months of planning, you need to be decisive, and not be wishy washy on decisions. Thats what can get you in trouble. But if you make choices, and dont dwell on things, you'll be fine!

Does your budget allow for a wedding planner? A planner is a must for two types of people: A) very busy people or B) lazy people/big procrastinators. Since it sounds like you may have a bit of both, I would go with a planner! They can help you make decisions, take care of vendor meetings and coordination, etc. It really takes a lot off of the bride and groom.

 

[Laila619]

You should be fine! We planned ours in 5 months. It''s doable.

 

[parrot tulips]

I think you''re totally fine too. FI and I have had about 7 1/2 months to plan, and all I''ve got left are the little details, like table numbers and favors. We didn''t rush anything or stress at all. Not even a little bit. The only things I''d get on right away, if I were in your shoes, would be to start checking out photographers (they tend to book pretty quickly), and dresses (they take months to arrive, plus there''s alterations to consider). Best of luck!