Congratulations! You’re engaged! This is such an exciting time in your life, so make sure you soak it all up and enjoy the moment…and then start thinking about the wedding decisions you have to make right away. It’s a little too soon to jump head-first into wedding planning, but it’s important to keep the wedding on the back of your mind. These 10 steps are part planning and part enjoying the moment to help make sure your season of engagement and the wedding itself are as amazing as they deserve to be.
1. Actively Enjoy the Engagement
It can be so easy to get swept into the tornado of wedding planning the moment you say “Yes!” Everyone wants to know when you’re planning to get married, where it will be, and so on. Sometimes it’s necessary to make the active decision to enjoy your engaged life. Take time to soak it up. Focus on each other. Admire your new bling. Share some quality time with your new fiancé and stay focused on what matters here: you love each other and you get to spend the rest of your lives together!
2. Announce to Loved Ones First
The news of your engagement often spreads much faster than you may anticipate, so after you tell one person, you want to take initiative and tell the people closest to you whom you love most. This may include best friends, family members, and anyone else you love and respect dearly. Consider who you wouldn’t want to hear the news from someone else and make sure they get to hear it directly from you.
3. Get Your Engagement Party Planned
Sometimes couples get so excited about the wedding that they forget the engagement is worthy of celebrating as well. Find a time when you can throw an engagement party to properly celebrate you, your fiancé, and the love you both share. Invite your best friends and get ready to have a blast!
4. Schedule an Engagement Photoshoot
This is a season of your life you’ll want to remember and what better way to capture it than with a professional photo session? Browse some local photographers either by searching through their Instagram portfolios or by taking the suggestions of friends and family. When you find a style you like, reach out to learn more about their prices and packages. Some photographers include an engagement session with their wedding photography packages, so be sure to shop around until you find a style and package that suits you best.
5. Make Ring Adjustments
If your engagement ring isn’t the ideal fit, then now is a great time to take it to get resized. You can take it to a local trusted jeweler if the designer isn’t an option. If you haven’t yet, you can also take the time to get your ring insured so you can feel free to wear it without concern of losing or damaging it.
6. Choose Your Wedding Date!
This is when the wedding starts to get real. Talk with your fiancé and start narrowing down a season, month, and then a day when you plan to tie the knot. Be sure to consider any influential factors like jobs, school schedules, and any other restrictions from family members or friends whom you want to be there. Remember, however, this is ultimately your day. You get to choose when it happens.
7. Put Together Your Wedding Website
Wedding websites are a great way to tell people your story, share some engagement photos, and organize your wedding details in one place. It’s where you can post your gift registry, RSVP information, and more details about your wedding day plans. Make sure to choose a site that’s user-friendly so all your guests can easily access it and get answers to their questions without needing to text you the morning of the wedding.
8. Choose Your Wedding Party
If you’re undecided about who you want in your wedding or how many people you intend to have, then feel free to wait a bit before finalizing these details. However, keep in mind that picking your wedding party early can be a huge help. This means there are more people available at an earlier time to help with any tasks that come up and it also helps ensure that your best friends don’t end up making other plans on your determined date.
9. Get a Wedding Planner
It’s never too early to book a wedding planner. They can help take the stress off your engaged life, letting you sit back and enjoy far more of the season and planning process than if you’d approached the event alone. A wedding planner will help make sure you don’t leave out any necessary details and that things get done promptly. If you want to enjoy more of your engagement, then a planner is the right way to go.
10. Book the Most Important Vendors First
While priorities can vary from couple to couple, the venue is something you want to consider in advance since these often fill up quickly. Claim your date as soon as you can with your venue. Alternatively, if there are any vendors you know you want—a photographer whose style you love, a caterer with food you’ve been dreaming of—then you want to make sure you address them first to make sure they can work with your date. Get them booked as early as possible.
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