You’re Engaged! Now What? 5 Things to do Now That You’re Engaged
First things first — a million congrats!!! Whether you’ve seen this coming for weeks or you were completely surprised, it’s official! The engagement season is definitely one of the sweetest. I just remember all the excitement from literally anyone I ever came into contact with hahaha. Planning a big party with all your favorite humans to celebrate marrying your best friend is 100000% worth getting excited over!! That being said, the to-do list always seems daunting and never ending. Here are 5 things to focus on the first few weeks of your engagement:
#1. Find your venue + pick your wedding date.
99.999999% of the time, these two things go hand in hand. Really utilize your friends, family, google, or even the facebook groups to get a good list of venues that fit your style to begin with. Then go ahead and start inquiring! Some venues will be fully booked for your “ideal” dates, which will help narrow down right off the bat. Tour a couple of your favorites, and odds are one will stand out above the rest. Unfortunately, venue selection can be pretty competitive so this step is super important to get done as soon as you can!
#2. Book your photographer (and I’m not just being biased on this one).
After a venue, photographers are the quickest thing to book up. Once again, really do your research on this one! What style do you gravitate towards? Darker + moody images, bright and airy, grainy and warm, filmy looking, etc. Once again, make a list of photographers you are really drawn to. You can find local options by searching hashtags (example: #iowaweddingphotographer, or something like that) on Instagram, googling, or again asking around with friends and family. Once you have a solid list, you know what to do! Take the time to fill out their contact forms (please don’t just DM them on Instagram) and see who has your date available. Hop on calls with them, and be sure to come prepared with questions.
#3. Establish who is paying for what,
Let’s be honest, it’s not always comfortable to talk about money! It’s best to get this step figured out right off the bat to make the rest of your wedding planning easy and stress free. Everyone’s situation is different, so whether you’re covering all the costs or are getting some help from family members, it’s best to get it all figured out sooner rather than later. This avoids over spending, family drama, and all around keeps the stress at bay!
#4. Finalize budget (but leave cushion room).
Going hand in hand with the last one, talk budgets! But let’s be real, it’s hard to know 100% what your budget will be, and you can only plan each penny so much. Do some research, ask friends/family who have recently gotten married what they spent on each vendor, etc. But my biggest piece of advice is to have a cushion fund set aside for those “just in case” expenses. Best case scenario, you come out of your wedding planning with extra money to go towards your honeymoon! (TIP: guest count has a HUGE effect on budget. The more guests, the more expensive, and vice versa.)
#5. Get the ball rolling with the other “big” vendors.
You don’t necessarily need to be sweating to book all the other big vendors, but it’s definitely worth starting the process as soon as the other 4 steps are taken care of. Establish what vendors are top priority, and go from there. Vendors like wedding coordinators, videographers, florals, catering, DJ, and so on are all examples of some of those bigger vendors. Basically if your wedding day can’t go on without them, better to start reaching out to them sooner rather than later.
Again, a MILLION CONGRATS! I share these tips so that hopefully your engagement is off to the best start, and to set you up to have a relatively stress-free engagement all the way through!
xo, Kyndal
Featured vendors in photos above:
Venue: The River Center DSM
Wedding coordinator + design: Honey & Joy Events
Florals: Baron & Bell
DJ: DJ Das