So you’ve just got engaged!! Congratulations! What an exciting time this is for both you and your fiance. You are about to hop on the journey of a lifetime. It may seem overwhelming but I hope that these first steps to take after you get engaged will help you begin your wedding planning journey in the best ways possible!
Step 1. Celebrate your Engagement!
Share with your loved ones that you’re engaged!! Have an engagement party and enjoy this time celebrating together.
Step 2. Pick a wedding date
After you get engaged and have celebrated. It’s time to pick a wedding date! Start with picking a season you both like. Think about what you want the weather to be like or what kind of theme are you wanting for your wedding day. If family is coming from out of town you may even want to consider getting married on a long weekend to allow them extra time for travel/visiting. Ultimately this is YOUR wedding day and it’s important to remember early on to plan your wedding day around what is most important to you and your fiance. It can begin to get overwhelming when you start planning your wedding day around the opinions of others.
3. Set a budget
This is a HUGE step and can take lots of discussion and planning. But it is important to set this number early on and STICK TO IT! There are MANY areas of a wedding day that you can cut costs or elminate. But making sure you set a budget early on and making sure then wedding vendors that are more important to you both fit into that budget is a very important step. There are many tools online that can help you pick a wedding budget as well as help you to divide that budget into percentiles for each vendor based on industry standards.
4. Make an inspirational board on Pinterest
This is such a great tool to help you envision your wedding day plans. From decor, florals, colours and themes. Pinterest is a great place to start bringing your wedding dreams to life. Here is a board I created with some of my favourite wedding trends for the upcoming 2025/2026 seasons. Wedding Trends Board.
5. Create a shared email address for all wedding related communication
You can do this easily through gmail. Have it be something simple like “jcwedding2025@gmail.com” so your guests don’t have trouble with spelling names. This will make communicating with vendors easy and ensure all your wedding related to do lists are in one spot. It will also keep all your RSVP’s easily accessible in case you need to quickly reference anything.
6. Start forming a guest list
This can be one of the more challenging tasks but it’s important not to get too hung up on it right away. What you are looking for at this point in a ballpark number so you can start shopping for wedding venues.
7. Consider hiring a wedding planner
Even if you are a DIY bride and want to create and design your own wedding day from start to finish it is so important to think about hiring a wedding planner to help with the day of coordination or even help with ideas for booking vendors. Wedding planners have such a wide range of services and different packages they offer. So even if you are a DIY bride who wants to do everything, I can guarantee you don’t want to deal with every issue the day of your wedding. Look into some wedding planner services and you may be surprised to find they can be extremely helpful. Even for DIY brides. Check out one of my dear friends and favourite wedding planner located right here in Red Deer Alberta, Opal and Oak Events.
8. Book your wedding venue
Your venue should be one of the first things you book for your wedding. This will determine a lot moving forward in your wedding planning moving forward. They also only have so many dates available depending on the season your have decided on for your wedding. There is a lot to consider on the topic of picking a wedding venue. So I have written an entire blog post to help you narrow down some of my favourite venues right here in Central Alberta. This post will also help you with what to keep in mind when searching for your wedding venue. You can read it right HERE.
9. Schedule a ladies day out for dress shopping!
Now that you have a location and season picked for your wedding day you can go out and start shopping for your perfect wedding gown! Schedule a day out with the girls, head to the big city and a make it a big deal! You can call bridal shops and schedule time slots with a break for lunch in between. This should be such a fun day with the girls and one you will want to make a big deal of. If there is time left over you can even look at some bridesmaids dresses while your out.
10. Book your photographer and videographer
Once you have your venue and date selected the next step will be to book your photographer and videographers. This is not an area you will want to leave for the last minute or skimp on the budget. These vendors are instrumental parts of your day that will be the ones who are responsible for how you remember it. Choose wisely and make sure you are booking them with enough time to secure your favourites. Typically 12-18 months in advance. I have another full blog post about how to choose the best photographer for your wedding day and what to look for/ask them here.
11. Schedule your engagement session
This is another thing that should go by season. What do you want your engagement photos to look like. If you are getting married in summer, maybe you want your engagement photos in fall. This is also another day to celebrate your engagement! Schedule dinner reservation for afterwards. Get dressed up and enjoy a date night out together.
12. Book remaining vendors
This is the time to secure your date with your remaining vendors. Florists, DJ, Catering, ect…
13. RELAX!
Now that everything is booked you can take a deep breath and relax a little. The first 3 months of wedding planning after you get engaged is by far the craziest but you will notice a bit of a lull in the planning process once everything is booked! Then it is just getting the little details together.
I hope that this was helpful for you! It can be an overwhelming process but it should also be fun and exciting! I like to help walk my brides through each stage of the planning process. It is part of what makes being a CCP bride so special. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a CCP Bride and having a wedding photographer to help walk with you through this wedding planning journey than I’d love to chat with you today! Reach out to me directly HERE.
leave a comment