1. Tell Your Inner Circle
While your first instinct could be to update Facebook, do make sure close family (including siblings!) are told first. Nobody likes that odd feeling of seeing a major life event unfold on a website. Plus there is something special about ringing your favourite auntie and hearing her squeak down the phone!
2. Don’t Talk Weddings
Sound harsh? It probably is! There will never be a time when you are freshly engaged and enjoying that incredible out of body buzz again so soak it in, deflect the “when’s the date?” questions and revel in being engaged to your beloved without the pressure, stress and mind crunching that is to come.
3, Insure your ring
Not a fun thing really, but I’m a paranoid person and I’d rather have the knowledge that if anything happens I am covered. So do make sure your beautiful ring (if you have one that is!) gets insured as soon as possible!
4. Throw a party!
Whether it’s an afternoon BBQ, a black tie extravaganza or a catch up at your local bar, a fun celebration, or a toast to celebrate this moment in your life is so much fun and definitely on my list of things to do. Check out my list of engagement party tips here.
5. Talk About The Kind Of Wedding You Want
Head somewhere quiet, just the two of you and talk about the kind of wedding you envisage. Big or small? Destination or at home? Country or city? Winter or spring? What is important to you both? What do you want guests to walk away feeling? What do you want to remember? Do you love the idea of a formal wedding? Or are you more casual?
6. Dream A Little Dream
Once you’ve nutted out a basic plan it’s time to start dreaming! Head to blogs and websites. Start a scrapbook, a folder on your computer, a Lover.ly or Pinterest account and start collecting images and ideas that you adore.
7. Money Talk
Money talk still makes me cringe, but unfortunately it’s an essential part of wedding plans. How much do you have to spend? Are your parents contributing? Figuring out what you have to play with will allow you to move forward.
8. Set A Tentative Date
Even if it isn’t “the” date, choosing a date in the season and month you marry will allow you to have something to work with when you start.
9. Look for vendors you love
After you’ve started working out your wedding plans, you can start to find wedding vendors in your budget that you love the work of. (Or if outside your budget but you deem a’ must have’, find out so you can move your budget around or save). Scour blogs and magazines to find vendors who do work that inspires you. A handy tip to note for Spring & Summer brides is that popular wedding dates can book out 18 months to a year in advance for services like photographers and venues so booking quick smart can help you along!
Tip ten? I’m leaving that one to you guys! What is your number #1 tip for someone who is newly engaged?
Styling and Floral by Aleksandra Photography by Tealily Photography See the full set of images here
Hi Dotties,
My tip would be after you’ve decided on your tentative date do get in touch with any photographers you are interested in quick smart as bookings for late this year & early next year are already well under way and you don’t want to miss out if you’ve got your heart set on someone.
Melissa
I recently read a planner in a local magazine that advised booking your photographer just 4 months before the big day! Glad to see some great, realistic advice at Polka Dot Bride 🙂
Really? I can imagine even winter weddings or off season dates would be largely booked four months out!
Totally agree about the insure your ring part, I proposed to my wife on a chairlift in the snow while snowboarding! Good thing she didn’t drop it even though it was insured.
Although you mentioned it… top advice tip is enjoy it! There is never a feeling like it again… even after the wedding. The love buzz of an engagement is so special.
Apart from that, take some time to figure out your ‘style’. Even if the word freaks you out a little because you are not a style person, once you try to pull all the aspects together you will be thankful you took a little time instead of rushing out and buying what you thought you wanted.
Enjoy!
Totally agree about the style aspect and once you have you should stay with it, no starting vintage and then finishing with something totally different
Definitely agree- this is where “Dream A Little Dream” and “Deciding The Wedding You Want” comes into it. I think style too can be drawn from your own lifestyle- if you are the type of couple who fills their house with modern, clean aesthetics then it’s probably not your style to go for vintage, handmade details. Looking at your own everyday style can be a great starting point.
My tip is to talk to any non-negotiable people before setting dates and reserving vendors. We wanted a particular deacon who was a family friend to do our wedding. We set a date and started talking to vendors, as well as him. Luckily he got back to us before the vendors because he was going home to visit family in Ireland for a month! We picked an earlier date with him and all was fine.
We kind of did things a bit backwards. We got engaged, told our parents then as we knew where we wanted to get married and have the reception we booked them.
Then when we got round to telling the rest of our family and friends it was lovely to be able to tell them when it would be happening. They didn’t push us for info or anything as we’d told them everything we knew.
It also means now we can sit back and slowly piece everything else together without having to stress to much… well other than the dress… 11 months is not long enough to find and order a dress apparently. Ladies if your not engaged yet still go and try on dresses its never to early!
And before the engagement, please chat about the future. Life doesnt end after the wedding and alot of marriages could be saved if they started with honest, realistic expectations. Discussions people!!!!