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First, congratulations on your engagement! You’ve probably never planned a wedding before and with an oversaturated world of advice at your fingertips, you might find that you’re already overwhelmed. In today’s post, I’m going to tell you the 4 mistakes newly engaged couples make so that you can avoid them.
Not Choosing a Date Soon Enough
I’m all for taking a month or two of enjoying your engagement before you jump into setting a date; however, many venues, planners, and photographers book up quickly, so it’s best not to wait too long to set your date if you’re hoping to get married within the next year. You wouldn’t want to set a date for, let’s say, March when it’s already July, as you might find that your dream venue is already booked.
Rushing into Engagement Photos Before Booking the Wedding Photographer
Do not rush your engagement photos. Everyone has that friend or knows a friend with a nice camera who you might be tempted to ask to take your engagement photos. Don’t do it! Wait until you’ve booked your wedding photographer to take your engagement photos with them.
If you’re curious why this is so important, I’ve written another post covering why you should use the same photographer for wedding and engagement photos.
Not Setting a Budget Before Booking Vendors
In order to not waste your own time or a wedding vendor’s time, make sure you set your budget before reaching out to anybody about their services. If you have no idea where to start, I recommend setting an overall budget. Talk with your partner and anyone who is financially contributing to the wedding.
Determine a firm budget and then try using a budget calculator to get good starting prices for each vendor category. Do know that you can adjust these values based on what’s most important to you!
Not Determining a Wedding Planning Schedule
Wedding planning can be easy or it can be hard. The more organized you are, the easier it is. I recommend that you and your partner determine one night a week that will be dedicated to wedding planning. There will be no phones, distractions, TV, etc. You can spend one to two hours every Monday night, for example, to check items off your list. Efficiency like this will absolutely lessen the stress of planning.
