Whether you’re a newbie or you’ve been enjoying your engagement for a while… Congrats!! Such an exciting time!
I’m a wedding tasker, but I’ve been through the wedding process personally (my own wedding, and as a bridesmaid three times), so I know the ups and downs and the stresses – as well as a lot of the tricks.
So here’s my advice on what to do now, and what to do next, whatever stage of your engagement you’re at:
👉🏼 Have Prepared Answers
Your friends and family will be just as excited about your engagement as you are, so have some answers to standard questions already prepared. This will avoid anxiety, stress, and being generally overwhelmed – it will also help to know that you and your future hubby are on the same page.
Standard questions include, but are not limited to:
• ‘So when are you getting married then?’
• ‘Who are your bridesmaids?’
• ‘Can I be your bridesmaid/flower girl/page boy?’
• ‘How much was your ring?’ (Sad, and not very nice or polite, but I actually got asked this…!)
• ‘What’s your budget?’ (Same as above! My answer was, ‘none of your business!’ – I obviously wasn’t prepared!)
• ‘What are you doing first?’
• ‘What do you need help with?’
• ‘Are you having an engagement party?’
• ‘Are you pregnant?’ (Seriously!)
However, remember you don’t need to have an honest answer prepared…! A good standard one for most of the above is, ‘we’re taking it slow at the moment, and just want to enjoy our engagement first’.
👉🏼 Browse Wedding Blogs
Before getting ahead of yourself, browse wedding blogs to get ideas of trends and costs. Blogs are also great to see good examples of real weddings, as magazines can sometimes give a more polished and false version of reality.
Mine should obviously be your first port of call (!), but some of the bigger blogs I often look to for inspo include: Green Wedding Shoes, London Bride, Love My Dress, Style and The Bride, Style Me Pretty, The Wedding Bazaar and Wedded Wonderland.
However, please also be wary of sponsored content on some of these bigger wedding blogs. A sponsored post means that an advertiser has paid for their content to be published on the site, disguised as a normal blog post. This should always be noted in the header or footer of the post, and denotes that the content is basically an ad.
👉🏼 Do Not Search ‘#engaged’
Do not compare yourself to others in any way. This is pointless and meaningless. I have done this plenty but it is a lose lose situation. Whether you got engaged in a canoe or in a car park, or with a great big jewel or a jelly ring; it’s your love story and no one else’s – and there’s no others quite like it! Enjoy your engagement, whatever way you choose. (I would recommend away from social media celebrating with your hubby-to-be… enjoy the buzz of the engagement period.)
👉🏼 Nab the Bookings Before the Christmas Fiancées
With Christmas comes a flurry of engagements, so if you’ve been engaged for a while and already have a shortlist for some suppliers, book now! Or else live in fear of being out-booked by the super keen and excited Christmas fiancée, who did all her wedding Pinterest boards on Christmas day and already has the phone number for her favourite photographer/florist/DJ…. You may laugh, but they are out there, trust me!
👉🏼 Plan Your Time
New year and a fresh start. Get ahead by blocking out a weekend a month to dedicate to planning, with or without your hubby. Set yourself small goals or milestones to achieve by each weekend. You’ll thank yourself. Now is also the time to set up your budgeting spreadsheets and project management tools – even if this just means using a different coloured pen for wedding related appointments.
👉🏼 Do Your Research
By now you should have an idea of the kind of things and theme you want, even if you don’t have all the bookings or moving parts yet. Get wise and save time and money, do your online research – the internet is your wedding oyster! Some of my favourites websites to aide wedding planning include:
• Devine Bride – obviously!
• Little Book for Brides – great UK supplier directory set up by the Love My Dress team
• Mission Tie the Knot – largest online UK wedding marketplace, great for personalised bits
• Bride 2 Bride – another UK wedding marketplace, most popular for second hand wedding and bridesmaid dresses
• Ebay – bargains galore, just be wise with your search words
• Amazon – great for décor, favours and additional nick-nacks
That’s just for starters, but if you need any hen do ideas, wedding tasking, planning help, or even just any advice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! My consultations are free and I will be as involved as you want me to be through your planning process. I can plan your full wedding, or I can simply take on the odd jobs you don’t want to do or don’t have time to do.
I offer pick and mix wedding planning, inspiration sessions, hire a bridesmaid, on the day help, and also stationery design. View my services here.
Congrats on your engagement and here’s to an exciting 2017!
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