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I will have had a 9-month engagement (almost exactly) by the time we get married in August. I haven't had any problems with venues or vendors but we started with our planning right away, so I guess that would be my advice: don't procrastinate. I do think a longer engagement would have allowed us to save some money (search for better deals). I think a shorter engagement just compresses everything and you end up with less of the "down time" in planning that I see other ladies write about. I don't mind because as much as I love planning my wedding, I am also looking forward to being married (and NOT planning my wedding). :)
my wedding is in 7 weeks. i had a 2 month engagement. Im the kinda person thats like, "ok, this is whats happening, lets do it now." so everything is pretty much taken care of. I just booked the park for the ceremony yesterday, bought my dress, bridesmades dresses, reception is being held at FI's parents. Cakes done, flowers done, officiant is done. the only thing im waiting on now is to find a 2nd caterer, buying booze, wedding licence, and music, which FI promises he's working on...ya right...i think for me this was perfect amount of time. Im not the kind of person who likes to sit there for 13 months planning and waiting. Im more, wham bam thank you mam!
I have an 8-month engagement and it seems perfectly sane and like plenty of time to plan our 75-guest informal wedding. My family has this odd rule that engagements shouldn't last much more than a year, so I was prepared for a short engagement and already half-planned (in my head, if not in reality) before the proposal. We toyed with having a 1-4 month engagement (talked of dates from New Year's Eve through March before picking July). In retrospect, I'm glad we didn't make it THAT short.
I am having a three month engagement and I am going crazy. I feel soooo behind everyone and have no idea what I should be completed and what I should be working on.
I wish someone would create a page on wikipedia that is on "bridal stress" so my FI can understand that I am not the only one stressed out about wedding planning every day. Or am I?
Our engagement is exactly (to the day!) eight months long, and that's about as short as I can take it. It turned out perfect for me. I'm a person of action, most of the time. If I think about a new project, interest, etc. I jump on it, so it was natural to do the same when finding wedding vendors or our venue. Plus it doesn't leave me to second-guess (much) over the choices we've made.
What helped the most was reading the wedding blogs, doing vendor research and collecting all of the inspiration pictures when our engagement was imminent. That way, I had a faily good idea of what I liked, what he liked and could start calling venues and vendors right away.
Ok, so here is our situation. We currently live in 2 different cities and while he currently has a job in another city (thankfully), he's been searching for one in mine for a YEAR and 5 months!!! We have been hoping for a 11/20/10 wedding for a long time, but now things are getting close and I'm getting mega nervous. I bought my dress and have been researching everything like Miss LLC suggested. I'm basically trying to do everything that doesn't require a deposit for that specific day as possible, and hopefully he will get a job soon. If we aren't able to marry in November, we will have to put the wedding off until next summer due to some important family members being out of the country.
Your short engagement stories are encouraging! Keep them coming!
We are having a 6 month engagement with both of us working full time plus jobs. For me, DIY projects have been kept to a minimum and I haven't had the time to 'shop around' for vendors. As soon as we find someone we like, we book them. I've chosen vendors that are a bit pricier but do more of the set up and planning for me. Work is more stressfull than wedding planning right now.
Our engagement will be 4 months and 6 days...getting married in 35 days! We've invited 320+ guests! I think the first thing to do is get the reception/church venue....so many places cater, that for me, catering wasn't a big issue. Then, get your dress and the bridesmaids dresses. I went and got my dress, back in January, and then got a call that my first and second choices could not be in on time...SO, I had to start over! I tried to just go with it...even though I am a type A personality, I learned to not let the little (and sometimes BIG) wedding mishaps, so to speak, ruin the process for me! It's all about attitude! My dress isn't some amazingly elaborate thing, but I didn't want it to costs thousands, so I never expected it to be! It is SUPER stressful....both FH and myself work full-time and he's out of town a few nights a week. So, I've done a lot of things on my own. I am fortunate that he is supportive and trusts my judgement! I am also very fortunate that my mom is within an hour's drive of me and has offered to help with any and everything! Although I've still been able to do quite a few DIY projects (card box, all 38 centerpieces, guest book, thank yous for shower, etc.) I would have loved to do more! I also think it is important to know who and what to delegate....many people volunteered, but few could I count on! Stressful, sure...but I think it would be even more stressful to have to worry about this for many more months and years! I look at it like, hey, at least I'm only stressed for four months! :) Good luck, happy planning, and again: it's all about attitude! :)
My engagement will be just under 5 months when we get married next month. I think this has been the perfect amount of time for planning, although I had done a bit of unofficial planning before we were officially engaged (scouted out venues, narrowed down dates to get married, etc) so by the time we were officially engaged we already knew which date we needed which made decision making a bit easier in that respect.
I guess you could say we are lucky in a lot of ways - I'm a graphic designer and huge DIY person, so I cranked out my own STDs and invites, flower bouquets, bouts, and centerpieces. My FI's sister is in culinary school so she's making our cake, and I have always known who I wanted for my photographer. The church and reception center we just got luck with I guess haha.
Oh! Yes, I am having a 5 month engagement and I'm a senior in college! hahaha...but really, I think having the right perspective on the day is important as well when having a short engagement. It's made me a lot more decisive and a LOT more grateful for the awesome people in my life who have been able to participate in the planning process. It makes it so much more fun that way! haha
We were engaged for just over six months. I think the biggest advice I have is to remember to scale down the crazy! It's easy to get overwhelmed, especially when you look at all of the details that some bees are able to whip together in 18 months. And if I had taken 18 months, I might have been more overly ambitious. I think 6 months helped me focus on what was (or was not) important to us.
My engagement will be 5 months. It was going to be a year, but two months in we scrapped our plans and changed the date and the state and part of the country - so it's really 3 months of planning.
I think 3 months is perfect for US. We're just having our immediate family at our wedding, and I'm happy that we don't have to deal with all the stress of a big wedding. We're having a casual reception after the wedding (since we're getting married 800 miles away.)
I haven't had any problems booking anything yet. It helps that we're getting married on a Thursday. I did have to get my dress one size smaller in order to get it on time, but I started a new diet, upped my running regimen, and got the stomach flu so it fits great. :)
I'm the type of person who overthinks things to death, and the more time I have to make a decision, the worse it goes. I will second-guess it until I'm down to the wire. This has forced me to say, OK, that's good, let's go with it, and I feel great about all the decisions I've made. Now I can't imagine having the year-long engagement that we originally planned to have. I'd lose my damn mind if I had to think about this wedding for a year. Plus I think I'd spend WAY more money because I'd have time to buy every little extra thing I see!
I agree that having a short engagement helps us to really examine what our priorities are. We siimply don't have time to worry about whether every little detail is perfect, and that's ok. It's going to be a great day!
LOL. For a second, before I read the post {And just glanced at the title} I thought you meant short in height. =P My bad!
i have an 8 motnh engagement and i SERIOUSLY could not take a long engagement.
my biggest personality flaw is being indecisive, so the longer i have, the longer i have to second guess myself.
i think i could have done it in less, but im almost there.
7 weeks to go and im still second guessing and obsessing over choices. i just need to stop questioning and go with my gut instincts.
bah!
Our engagement is less than 5 months (only by days though) and we both work full time. We decided to do this for several reasons : 1. I'm not that patient and wanted to get married this year; 2. work obligations over the summer, which would have made for one VERY stressed out bride if we decided on a fall wedding; 3. we knew we wanted a small wedding. The hardest part for me, now that the wedding is only 39 days away, is that I know that with a longer engagement we would have had more time to research venues, attire, ect. and we probably wouldn't be spending as much money as we are on our small wedding. In the end though, I know it will be a beautiful wedding for us and for our family/friends, all of whom are traveling from out-of-state.
We became engaged in July 2009 so it will be 10 months from engagement to wedding but we were planning on a May 2011 wedding until late October so we only had 7 months to plan everything. And truthfully we secretly eloped in January so from engaged to married it was 5 months. I used to joke if he ever asked he'd have to marry me quick, like ripping off a bandaid (I've been engaged a few times before but never married) so it worked well for us.
My advice is keep it simple and focus on what is most important to you. Wedding planning has been almost completely stress-free for us.....even with the short engagement.
3 months here. First thing I did during the first 2 weeks was look online for ideas and inspiration. Next, I went and booked the ceremony venue (a chapel complete with minister and music package deal), then I booked the restaurant for the reception (small restaurant, will close down for us), then booked the photographer, then I got my dress (this took one day of shopping, but I knew I was going to be really specific--no strapless, not too revealing, definitely sleeves). Then I took a little break and went back to the internet for wedding invites online, ordered these now that I had my places booked. Then I spent a weekend visiting with the baker and the florist to pick out what I wanted. Now, i'm pretty much all set except for a few little knick knacks....but I have about 6 weeks left!
Oh yeah, I forgot that I had to rush order on my wedding dress and on my sisters MOH dress. I also ordered rush shipping on the invites.
5 1/2 months for me. It's a little crazy, but totally do-able. You gotta move fast when it's short time. I had my venue, date, and wedding coordinator booked within the first week, and I started looking at dresses the following weekend. I also ordered my save the dates one week after the engagement.
Here is some advice:
1. Avoid Theknot.com like the plague. It will only overwhelm you and make you feel behind. You don't need cutesy little riffraff distracting you from major decisions
2. Book your venue and date as soon as possible
3. Get your dress as soon as possible (it takes awhile to order them, fittings...etc)
4. Make decisions and STICK TO THEM. You won't have time to change your mind
I'm 4 1/2 months and am also in my final year of Uni, with finals starting in 6 weeks! By the 3 week mark of the engagement I had venue, caterer, church, 2 sets of pastors (my church and Fi's), ceremony musicians all booked, wine glasses reserved, bridesmaids dresses bought and hanging in the wardrobe, my dress bought, fits like a glove (not an alteration needed) and hanging at home, flower girl dresses ordered, flowers organised and car booked. Fi and his groomsmen are gettting married in uniform so that saved hassle, We DIYed 250 invitations last weekend and now I'm back at Uni and not thinking about the wedding until after finals (12th June) when all the cool DIY can start!
And, except for my dream venue having bats in the roof so no evening parties and therefore having to change reception venue, I have everything perfect- just as I'd have loved to have had it if I'd had 3 times as long to plan!
It's been a crazy month but I've loved every second of it and feel like the luckiest most blessed girl alive for how well it's all come together!
Nother 'short engagement' girly here! Even though we got engaged halfway January, my FI (is that the common abbreviation used for fiance here?:)) seemed to need a lil time to get used to the idea --even though HE had been the one who proposed, which took ME by surprise!-- which took him a good 3 months almost heh. So we only have been in the planning process for a week or two! After pondering the pros and cons between a late-summer 2010 wedding or a late-spring 2011 wedding, we decided to go for end of August this year. So that leaves us with just 4 months to get everything done.
A little stressy maybe yes, but I have to admit I didn't like the idea of having 15 months between getting engaged and the actual wedding. That's too much time for me to stress and second guess my decisions (NOT on getting married -- no doubts about that, but about pretty much all other things like venue/locations, menu, guestlist, invite cards, etcetcetc) -- I know myself ;) Nope, 4 months is just fine for us I think.
We aren't planning that big a wedding though, which helps with planning everything in a smaller timeframe I think. Our "guest"imate (unfinalized guestlist;)) for the ceremony&cake-cutting&dinner buffet currently is ~35&some kids, the evening party will be for around 80 people.
The biggiest things are almost all sorted: the past week we have picked and finalized the wedding venue, got the Dutch equivalent of the marriage licence sorted&signed, I went shopping for my weddingdress this past weekend and actually was able to find one right away so that one is ordered now as well (should be in juuuust in time for the wedding ;-)), we almost finished the guestlist.. But I am still trying to find a location for after the wedding ceremony (we are getting married at this small city hall in a very picturesque small town just outside of our city, and will need a seperate location for the rest of the day).. Once that is finalized and dealt with as well I think I will feel much more relaxed.
All that will "just" left to sort out then are.. rings, flowers and buttonholes, the invites (I played around with text and layout for our invitations and got them almost done.. but need the info on the venue before I can have them printed obviously hehe), the photographer (got one I really like but not sure she'll fit within our budget), favors, my shoes, FIs suit (tho that's not on my to-do list heh), pressies for our parents and witnesses, and our prenuptials. Probably am forgetting something still, but this is about it I think heh.
I signed up for this website just this evening, and I look forward browsing and reading around!
8 months and perfect for us. The venue and caterer search was stressful but it's been fine after that. No vendor problems because we're doing it on a Monday.
We're coming up on the meaningful stuff (ceremony ketubah text) and the details/projects. These are hard because you really have to make time to think about the first, which means I can't do it at work or when tired and the second is hard because uh, I'm not that crafty.
But I think shorter was best for me because I do not want to look back at my life and see a year that was consumed by wedding planning (I don't mind spending time planning a big party since I never have or planning our commitment moment but there have got to be limits and better things to do with one's life). I don't need all the extras, it's going to be awesome as is and we'll have alll the necessary stuff.
8 months for us to put together our 150 person Evening wedding at my parents house. It has definitely been a bit hectic at times. The fact that we DIY a lot of the wedding also created stress. In my case if I would have had a longer engagement I just would have come up with more projects to fill the time! My advice is get rganized early. Decide which things are the most important to you and get those vendors, venues, etc booked first. The rest you can figure out along the way! Good Luck! 24 more days for me! WOWY time flies!
We are having an exactly 9 month engagement and I totally feel that I could be ready for a wedding before then. We booked all of the big stuff within a month of being engaged and now just have to work on the DIY stuff, which there is a lot of. Both me and my fiance are in grad school and working full time and there is still plenty of time to work on wedding stuff!
I could never be engaged for over a year. I'd be changing plans left and right! We haven't shopped around much, but that is mostly because I just want to get stuff booked, not because there's not enough time.
We are having a 3.5 month engagement. We got engaged Feb 14, 2010 and the wedding is June 5, 2010. Originally we were shooting for May 2011 but then I got a job all the way across the country so we decided to move it up so we wouldn't have to plan long distance.
We both work full time but planning hasn't been a problem at all so far. Granted, we're keeping things fairly casual and we're using a family member's mountain cabin for our venue so that eliminated a big thing on our to do list. Despite that, I think a short engagement is totally doable and it's been a huge relief for me so far. I usually suffer from terrible indecision but I've made decisions on everything with minimal agonizing because I had to. I think the key to maintaining your sanity while planning in a short period of time is to be realistic with yourself, be decisive, and be organized (the last of which was no problem for me because I am borderline obsessive when it comes to staying organized). Some of my best friends are having really long engagements (e.g. 2.5 years) and I can't imagine waiting that long because I'd totally second guess every decision I made.
i'm a 9 monther and that's long enough. Too much bridal talk every day of my life.No way would I go for a year +. Just couldn't take it. Or I'd probably not visit wedding boards so soon. I've not missed out on a thing that I've wanted from DJ to venue to people. so, I'm glad for it all. and it helps not having to go through parents for advice or support. and being past 21 also helps.
My engagement will be a total of 9 months, and to be honest, I still think it's too long! We're 7 months away, and the wait is killing me :)
Said that, it was a strugle at first finding a venue that wasn't already booked, finding a photographer we wanted that was free on that day, etc. Once we got the church, the venue and the photographer, everything else started coming together, and we haven't had any other issues.
We got engaged on January 21st and we are getting married May 1st. I think that this is really actually better than a year to plan. You have to make decisions quickly and get things done. Like I told my Fiance'... You can have me crazy for a few months or for a year.. you decide. :-) We didnt want to wait. We have 10 days till the wedding and other than the last minute things I cant do till the day before, I am pretty much ready. 
Oh and another thing.. let time, you spend less money! 
we have a seven month engagement and is crazy. trying to book everything.
Our engagement will be six months long. Within the first two weeks we secured the date for the ceremony at our church, which allowed us to go ahead and sign the contract with our caterer. I ordered my wedding gown a few days later after trying on dresses at four places and having two front-runners.
Short engagements require swift decisions, but don't rush into buying the gown! Take photos of you in the dress (it's worth going to salons that allow you to do that) and at least sleep on it one night.
We haven't run into problems with preferred vendors being booked already, but we're having a Sunday wedding and I think that helps us a lot. We also have plenty of friends and friends-of-friends who have gotten married over the past few years, and we've simply been using their vendor referrals. This is a huge help, and a big part of my staying sane!!
My take on our short engagement planning is to focus on the big stuff, not sweat the small stuff, simplify, and while it's okay to have twinges of regret for decisions made, don't wallow in it.
And take time off from wedding planning! Even in short engagements, you can go for days or weeks without making a decision or a DIY project. =) After I bought the dress, I took 2 weeks off from wedding planning and just got back to it again.
Good luck!
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Someone wrote a post earlier today asking bees how long of an engagement they will have. It seems like there are a lot of brides on the bee with engagements over a year long, so I was encouraged to see some short engagement brides answer the poll.
So, short engagement brides (9 months or less) what advice do you have? Have you had to make a lot of sacrifices on vendors or venues? How are you staying sane?