Post # 1
Member
4606 posts
Honey bee
My October wedding date depends completely on FH. When we got engaged, we agreed that neither of us would feel comfortable getting married until FH has finished school, found a job and had gotten past his probationary period. All of this was completely logical. FH will be graduating about a year before me and he will still be the primary breadwinner until I get through. What I didn’t think about was the timeline. We won’t know if FH will be graduating in May until January, and given the nature of his program, we may not actually know if he’s graduating in May until May actually arrives. If that happens, that will leave us 5 months to get things in order and finalized (because I’ve already been planning), two months if FH gets a job right after, or a little before, graduation and he gets through the 90 day probation period.
Now, we’ve talked about moving the dates around, but we’ve decided that November isn’t the best month since there are lots of family birthdays and anniversaries. December works out roughly the same, but could still logically work.
My parents planned a wedding in six months, and I feel like I could do the same, but it got me thinking about what the least amount of time I would need to comfortably plan in, and I’d say I wouldn’t feel comfortable with anything less than four months.
I’m making it a poll because I’m home alone, bored and everyone loves polls.
Post # 3
Member
4869 posts
Honey bee
Depends on the size of the wedding. A weekend for a courthouse (a nice courthouse with a photographer and a few flowers and a nice white sundress), 3-6 months for a small wedding or elopement, 6-8 months for a bigger wedding.
Post # 4
Member
1629 posts
Bumble bee
I think it depends on your expectations of what a wedding should be like
Post # 5
Member
2305 posts
Buzzing bee
I already know I need at least a year, just due to our families and money and planning a wedding in North Dakota while our family is all over the place.
Also I voted I like polls. Because I like polls.
Post # 6
Hostess
7561 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
It’s completely dependent on what you want your wedding to be like. How many people? Is it in a popular venue in town or at your house? Do you have the money saved already or will that take time?
Post # 7
Member
1431 posts
Bumble bee
4 months, 100 people, lots of DIY. Don’t think I coulda done it any quicker.
Post # 8
Member
4606 posts
Honey bee
Oh. Yeah. My story… FH and I have been going back and forth between having a small courthouse wedding with just out parents and two best friends or having an intimate ceremony at a bed and breakfast. We’ve got money saved but it’s going to take a little more time to get the rest (for dress and the bed and breakfast venue). We could feasibly do it with what we have now, but I wanted to save a little more for “just in case” money.
Post # 9
Member
265 posts
Helper bee
It seems like there are some things that you could do before you know when exactly the wedding will be (like buying a dress). The tricky thing would be the things that require booking time way in advance (like caterers and venues).
(Also, if you’re inviting people who will have to fly in, I know that I like to book flights out at least 2 months in advance.)
Post # 10
Member
4606 posts
Honey bee
@DoctorAndDoctor: Our venue won’t let you book more than 8 months in advance and they cater so there’s no issue there. And nobody’s got to fly in, so that takes the big stuff off my plate.
@mrs.stormylove: My mom was about the same. Over 100 guests, lots of DIY projects and she managed to get it all done within 6 months. I don’t know how she did it.
Post # 11
Member
142 posts
Blushing bee
Depends on what your doing…..a big wedding may take a year a smaller one maybe a few months.
My guy and I have been together for 4 1/2 years and engaged for over 3 and we know we want to be married in February….just didn’t now what year. I asked him the other day when and he said it has been a while so why not this February? Surprise! Gotta plan a wedding in 4 months lol! But it’s all good cause were only doing something really small. So I’m not worried, but it would have been nice to have 6 months. 😀
Post # 12
Member
853 posts
Busy bee
We got engaged and married in just under 6 months. I had a few basic plans worked out (I knew I wanted to get married at City Hall and have a big party later), but it came together quickly. I was working 12-hour days at the time, but I had my mom to help me with some DIY things. Unless you’re planning something over the top or need to save up a lot of money over time, there’s no real need to drag it out!
Post # 13
Member
1416 posts
Bumble bee
Just because the dress and venue were the most important elements to me…my venue had to be reserved many many months in advance (it’s a library…we reserved it at almost exactly a year in advance to make sure) and even if I were having a courthouse wedding, for me personally I would still want an expensive designer dress that fit me like a glove, and it takes about 7 months for the dress to be made and come in…so definitely no less than 7 months, even if I couldn’t have my venue and had a courthouse wedding, I’d still want my dress!!!
Post # 14
Member
2065 posts
Buzzing bee
Depends on what you and your FH want out of a wedding. We got engaged in March, didn’t actually start planning until April, and got married in December. I actually got bored around October because I had planned just about everything and was just impatiently waiting! We had a decent sized wedding, about 140-150 showed up, and it was semi formal. I probably could have done it in 6 months instead of 8, but for the size and type of wedding we had, 6 would be the minimum for us.
Post # 15
Member
1686 posts
Bumble bee
You can have fast, good, or cheap… pick any two.
I could totally do it in less than a month, as long as I had the money, or as long as it didn’t have to be elaborate and meticulous.
Post # 16
Member
529 posts
Busy bee
Yes, it depends on the size of the wedding. I started planning mine a year out and I wish I had more time….it’s coming up so quickly…LOL.
