You have been waiting for this moment for years (maybe months or weeks or it is a complete surprise). Your significant other has finally popped the question and you said yes! Where do you start? How long do you wait before beginning the wedding planning? How do you pay for it?
I told myself (and all my friends) that once my boyfriend proposed, I was going to wait a few months before beginning to plan my wedding. He asked me while we were on a cruise in the Bahamas and the day after I got back, I began to plan my wedding. In all reality, my husband, my friends, and myself knew that I would start planning right away. I do have three planners after-all. There was no way I could wait a few months. No matter how long you wait, eventually you will need to start planning a wedding of some kind, whether that be a large wedding, a small ceremony, a celebratory BBQ, destination, or eloping. There are so many different options of types of weddings and so much information online, where do you start?
I started with Google. Simple but straightforward, I typed in “wedding planning”. That led me straight to a wedding website, to gather some ideas and information. I tried to envision what kind of wedding I wanted. How many people? Outdoor or Indoor? What time of the year? What location? What colors? When do you contact vendors? Wedding websites are excellent resources to find out this information and more, especially in your area. I used theknot.com, though there are hundreds out there.
First thing first, download or look at a checklist. This will give you a great idea on timeline and what tasks should be done when. Some checklists vary depending on the website and style of wedding, but the number one priority on any checklist should be to GET YOUR ENGAGEMENT RING INSURED. This should be more important than even telling your family you are engaged. Call your homeowners insurance or your renters insurance and if you have neither, call your auto insurance company and get this started. You will need to know some information about the price of the ring, quality of the band and the stones, but get that thing insured.
Let me tell you why...
After looking at checklist on my wedding website (the day we got back from our vacation) one of the first items was to get the ring insured. So I called up my insurance company and got that sucker put on for only $3 per month. Exactly one month later, I took my ring off at the gym and accidentally left it on the counter. I walked away for maybe a total of 5 minutes before realizing the ring was not on my finger. In absolute panic, I checked my bag, my car, the floor of the bathroom, the drains, the trash, where I walked, the front desk, my house, EVERYWHERE! I waited a few days and kept checking back with the gym to see if it was turned in. Absolutely no luck, some sly person in the bathroom swiped my gorgeous diamond ring.
THANK GOODNESS I HAD IT INSURED. I called my insurance company and had to argue with them a little bit and they suspected me of fraud, but after only 3 weeks they sent me a check for the price of the ring. Immediately after, my fiancé and I went to Helzberg and we bought me another ring. I got it appraised and you know what I did? I CALLED THE INSURANCE COMPANY. I got that sucker insured again. You never know what could happen. It could fall off your finger while swimming in the ocean (one of the most common ways people lose their ring), you could be mugged walking down the street, anything could happen! If you don't insure your ring, then you risk the chance of losing all the money that your boyfriend saved up to buy that ring for you and you are out of your engagement ring.
So Step 1:
-Sign up for a wedding website
theknot.com ; mywedding.com ; weddingwire.com
-Download a wedding checklist
-INSURE YOUR RING
-CELEBRATE! You are engaged! Now the real work begins.
I told myself (and all my friends) that once my boyfriend proposed, I was going to wait a few months before beginning to plan my wedding. He asked me while we were on a cruise in the Bahamas and the day after I got back, I began to plan my wedding. In all reality, my husband, my friends, and myself knew that I would start planning right away. I do have three planners after-all. There was no way I could wait a few months. No matter how long you wait, eventually you will need to start planning a wedding of some kind, whether that be a large wedding, a small ceremony, a celebratory BBQ, destination, or eloping. There are so many different options of types of weddings and so much information online, where do you start?
I started with Google. Simple but straightforward, I typed in “wedding planning”. That led me straight to a wedding website, to gather some ideas and information. I tried to envision what kind of wedding I wanted. How many people? Outdoor or Indoor? What time of the year? What location? What colors? When do you contact vendors? Wedding websites are excellent resources to find out this information and more, especially in your area. I used theknot.com, though there are hundreds out there.
First thing first, download or look at a checklist. This will give you a great idea on timeline and what tasks should be done when. Some checklists vary depending on the website and style of wedding, but the number one priority on any checklist should be to GET YOUR ENGAGEMENT RING INSURED. This should be more important than even telling your family you are engaged. Call your homeowners insurance or your renters insurance and if you have neither, call your auto insurance company and get this started. You will need to know some information about the price of the ring, quality of the band and the stones, but get that thing insured.
Let me tell you why...
After looking at checklist on my wedding website (the day we got back from our vacation) one of the first items was to get the ring insured. So I called up my insurance company and got that sucker put on for only $3 per month. Exactly one month later, I took my ring off at the gym and accidentally left it on the counter. I walked away for maybe a total of 5 minutes before realizing the ring was not on my finger. In absolute panic, I checked my bag, my car, the floor of the bathroom, the drains, the trash, where I walked, the front desk, my house, EVERYWHERE! I waited a few days and kept checking back with the gym to see if it was turned in. Absolutely no luck, some sly person in the bathroom swiped my gorgeous diamond ring.
THANK GOODNESS I HAD IT INSURED. I called my insurance company and had to argue with them a little bit and they suspected me of fraud, but after only 3 weeks they sent me a check for the price of the ring. Immediately after, my fiancé and I went to Helzberg and we bought me another ring. I got it appraised and you know what I did? I CALLED THE INSURANCE COMPANY. I got that sucker insured again. You never know what could happen. It could fall off your finger while swimming in the ocean (one of the most common ways people lose their ring), you could be mugged walking down the street, anything could happen! If you don't insure your ring, then you risk the chance of losing all the money that your boyfriend saved up to buy that ring for you and you are out of your engagement ring.
So Step 1:
-Sign up for a wedding website
theknot.com ; mywedding.com ; weddingwire.com
-Download a wedding checklist
-INSURE YOUR RING
-CELEBRATE! You are engaged! Now the real work begins.