Time for another monthly check-in!
With 7 months to go, we have…
- The venue
- A caterer
- My dress (it’s here! I just need to go pick it up.
) - My veil (something old)
- Bridesmaids
- Groomsmen
- A flower girl (our niece)
- The guest list
- Save-the-Dates
- A Wedding Website (here’s a tour of it!)
- Engagement photos
- The photographer
- Wedding registries
- Officiant (umm…. actually, I need to double check on this one.)
- Hotel room block
- The cake cutter (owe a post on this)
And here’s what we still need (thinking long term here):
- something blue, something borrowed, something new
- Garter (FSU themed? )
- DJ (we have a couple of suggestions from our venue, just need to get on calling them)
- Videographer (Still on the hunt for one in my price range.)
- Chair rentals (for ceremony)
- Bridesmaid dresses/ cowgirl boots (We have a lead on dresses! I ordered one as a sample – I’ll report back when it comes in. )
- Bridesmaid gifts
- Flower girl dress
- Something for the flower girl to carry
- Tuxes (suits?) for groom/ groomsmen
- Groomsmen gifts
- Gifts for parents
- Wedding bands
- Ceremony script
- Day-of timelines
- Center pieces
- Flowers
- Decorations
- hair/ make-up
- Location for rehearsal dinner
- Invitations
- Programs? (thinking of going the chalkboard route)
- Creative seating chart
- Guestbook
- Cake (I know my grandmother and uncle are making it, but I haven’t confirmed details)
- Dessert bar (double as favors)
- Alcohol (caterer is supplying the bartender)
- Navy shoes
- Marriage license (thinking long term here)
- To book the honeymoon <— decided to wait circle back on this 6 months out.
- Find someone to do alterations on bridal gown
- Reserve shuttle service between hotel and wedding site
- …and ????? I’m sure I’m leaving a few things off here
We’re at a point right now where the “biggie” items are taken care of, and I feel the small stuff can wait for now. i’ll probably regret this decision when I’m scrambling last minute the month before the wedding to pull stuff together, but we’ll see.
I do have a few goals for the next month, such as booking a videographer and a DJ. I think those are our next “biggie” items. After that I would love to create some sort of timeline for everything else, so we’re not scrambling last minute. Anyone have any suggestions for this? I’ve seen some timelines for the week of the wedding and the day of the wedding, but haven’t seen anything that say “make sure you book XYZ X months before.” Though, I know that varies wedding-to-wedding, location-to-location, so I will probably just have to come up with that on my own. 
Countdown is on – seven months and counting!!!
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
If you need to, you can count your wedding dress as your something new
I was thinking about that!
I’m sure you aware of this but in FL you can be married by a notary. I was married by a notary and now that I am one I have done 3 weddings myself.
Your doing awesome with your planning!
MrsSwan recently posted..My sister’s wedding. In pictures
I would definitely just try and get it all done as early as possible (without stressing out!), that way if problems arise you won’t have too much to deal with. And I would look into flowers now, I think those are a “big” thing, especially budget wise, for a lot of weddings!
Katie @ Peace Love & Oats recently posted..A Day in the Life…
I’m holding off on flowers until after my sister’s wedding. My aunt (a former florist) is helping her with the flowers and if that goes good, then I’m hoping she’ll help me as well. But I’m going to hold off and ask after the stress bubble has calmed down.
Meghann,
I am happy to send you my wedding planning spreadsheets to see if any of them are helpful to you. They included a timeline for the months leading up to the wedding. Let me know and I’ll email them to you!
Take care,
Kristine
Kristine recently posted..Discussion: My Name Is Mary Sutter
Yes! Thank you! mealsandmiles@gmail.com
Looking back, at 7 months out I wish I’d sat down and poured over my budget again. Then I could have avoided the panic attack I had 2 weeks away that was a direct result of me sticking my head in the sand. You’ve still got enough wiggle room to adjust things as needed at this point. And plan on some contingency money, just in case.
I used a checklist like this when I was getting married and found it really helpful with timelines.
http://www.frugalbride.com/weddingplanningchecklist.html
CampingGirl recently posted..Day 1 with Bob’s Rules
I am getting married next Friday, June 15th!!! Yikes! Let me tell you that it sneaks up on you FAST! Get what you can get done now. Even if it is just deciding on what you want to do for favors, decorations and that kind of stuff. Don’t need to buy it now but it will give you a chance to find sales on stuff and to use coupons at craft stores for things that you need. And at least you will know what you want to do and can semi-cross it off your list! BRIDES magazine always has a timeline in the magazine somewhere on what you should be doing a year out, 11 months and so on right now to the day of the wedding. It was helpful to see if I was on track or not. I tore one out of a magazine but I am sure you can find it on their website. If not let me know and I can scan and email you the one that I have. I love all the updates on the wedding and the posts you do on it! Congratulations!!
I found the realsimple timeline helpful when planning my wedding:
http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/weddings/planning/wedding-planning-checklist-00000000000222/index.html
At least it made sure I hadn’t forgotten anything!
So exciting! You won’t believe how fast the next 7 months will fly by. My wedding is now 5 1/2 weeks away, and I feel like I just got engaged (7 months ago)! By the way…I still have yet to order a cake. So, yes, do take care of those things early or you’ll put it off until the last minute!
Emily @ Perfection Isn’t Happy recently posted..It’s Going to Be a Fun Summer
I had over a year to plan my wedding as well. We are down the the 4 month mark and it seems like there is SO much to do still! My advise is to get stuff done earlier to avoid stress later. If you are doing a slide show or photos to display, start gathering them up. Work on invite/RSVP/directions. If you are writting any of your own ceremony, start looking at readings and wording to use. The months fly by faster than you realize! It is a lot of fun but a lot of work
It’s fun to watch someone else planning as well.
I just used theknot.com to help me figure out what to do when. We’ve been engaged since last Feb 5th, and now have 24 days left. Making sure to get one or two big things done each month and prioritizing what NEEDS to get done first based on things booking up was the most important thing.
Melissa recently posted..A Sister Date
aahh so fun. I want to have another wedding, I loved planning mine, and now after having done it there are several things I would have done differently (things I stressed about I would now NOT stress about!)
Heather recently posted..29 for the First Time
When I was about where you are (big things booked, lots of little stuff to do), I made a master month by month list of “to-do’s” so that I wouldn’t be rushing at the end. I based it a lot off of the monthly to do list on the Knot, with some obvious tweaking. Here’s my post about it. Good luck!
http://strawberryjampackedlife.com/2010/10/28/how-to-organize-a-wedding/
Anne @strawberryjampackedlife recently posted..Wedding Recap: Receiving Line and Limo
Just realized that post was published almost EXACTLY 7 months before our wedding. Ha!
Anne @strawberryjampackedlife recently posted..Wedding Recap: Receiving Line and Limo
I’ve been using The Knot and Wedding Wire’s online checklists. They can be somewhat overwhelming, but they go month by month, which I find to be REALLY helpful since I have zero idea when is the best time to book things. I’ve found other friends who got married really helpful in terms of timeline too.
We’re a year until our wedding but I’m going to try to do as much as I can this summer because I’ll be finishing up grad school and student teaching the few months before our wedding. I can already feel the stress…
Erin recently posted..Tracking.
I love love love the Martha Stewart Weddings timeline. It customizes based on how much time you have until your wedding and even has a budgeting and RSVP tool. It has everything on there you could possibly think of plus some stuff you won’t want. It’s customizable so you can delete and add what you do and don’t need. If you’re doing readers for the ceremony, line them and their readings up is another thing you can add. I planned my wedding in 28 days. Yes, that’s nuts. Everything went well and I like giving people wedding advice. Do I like all of the details that go into planning a single day? Absolutely not. LOL
Jameil recently posted..Movies 2012: Weeks 18-22
I will post this on your facebook as well. Maybe this will help.
It has two garters. One to keep and one to toss! :0
http://www.etsy.com/listing/97580500/new-wedding-garter-set-handmade-with?utm_source=googleproduct&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=GPS
Samantha recently posted..I Dream In Travel
Theknot.com definitely has som great wedding timelines that I’ve been using to keep track of things. I’m now less than 5 months out (EEK!!!), and it’s been really helpful to make sure we’re not missing anything important!
Stephanie @ My Freckled Life recently posted..WIAW: Grumpy-pants Edition