Jayelle Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 Hi Everyone, I am not officially engaged yet, but my boyfriend and I have talked a lot about it and I expect a proposal some time this summer(if I'm lucky!). He is in the AF and will be stationed at an AFB across the country at the end of summer 2007. He wants me to come with him as his wife. That means that if we do marry, I will have less than a year to plan my dream wedding, during which I wll be in my last year of college. Will planning a wedding in that time be stressful? How long does it take? We want the ceremony to be in a trendy part of town by the beach and I"m worried that I won't be able to book the church! HOw many of you have planned a wedding fast? I'm thinking the guest list will include a little over 100 people (plus a lot of out-of-towners). Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites
Curmudgeon Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 The ex and I planned and arranged a relatively formal wedding for about 50 guests in a bit under three months. My wife and I "eloped!" Much simpler, cheaper and the end result is much more satisfying. It took a day. Link to post Share on other sites
Citizen Erased Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 My friend and her husband eloped. They chose to go on one of those mystery flight where you buy the tickets and you dont know where you are going... They ended up in some seedy part of Asia and both had food poisoning... not so romantic! Honestly, I think that some women put too much pressure on themselves to plan the PERFECT wedding and end up having a break down. Just think, you have a year. It takes 9 months to have a baby and they impact far more on your life! Just sit down together and make a list of everything you will need. Try to book the church, if you cannot book it then you will find somewhere else. Think of your dress, the flowers, catering etc. Get your friends to help, they will be thrilled to help out. You can actually have fun doing this if you dont put so much pressure on yourself. Link to post Share on other sites
bab Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 The big thing is finding available spots. Once you have the locals, everything else can be done rather quickly. That is if you aren't set on having the most expensive people, they tend to book early. I spent a couple weeks looking for a dress and then it took 15 weeks to come in, and 1 week for alterations. Hint: Get the alterations done privately. Most bridal boutiques take 4-6 weeks. That's just crazy. Everything else took about 2 days each (one day to make appointments with various vendors and one day to meet the vendors and choose what I wanted), and there are some beautiful dresses "in stock" at some of the chain stores that you could buy off the rack. And some that only take a couple of weeks to order. The hardest part (at least for me) is deciding what you like. So, if you are worried about having enough time, you could do some web surfing for the types of things you like, and then when the time comes to actually plan, it won't take that long at all. Also, to answer your question, yes, it will be stressful, but FUN!!! Link to post Share on other sites
blind_otter Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 IMO, if you want something formal, a year. If you are more felxible and casual about the guest number and the style of the wedding, it can be done in much less time. But venues and photographers often get booked up to one year in advance. Link to post Share on other sites
Author Jayelle Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 The big thing is finding available spots. Once you have the locals, everything else can be done rather quickly. That is if you aren't set on having the most expensive people, they tend to book early. I spent a couple weeks looking for a dress and then it took 15 weeks to come in, and 1 week for alterations. Hint: Get the alterations done privately. Most bridal boutiques take 4-6 weeks. That's just crazy. Wow, 15 weeks to get the dress! Thanks for all your comments. I'm not sure exactly what I want so I've been looking online to get some ideas. Some websites have timelines to follow and that is helpful. Researching these things makes me really antsy though...it's makes me want him to hurry up and propose! haha. If any of you have any suggestions of good wedding websites, please let me know. Link to post Share on other sites
bab Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Wow, 15 weeks to get the dress! Thanks for all your comments. I'm not sure exactly what I want so I've been looking online to get some ideas. Some websites have timelines to follow and that is helpful. Researching these things makes me really antsy though...it's makes me want him to hurry up and propose! haha. If any of you have any suggestions of good wedding websites, please let me know. The timelines on places like theknot.com are usually for brides that I would label as bridezillas. You can do everything much quicker and in my opinion just as nicely if you aren't so ridiculusly anal about everything. Link to post Share on other sites
blind_otter Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Another thing, is that if you get a good photographer, or if you deal witha venue that deal with weddings often, you can get info on the best florist, cateres, etc. in your town because they all work together a lot. Link to post Share on other sites
a4a Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 The timelines on places like theknot.com are usually for brides that I would label as bridezillas. You can do everything much quicker and in my opinion just as nicely if you aren't so ridiculusly anal about everything. You certainly can do better by thinking outside the box for wedding planning. My H and I made sure that ours was classy and unique. No plastic wedding toppers LOL! (sorry if that offends anyone)...... How many weddings do you go to and its the basic same old s***. How dull, how contribed..... make it different, special, meaningful to you.... there is no script that you have to follow.... just guidelines. For example instead of silly bubbles or stupid party favors... we special ordered peach and orange marmalade preserves for each guest to take home and enjoy. Most were from out of state so Carolina Peaches were a hit.... still have guests talking about how much they enjoyed them after they got home, many asked for extras to be mailed to them. ...... the cost after negotiating with the owner was about the same as some of the crappy plastic or other things people really don't want.... they also were labeled by me with the help of a graphics program on the top.. and came with nice foil and bows......just added our names and date with a Thank you for sharing our special day! I did not buy one thing from the "normal wedding" things you find. I can say people still talk about how great it was including the food I prepared the majority of myself..... rave reviews on that as well....... Total cost was $12,000 for about 120 guests... one hell of a party with full service staff I hired myself..... extreme full bar with bar keep....cornish game hens served by a chef (I already seasoned and pre cooked) on a outdoor 10' grill... so much food, fresh baked bread asst. 3 different herb butters on each table. monogramed seat covers I did myself as well....... Beautiful wedding here on our farm with horses in the background and a good time where everyone could be themselves and enjoy the day. I searched and searched for invites programs ect..... I ended up doing our own and again rave reviews. Now I have people that attended planning on getting married asking to hire me to help plan their weddings and possible use of our farm. It took a total of 6 weeks minus the invitations to put together......those had to go out first of course. The only thing I would have added was a damn good live band. Hard to come by. Link to post Share on other sites
Author Jayelle Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 Those were some good ideas....looks like you could have found a new career as a wedding planner/decorator! Link to post Share on other sites
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