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5 Things To Do After You Get Engaged

December 27, 2020

You just said yes and are now engaged. Congratulations!

This is such an exciting time for you and your fiance. YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED! By now you’ve announced your engagement to family and friends, changed your facebook status, taken many ring selfies and are busy scrolling through Pinterest boards, wedding magazines, and blogs for wedding inspiration.

After the bubbly has popped and you’ve changed your facebook status to engaged, you might be wondering what to do next. You’re not alone. Your wedding will probably be the biggest party you and your fiance every throw and figuring out where to start can feel overwhelming.

We recommend focusing on one step at a time and following our 5 practical steps to get you going with your wedding planning.

Here are our top 5 things to do after you get engaged.

Get that sparkly ring insured

I know, it’s not the most romantic thing but trust me, getting your ring insured can save you in the long run. It’s relatively inexpensive to insure your ring when you add it onto your homeowners or renters insurance. I found out quickly how important getting your ring insured first hand. I was engaged for maybe a week and I lost my ring. EEKKKK!! I took it off while I was at work and forgot where I put it. Long story short, it was in the back pocket of my pants but lesson learned to get that ring insured right away!

Talk about the budget

Again, not the most romantic topic but it’s one of the biggest components to the wedding planning process. You need to have a clear understanding of who is contributing and how much is being contributed because anything wedding related is dependent on your budget. Determine whether you and your partner are paying for it or will you have financial help from family. Maybe you are entertaining the idea of creating a GoFundMe page. It’s worth a try, right? Talking about money can be tricky but if you deal with it right away and openly it can save you, your partner, and your families from the headache.

How big do you want this party to be?

Knowing your rough guest count will help with setting your budget and narrowing down a venue. All venues have max occupancies so having a rough guest count can help rule in or out venues when you’re searching for that dream location.

Start looking for a venue

The first thing that family and friends are going to ask you after you get engaged is, “when is the wedding?”

Typically the availability of the venue will determine your wedding date but it’s good to have a date in mind. Wedding venues often book out 1-2 years in advance so if you are looking for a specific date you’ll want to start your venue search sooner than later.

Keep in mind holidays and check if there are any special events going on in or around the town where you’ll be getting married. These can affect travel, vendor availability, and lodging.

If you have a couple venues already in mind that is AWESOME. Check out the venue’s websites to get more information about pricing, inclusions, and FAQ’s. Make sure to email them to inquire about information they don’t have on their website and to schedule a tour.

If you don’t have a venue in mind, no worries friend. You still have plenty of time to search. You can start your venue search by scrolling through Instagram and Facebook or doing a larger search using Google and national platforms like The Knot. A great local resource I highly recommend you use for all things wedding planning is The Wed Planner & Guide. The Wed Planner & Guide is a Madison, Wisconsin based wedding planning gem. It has endless wedding planning resources to help you along the way.

We have more helpful tips on how to choose your wedding venue in our next blog 🙂

Vendors

Once you have a date and venue locked in, it’s time to book your vendors. Many venues have a preferred vendor list so make sure to check this out when booking a venue. Determine your “must have” vendors and start researching (wedding planner, photographer, DJ/band, florist, cake designer, caterer, hair/makeup, etc.). You can use the same search platforms from step 4 to find your wedding vendors.