You’re engaged, how exciting! You’re in that wonderful phase of excitement and love and you are ready to jump right into wedding planning. While all of that is wonderful, there are several things that need to happen right after you get engaged. These 8 things to do before you start wedding planning will help you make sure that you and your future hubby are on the same page and are ready to plan a wedding!
One minute you’re just going about your life and the next your boyfriend is kneeling in front of you flashing a gorgeous ring. You’re engaged and your life is about to change in a huge way! Your mind is probably going a million miles an hour and it can be hard to know what to do first (other than slip that stunning ring on your finger!). But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Planning a wedding can be stressful, and you want to really savor the time when your engagement is fresh! Keep reading to find out the 8 things you must do first when your partner pops the question.
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Post-Engagement Tip #1: Tell Your Closest Friends and Family That You’re Engaged
Once you are engaged, the first thing that you want to do is to share the exciting news! While your instinct may be to jump straight to social media, be sure that you call your closest family and friends first. They will be a big part of your wedding and planning process, and you want to be sure that they are the first ones to know and that they find out directly from you! This is a huge moment and you deserve to be able to share this news personally with the people who are most important to you both. Besides, the looks on their faces when you tell them will be too good to miss!
Post-Engagement Tip #2: Share the News on Social Media
Okay, you’ve told your closest family and friends about your engagement, now it is okay to share the news with the rest of the world on social media! This is such a fun part of being engaged. There are so many creative ways to share the news. This is also a great excuse to have a photo shoot! Engagement photos are so fun to take, and you will have them to look back on for years to come. Don’t want to do professional photos to make the announcement? No worries! You can post a cute sign, a classic ring shot (make sure your nails are photo ready!), or even just stick to the good ole status update on Facebook.
Post Engagement Tip #3: Take a Moment to Relax and Celebrate
Like I said earlier, wedding planning, while exciting, can be super stressful. Take some time to enjoy this stage of your engagement before you jump in head first. Being engaged is a fun stage of life, and you really want to savor it. Take the time to celebrate with friends and family. Have a party, go out for a celebratory drink, or even just go on a romantic date night to keep the celebration going with your significant other. Even if you’re not throwing an all-out engagement party, there are plenty of ways to celebrate this event that will be memorable to look back on. This exciting time in your life will pass so quickly, and it’s important to take it all in before your world is filled with nothing but wedding planning.
Post Engagement Tip #4: Decide on Wedding Basics
Okay, you’ve told your family and friends and have taken some time to soak everything in. You’re ready to start planning the wedding, but start off slowly. Take some time to think about the basics of your wedding. While you don’t have to begin booking vendors right away, you should have a serious talk with your fiance and parents (or anyone else contributing financially to the wedding) about the basic logistics of your wedding: location, size, budget and date. It’s okay if these are rough estimates at this point. These details will help set the pace of your wedding plans and will determine if you and your fiance are generally on the same page. Communication is key when it comes to a relationship, and planning your wedding is a great place to start!
Post Engagement Tip #5: Curate Your Pinterest Board
Pinterest is a great place to start when it comes to wedding planning and, let’s face it, you probably already have a wedding board! Now is the time to curate a Pinterest board, or filter through the one that you have, to start getting a visual for your wedding. Try not to add things that are unrealistic and stick to things that you know that you can do. This is where you can start considering different venue types, colors, dress styles, etc. An extra tip – use the description portion to type out what you like about that pin so that you’ll remember when you come back to it later. The idea is to create a cohesive board that you can show to potential vendors so they can easily understand the type of wedding you want.
Post Engagement Tip #6: Focus on Your Relationship
When you are in the depths of wedding planning, it can be easy to get so caught up in the little things that you forget why you got engaged in the first place. Make sure that you are still spending quality time with your spouse and keeping them involved as much as they want to be in the planning process. One way to focus on your relationship during your engagement is to participate in premarital counseling. Counseling can be a great reminder that you’re building a marriage, not just a wedding. Other ways to keep the focus on your relationship include planning regular date nights or making time to participate in your favorite hobbies together.
Post Engagement Tip #7: Discuss Your Finances
Talking about your finances once you are engaged is extremely important. You want to go into a marriage both being financially transparent. Being married starts the process of you and your partner becoming one family. As this transition happens, dealing with bills and money issues turns into a team effort. It’s not the most fun topic, but tackling your finances now will only set you up for success after you’ve wed. Sit down with your fiance and take a look at your combined income, living expenses and any debt you’ll be bringing into the union. If you’re trying to save up for wedding costs, analyze your recurring monthly expenses and see if there are any places you can save money. Could you benefit from refinancing your student debt to get a lower monthly payment? Joining finances with another person and preparing for upcoming life milestones may help you realize it’s time to get serious about tackling your student loan debt and make a plan for paying it off.
Post Engagement Tip #8: Pick Your Wedding Party
Okay, you’ve done the first 7 tips, so now you’re ready to start planning! The first thing that you will want to do is pick your wedding party. You will want to do this before you even pick a venue or set a date. These people are going to play a major role in your planning process and your wedding day, so there is no better way to kick off the process than with making the “ask”. As wedding planning commences you’ll want to make sure you have your most trusted friends by your side. Keep in mind that this is a big decision so give it some real thought before you ask someone to be in your wedding. Don’t feel obligated to include someone because they included you and remember that more isn’t always merrier when it comes to wedding parties. At the end of the day you’ll know who your core group of friends and family are; the ones who will be there for you through all of the ups and downs of wedding planning. Plan a special way to ask them (these cards are perfect) and they’ll be overjoyed at the honor!
