Planning Your Wedding: Part 1 - Picking Your Wedding Date

He asked you to be his forever, and you said Yes! The day you've waited for since you first realized he was "The One" is here, and you are now engaged.

You can start planning your wedding!

Now, where do you start?

The process of planning your wedding is an infamous one, full of excitement, stress, laughter and more than a few tears. There are countless websites, magazines and books to help you through the process, and many, many people who make it their life's work to help make it a smooth and enjoyable process. 

Yet no matter how hard you try, there are bound to be some rough patches and trouble spots. That's life, and every single bride goes through it. Your wedding day will make all the bumps totally worth it once you are in your wedding dress, walking down the aisle. I promise.

The best plan of action to ensure that you have the best experience in planning your wedding is to do your homework, listen to those who have come before you, go slow, and enjoy every single moment of it.

Ok.

You're engaged, you can't stop looking at your ring, and you're trying to remember to call him your fiance instead of your boyfriend.

Now what?

The first question people will ask you is when you are getting married? When is the wedding date?

A lot of factors go into choosing your wedding date. Some people pick their wedding date based on special meaning - maybe it's the date they first started dating on. Others get married on a special anniversary, like maybe one of their parent's anniversary. Others get married on dates like 10.10.10 or 11.11.11. 

Other times, people consider the climate and the type of wedding they want. Do you want an outdoor wedding, but you live in Minnesota? Ok then, you have 3, maybe 4 months to make that happen. If you live in Arizona and want an outdoor wedding, your season is directly the opposite of Minnesota's, and you will be planning around the heat, seeking relief with the cooler season.

Also, consider prime weekend dates vs off peak dates. Some places, there is an entire off-peak season, while other venues have discounts for people who choose to get married on any day other than a Saturday. Depending on when you are getting married and where, you might be able to save some money by avoiding Saturday wedding dates.

Other factors might affect your wedding date as well. Say that ever since you were little, you always said your wedding day would take place at the big castle located on the outskirts of your town. Now that you are engaged, you KNOW you want to have your wedding at the castle. Great! But, you might have to be a little flexible on your wedding date in order to get married there. Many venues book at least a year in advance, especially for peak wedding seasons and on prime weekend dates.

Maybe there's a photographer that you LOVE and you know they are the perfect photographer to shoot your wedding day. If you get engaged and know you want to work with them, their availability might play a part in your wedding date. Keep this in mind for any vendors who you really, really want to work with.

So - how do you pick your wedding date?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. When do you want to get married? Winter, spring, summer, fall? Inside or outside?

2. What is your budget like? Do your possible venues offer discounts for off peak seasons/dates?

3. Are you wanting to book a certain venue or vendor? Consider their availability and be prepared to be flexible if you know that you want to work with them.

4. Are there any special dates you want to consider for your wedding date?

By taking those four questions and your answers to them into consideration, you can choose your perfect wedding date, and have an answer ready when people start to ask you: When are you getting married?