love meets a newly engaged couple

On Sunday morning, I woke up to a text message from my dear friend Julia with BIG NEWS - she and her boyfriend of 2 years got engaged! Like the typical girls that we are, we've talked about when this momentous occasion was going to go down, I mean, we all knew it was coming but its was still a wonderful surprise.

Congrats to the happy couple - Julia & Tom!

And, ahem, nice job to Tom on a BEAUTIFUL ring.

We've gabbed and giggled about what what our future weddings were going to be like but now that there's an actual wedding to plan, we've got to get to work! WHERE DO YOU BEGIN?!?! There are SO many details and moving pieces to consider and planning everything can be a daunting task. Here is some advice on how to move forward now that you're engaged... 

Announce the engagement -- but not the date! It's exciting news and you'll want the world to know, and nowadays with everyone on Facebook, the word is going to spread quickly. Be sure to tell close relatives -- including parents, grandparents and siblings -- personally and not rely on the news getting them to through the grapevine. Even if they've heard already, its polite to let them hear about the special moment direct from you. 

And when it comes to friends, tell your closest ones that you know for sure will get an invite to the wedding. Going out of your way to tell your roommate from freshman year of college that you're engaged might give them the wrong idea that they should expect an invite. If others happen to hear from word of mouth, that's fine. This is just a great way of avoiding awkwardness and hurt feelings. 

Have an engagement party! A traditional engagement party is hosted by the bride's side of the family. The official engagement announcement should be made by the father of the bride during a toast. Depending on how quickly you can pull together a party, invite people by phone or written invitation. 

Set up and register for a wedding website. Get the ball rolling on this one early so that it gives you chance to not only share the announcement to those who haven't heard or attended the engagement party, but to share the proposal story that everyone is dying to hear! Throughout the planning process, make updates to your site to include engagement photos and registry information. Be careful about publishing details about your event though - be mindful of who may get ahold of the link and inadvertently know when and where your wedding is. Definitely wait until invitations are printed and mailed to share details. 

The Knot and the Wedding Channel are great places to get started - they have templates that you can easily personalize. 

Start a "Wedding Binder" - keep your thoughts and ideas organized! This is going to be KEY. Keep all paperwork such as contracts, floor plans, budgets, and timelines in this binder. Consider getting a 3-ring binder with lots of dividers. Create sections for specific vendors and documents that you'll need to keep records of. Here's a sample list of sections you might want to create: 

• Budget 
• Cake
• Ceremony
• Reception - contracts, menus, floor plans 
• Guest list 
• Hotel - for out of town guests 
• Invitations 
• Musicians 
• Photographer 
• Videographer
• Rental Items 
• Transportation 
• Timelines 

In this day and age, I'm sure everyone has their own ways of filing things electronically - i.e. Google Doc - but I always feel like having a printout helps to have something tangible to scribble notes on and to access easily and pass along. Contracts are going to go through revisions so I find it easier to flip between different versions when you have printouts. 

Design your wedding. Start talking about your vision for your wedding (if you haven't already). Go on Pinterest, Lover.ly, Wedding and Gawker, other wedding sites to get inspiration and ideas. Think about colors, themes, and the overall tone that you want to set. Thinking about the design of your wedding is really going to dictate location scouting in the near future. 

When it comes to the design of your wedding, there are 2 major things I want to emphasize:

1. Ask yourselves, "IS THIS US?" Are we a black-tie formal event kind of couple? Or does a casual rustic chic event fit us better? Also consider what each of your families are going to be comfortable with. 
2. KEEP IT A SECRET! You'll be uber excited about all the creative ideas you've got flowing but resist the urge to over share. Save some details here and there from your family and friends. Besides, you don't want them to be sick of an idea and it ruin the appeal for the big day! 

WHEW -- there are just SOME of the initial things you should be thinking of now that you're engaged! There ARE going to be a lot more to consider but this should be a good start for now. It's important that you do take some time to sit back and savor the engagement before the real planning starts to gain momentum. Next week - we'll start to talk about the guest list, setting a date, and creating a budget. 

Congrats again to J&T <3 

Until we meet again...