And So It Begins!

Well, the planning has begun! At least, I’m attempting to begin, but it’s a lot more difficult than I thought! I was expecting there to be A LOT to do, but I guess I didn’t realize just how detailed the decisions were going to be. Everything I’ve read and everyone I’ve talked to has said, “choose your venue first, and then go from there” or “once you figure out where you’re going to get married, you can build off of that.” Well I am here to tell you that is easier said than done! I would love to make all of the “big” decisions first, like where and when, and then fill in the other details as I go, but in order to make those big decisions you have to have a surprising number of small(er) details in order too! Every venue I have talked to needs at least an approximation of the number of guests (which I really don’t understand as far as the ceremony is concerned, but hey – I’m new at this, so what do I know?) and some want a pretty set in stone number, while others even want to know the exact date of the wedding. Um, that’s why I’m here talking to you, so we can set that date…?

A few of the decisions I’m really struggling with as far as the location is concerned are the choice of an outdoor or indoor wedding, as well as whether or not I want the ceremony and reception to be at one location or two. Whenever I look at pictures of weddings with the style I really like, they are almost always outside weddings, but I have really never wanted my ceremony to be outdoors – mostly because I absolutely HATE the idea of worrying about the weather on one particular day for the next 12 months of my life. I feel like planning an inside, more chapel-like wedding with the style and feel that I want is going to be one of my biggest (and exciting!) challenges. As far as the one location versus two, I feel like we’ll get a better idea of these options when we go see some of the venues in person.  Most of our family will be traveling from out of town and out of state, so they won’t be too familiar with the area. Because of these factors, we’re leaning toward staying at one location, if possible.

 Overall, getting to search magazines and the internet for new ideas and places is really, really exciting, and I know that a lot of the things I’m worried about will fall into place as things start moving more rapidly. And of course, it always helps when I talk to my wonderful fiancé about all of these things instead of just keeping them to myself :)

I’ve been in contact with a few different venues, and am in the process of setting up meetings with them in the next week or two, so the first “big” decisions are very possibly just a few weeks away!

What were some of the first things y'all did when the proposal chaos ended, and you really started to get into the nitty gritty of planning? Did you find it difficult to choose a starting place?