Oh, the wedding timeline... For me, each one I saw on The Knot, Wedding Wire or in Martha Stewart's wedding  magazine  was just not the time line for me. They will suggest  things like "10 months out think about reception food" or "9  months out  hire a wedding consultant". Hiring a wedding  consultant 9 months out  is not only unnecessary, but stupid,  and thinking about food that early is pointless (and I looove  food). This is what I cannot stress to you enough. Look at these  timelines to get a general idea of what needs to be done, and then DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.

First of all, get the big stuff taken care of as soon as you can. So decide what the 'big stuff' is - and what is most important to you. If you want a spectacular venue, and don't care that much about the photography, book your venue first, and find a photog later. For me, our reception venue was what I cared most about. Venues fill up quickly, and if you live somewhere small(ish) like I do, venues are often booked a year out (which was a HUGE stresser for me). We happened to get the last October date available at our reception venue, so we took it and ran. It ended up being a little later in the year then we anticipated, but it was a minor setback to be able to have the venue we both wanted. From there, we put ourselves on the church calendar, and BOOM, we had a date.



Once you have the date set, everything then begins to fall in to place.

The second most important thing for me was the band, because you can most definitely find me on the dance floor at any and every party (case and point below). Once I found a band I liked, I put the deposit down, and then began to feel like I could relax some.


Now, some of you may be wondering, "Um, is this girl going to mention a budget?." Well, yes, yes, I am. This was and is my ABSOLUTE least favorite part, because money is NEVER fun  to talk about with anyone. I will admit, I didn't make a budget to begin with, and this was a HUGE point of contention for my fiance and me. He thought we could have a wedding for $12,000. Yep, you read that right. It was sort of one of those Lucille Bluth moments ("It's one banana, what could it cost? $10") I had to quickly explain that he better do some research #sassy.


And then I threw the word 'elope' around.

This was not the right time to do that. So please, learn from me.

Also, I must mention, I am an only child, and not used to being told no. But I am also not a totally unreasonable person. I do not want to spend my life's earnings on this wedding, because I would like to be able to eat and have a home after this wedding. So, I thought the decisions I was making were practical and cost effective, and I still stand by this.

So, my last piece of advice is to get the hard talks over with, early. As difficult as it will be at first, I promise it takes a lot of stress away. Whether it has to be with your parents, fiance, grandparents or anyone that will listen... you get the idea: Pull a Nike, and Just do it 

Now that you have some things in place and have had the money talk, make an Excel spreadsheet. Put each and everything you want or need, it's approximate cost, and keep track. This will insure that you stay within you budget, and you can add things as you think about them. I hate Excel, we are not friends. But my wedding expense spreadsheet has been a life saver. I've shared mine below.