Newly Engaged - What’s Next?
Congratulations! This new chapter of your life is such an exciting one, but if you’re not quite sure where to start then you’re not alone. Once you’ve taken your time to bask in the warm fuzzies of your recent engagement, it’s time to decide how to start your wedding planning. We recommend to start wedding planning with these three important tasks so that you can break those down into the detailed wedding plan later:
Draft Your Guest List & Budget
Your wedding budget and guest list are very closely related. Each person you invite to your wedding reception will increase the cost of catering and could change the size of venue you’ll need to book. First, draft your guest list to get a rough head count. Next, do a search for “wedding venues Cedar Rapids” (or another specific city) if you know where you’d like to have your ceremony and wedding reception, or do a more general search of “wedding venues near me” if you want to compare the available options in your area. Once you’ve found an average price of wedding venues in your area, you can decide what your venue budget will be and if you need to make any guest list or location changes to stay within it. For a guide on setting and getting the most out of your wedding budget, check out our previous blog that has percentages to follow here.
Choose Your Venue & Date
With your budget in mind, the next step is to tour those wedding venues that came up in your “wedding venues Cedar Rapids” or “wedding venues near me” search. Be sure to go with a list of questions in hand (with “what dates are available” as a top question). Choosing your wedding venue as soon as you’ve toured and compared your options will make it more likely that you get the date you want, and then you can move on to the rest of your plans.
Make & Send Save the Dates
It’s important to notify your guests ahead of time about your wedding, and that’s usually recommended to be about a year before your wedding date. Don’t worry if you’re not an artist, because there are tons of great online tools that help you create wedding stationary.
If you decide you want to use engagement photos on your Save the Dates, you’ll want to get set up with a wedding photographer right away. Many wedding photographers will offer packages that include engagement photos, which may be a more cost effective way to book both. If you’re looking for a Cedar Rapids wedding photographer, here are a few we recommend:
We hope these first few steps are helpful as you jump into your wedding plans, and we wish you the happiest of futures in this next chapter of your life! If you want to see photos of A Touch of Class Wedding Venue and pricing, check those out here. We’d be happy to answer any questions you might have, so just send us a message on Facebook, Instagram, or our website.
Thank you to Josh and Andrea Photography for the gorgeous photos!