So I got engaged on December 13th. Immediately we started with the whole wedding planning and such. We made registries at Target and Macys as per the request of family so they knew what to get us for Christmas. My mother and I went dress shopping, in fact today we are going to finalize our decision. The date we intend to get married on is May 5th of 2017 giving us like a year and a half to get everything settled. We started compiling a guest list which is at about 100 people but could be more or less. We have been using the knot which is great but the timeline is so like dragged out. I want to start getting stuff done.We have no idea what the budget is but we want to keep it low. There won't be a separate ceremony/reception place I want it all done in one location. We want it to be a nice wedding but on a budget so we can use the money more so on establishing ourselves. So anyone have any good advice?

My first thing when any of my friends get engaged is I make them make a Pinterest account - lol!

Trust me - there are THOUSANDS of ideas for ANY type of wedding you are going to do. You can save all the ideas you find on the "Wedding" Board you create. It has everything from DIY (do it yourself) ideas, color pallets, boutiques ideas, themes, how to make a budget for a wedding, all the main traditional wedding arrangement... just so much! Haha.

Good luck! I would also suggest trying to keep it under budget as much as possible, but that's just me!

Pintrest is a great area for ideas. I got ideas from there for my wedding. If you're having it in May, should have an outside wedding (rain is a good luck sign along with the minute hand going upwards so after :30). Google, go on DeviantArt, just everywhere. You'll find things you like. ^^ My wedding was only $1,000.00

Thank you for the pintrest idea. I honestly would have never thought about it.

That is impressive. I feel like since I am the only daughter and the first grand kid on one side to marry that we have the pressure of doing something big. Our estimated invite list is at 100 people. My cousin's wedding was for 100 people at $30,000 which in our opinion is too much. We are aiming for under $15,000. The dress alone is after alterations going to be around 3 thousand maybe 4 (gift from my mom and step dad) so I don't count it in our budget but the fiance does. I did consider something outside but I myself am super sensitive to rain (gives me migraines)so it would ruin it for me at least.

My dress was given to me by my mother in law. I had about 50 people show up and all the food was made by us so no catering. My mother in law made my cake. It was a great wedding. It rained on our wedding . It was so nice.

I only spent 6 months planning my wedding. We wanted an outdoor wedding and found the perfect venue where the owner took care of all the decorating and her daughter was a caterer, so two birds, one stone. I stressed the entire 6 months about everything...the dress, the music, the guest list, the invitations, you name it. And you know what? On the day of the wedding, it was a complete blur. Honestly, things happened so fast, there were so many people, so much going on - I enjoyed the experience but i didn't really get to ENJOY it. And yes, several things went wrong. I forgot my necklace at home, my veil almost fell out when I was walking down the aisle, one of my flower girls nearly had a meltdown because she was hot, and the wedding planner played the wrong music twice during the reception.

So my advice to anyone getting married is to just enjoy the experience and do what YOU want, not what your family or anyone else wants. Have someone video things, or take a ton of photos. No amount of planning will guarantee that everything will be perfect, and if something does go wrong, laugh if off and know that you'll have a story to tell years later.

I am hoping to find a venue that will do pretty much it all. I don't want to get a planner. Since it is a year and a half away I am not sure I am ready to commit to an outdoor wedding. Looking for something that does both just in case. We are doing what we would like to do, it is just on a slightly grander scale if that makes sense.

I was actually married on December 13th (2014). =P

Some things will need to be dealt with in advance; certain venues, for example, can have long wait lists - especially if you're looking at a more popular wedding date. The date you've chosen falls on a Friday, so you may have a bit of an easier time (Saturdays are the most popular), but still, April is the start of wedding season - so don't count on being lucky. Right now you have time on your side, so use it. Honestly, booking your venue should really be the first thing you do before anything else; consider it the foundation of the wedding, and build up from there. Just keep in mind that a lot of venues will need an estimated head count, so have some rough numbers at the ready. (And, if you do decide on an outdoor venue, make sure they have a rain-plan backup available; rain is said to be good luck, but trust me, you'll want an indoor backup should that be the case.)

Most other things, however? Some people won't even want to talk to you until the wedding date is only a few months away. Flowers and catering come to mind (most caterers will want you to have a firm headcount first, which often doesn't come in until, earliest, 3 months before the date, depending on when you send out your invites). Some bakers and even officiants will book up quick, but they won't want to meet with you until a the wedding is only a few months or even weeks away.

Even buying your dresses (yours and bridesmaids) too early can be a bad thing, too - as sizes can change (you also run the risk of changing your mind on which dresses you want as more of the planning starts to unfold). If you do decide to buy your dress early, don't even try and have it altered until you're much closer to the wedding date.

So, realistically, having a year and a half to plan a wedding sounds good on paper, but it almost certainly means you'll initially be waiting around a LOT. Theeen all of a sudden it'll be the polar opposite, and you'll be rushing to finalize everything with only months to go - regardless of how early you try and get a jump on things.

Congrats on your 1 year anniversary!

Thank you for the advice but my situation is slightly complicated. I can't book a venue yet until I get a budget which won't be until February. My fiance and I will be moving out of state so we need things settled prior to us moving. We won't be returning to New York until about a month before the wedding. I want to get it mostly settled by June which is when we are holding our engagement party. The dress was ordered already and paid for minus the alterations done during the fittings 1 month before the wedding. In terms of headcount we have an estimated 100 give or take 15. I know with the firm headcount I will have to wait closer to the wedding. The timeline presented to us via the knot is too dragged out when we don't have the ability to remain here in New York for the entire year and half of our engagement. I am looking for like ideas on keeping things in budget or like venues in general.

If that's the case, then you'll likely find that a good deal of your planning will have to take place long-distance (which, actually, can be a lot easier than it sounds). Our wedding took place in the same city we live in, and I still spent a great deal of time emailing with various people before ever meeting them in person. Granted, if you're only going to be in town for the month before the wedding, you may not be comfortable depending on someone being as good in person as they sound online, so it is a little riskier - but that's where having local friends or family will come in handy. You can always ask them if they can go in and talk to them on your behalf, and take pictures for you, while you're out of town.

You can always start doing your research now, too, while you're still here - but remember that the people you speak to may not be able to guarantee anything this far in advance. But at least you'll have met with them yourself, and it could help you feel more confident once you start making your final decisions later on down the road.

I still strongly recommend nailing down a venue as soon as you're able to. Waiting to start your planning until February shouldn't cause an issue, because it still gives you plenty of time before the actual wedding. That being said, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a look around at some of your options between now and then anyways. It'll help you get a better idea of what you can expect to spend on certain venues (look for various price ranges if you can), which in turn will help you set a budget. You don't have to book anything or make any promises; just email/call around, ask for availability and quotes, maybe even get a tour - then just tell them you need time to think about your options and you'll get back to them. Then, once you do have your budget, you'll already have the legwork done. I'm not sure when you're leaving, but this would be an excellent way to make use of what time you do have left.

When it comes to actually making a wedding budget, I always recommend people list out what is the most important to least important aspects of their wedding, and spend their money accordingly. And, most importantly: do not loose focus on this. Letting yourself forget something is lower on the priority list is a very easy way for a budget to blow up, so remind yourself constantly of the hierarchy of wants vs needs, and let you and your fiance keep one another in check if you catch the other one slipping. Things will get out of hand if you aren't careful, so be ruthless, and don't let your guard down.

For us the venue, food and photographer were the most important, so that's where we spent the majority of our budget; but things like the flowers, centrepieces, and the cake were on the lower end of our priority list, so we went with inexpensive bouquets (mostly roses accented with on-season flowers), made the centrepieces ourselves with things we bought at Ikea and craft stores (cost us $100 for 5 centrepieces, whereas having fresh flower centrepieces would have cost $100+ for just one), and the cake was made for us by my husband's uncle.

Non-weekend, off-season weddings will always be the cheapest. You're technically on-season (but just barely), and a Friday will often be considered a "weekend" in the wedding world (though it's usually still less expensive than a Saturday, regardless). Dinner receptions will cost more than a lunch reception (we went with an off-season Saturday and had a lunch; we paid more for it being a Saturday, but less overall than we otherwise would have). Also, opting for a buffet rather than a plated dinner will almost always be cheaper in the overall.

Speaking of, food and alcohol (if you're doing wine over dinner or having an open bar) is where the good majority of your budget will go - especially when your headcount starts getting up there. My sister got around the expensive alcohol issue bit by getting a special occasion permit so they could serve their own wine at dinner (which our uncle had made as his wedding gift to them). Whether or not a venue will be able to accommodate this will depend on their own liquor licence, however (my sister's venue was a hotel, so it was fine; but mine was a restaurant, so we weren't legally allowed to supply our own, for example). I also imagine this will vary depending on local laws, so be sure to ask if that's something you're considering trying to save money on. They will likely still charge a corking fee, but it's peanuts compared to letting them serve a wine they supply.

And, this may sound strange, but if people are asking what you want as a wedding present, you can always ask them if they wouldn't mind just helping with some of the cost or paying for one of the smaller things. For exmaple, our gift to my sister and her wife was their "cake" (they were cupcakes =P), and my husband's sisters gifted us our bagpiper; and I already mentioned a couple other examples above. If friends and family are willing to, don't be afraid to ask for their help.

Hopefully that was more along the lines of some of the advice you were looking for? =P

Thank you that is definitely helpful for me. Yeah I am currently researching venues and getting in touch. I would like to tour them with my fiance and then narrow it down to two places to show my family. Some places I contacted where already booked for my date which is fine. Just makes it more imperative that I find it now so I can worry less later.

First off, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Second off, I can't agree more with on the subject of listing what's the most important to you so that you can get your budget in order. This includes big things like the venue, catering, bar options and number of guests all the way down to the "small" things like a send off with sparklers or the type of chair covers. They all will cost something, and it's a matter of deciding which is a priority and which you're willing to limit (or eliminate) in order to put your biggest wants first. If you and your fiancé start with your own lists and then work together to create a master list, you'll have a much better chance of having your money go towards the things that are the most important to you both.

The venue seems like the biggest sticking point (and it might be, if that's one of the higher items on your list), though there are many venue options. If you have your heart set on a specific spot, book it early if possible. If you're looking for venues that offer a certain "feel", consider options such as large homes on open proper that are available for rent. There are so many options from forests, to large estate homes, churches or other places of worship, to large gathering spaces that mean something to you. My husband and I got married at a contemporary art museum overlooking the ocean- once you find the type of thing you're looking for, you can narrow it down further until you find the right spot for you. Ask lots of questions too- are there places for out of town guests to stay nearby? Are they able to accommodate the activities, number of people, catering, etc that you want? If it's outside, is there a plan B available in case of rain? I'm sure there are lists on google you could search for. Don't be shy about questions, venues want your business and will let you know their restrictions early on if there are any.

And to further agree with Narceu, I love the idea of having friends and family who are interested make their wedding gift something that will help the actual wedding take place. One of my husband's long time family friends owns a little stationary store in our home town, and their gift to us was to provide all the printed material for our wedding (invitations, menus, etc). It was so thoughtful and it really helped us with the costs!

My favorite piece of advice though is for right after the ceremony takes place: make sure to take just a few minutes with your new husband away from everyone else and just enjoy the time and space with the two of you. When my husband and I got married (on a balcony of the art museum), we went to the far side of the balcony and watched the sunset by ourselves. Our groomsmen and wedding planner politely made sure that we had our space for a few minutes (there will be tons of time for friends and family during the reception!)

It's one of my most fond memories. :)