Dear Newly Engaged Bride,

Congratulations on your engagement!!! THIS is going to be the most memorable time of your life, and you are going to LOVE! Right now you are excited and you don’t know which way is up. I get it! It’s normal! If you don’t know where to begin your wedding planning process, I’ve come up a list of 5 things to do within the first two months of your engagement to make sure your wedding planning phase is stress free!

1. Set a date & along with that, pick a theme/color scheme for your wedding

When you tell your family and friends that you are engaged and cheerfully show them your engagement ring, they are going to ask you “How did he propose?” and “WHEN are you getting married?” Everyone wants to know right out the bat what the date is. So, discuss the possibility of a couple of dates. This will tick one big item off of your Wedding To Do list. Once you have the date narrowed down, you can then decide on the color scheme for the wedding based on the time of the year you will be getting married. If it is going to be a winter wedding, you aren’t going to choose open toe sanddels and short dresses for your bridesmaids (especially if the wedding is outdoors!) Knowing the date will help you narrow down not only the color scheme, but also the type of venue and the style of dresses for your bridesmaids, etc.

2. Hire a photographer

The planning process goes by so fast, you want to document some of the most important milestones of your “Engaged” days with the help of a photographer. Hire your photographer not only for your wedding, but also it’s important to have professional photos for your Save the Date! invites to family and friends. Additionally, your photographer will be able to help you with a timeline for the wedding day keeping important factors in mind such as daylight savings time, travel time between venues, best lighting and ideal location for getting ready photos, First Look photos, family/bridal portraits, etc. Your photographer isn’t just there to stand back and take your photos. Your photographer becomes your “planner” in a sense while she plans your timeline and stays 2 steps ahead of the schedule to make sure she captures all the shots you want captured from your Big Day!

3. Begin shopping for venues

Once you have a photographer on your corner, you can ask for recommendations on venues, hair and makeup artists, DJs, bakers, planners, caterers, florists, etc. The process becomes so much easier when you have recommendations as opposed to picking someone from a list of names from Google. Your trusted photographer can recommend professionals to you saving you a ton of effort and precious time!

4. Look for dresses

Okay! Your dress is very important! VERY important! Whether you wear your mother or grandmother’s dress tailored to fit you perfectly, or you buy your very own bridal gown, your photographer and any other professional you’ve hired so far will be able to help you navigate this trail. They will tell you about the bridal boutiques tucked away in the heart of a small town that provide exceptional customer services and love on you as if you were a member of their own family. (I am looking at you, Ava Laurenne Bride!) This year I referred THREE brides in a two month period to Ava Laurenne Bride, and ALL THREE of them bought their dresses from there! You’ve got to visit them even if you aren’t engaged yet!

5. Hire a florist

In another life, I’ll be a florist, but in this life, I can recommend you to some amazing florists in town. The only downside is, most florists are booked months ahead of time, so you want to make sure you book your florist and floral designer who is going to bring your vision to life! If you need recommendations, look no further than your photographer (there isn’t any other professional who loves flowers more than a photographer) or your planner to recommend you someone who will bring your wedding day dreams to life! (Good Earth Flowers, I am talking about you!)

So here you go! 5 things to do before the end of February! What would you add to this list? Comment below and share with us your thoughts!

With Love,

Nilo