Is it normal to just be completely overwhelmed by the idea of planning a wedding? I have been engaged for almost a month and I haven't really done any planning at all.
You might want to figure out where before when. Some places might be booked up during your optimal times, so you could need some flexibility.
Your/his parents could help with the guest list. With my wedding, we gave half of the guest list to the parents (divided evenly among them). "You have X number of people to invite. Within 1 month, give us the names and addresses of who you want included on the list." Some family members were already taken care of from our list, but I told them that already. It took trying to remember every single 1st cousin out of the equation.
What it boils down to is what kind of wedding do you want? Small or medium or big? Church or secular? Tom and I had our wedding and reception at a historic event site, officiated by a judge. We did pictures beforehand so we could get to enjoying the party as quickly as possible. Not having people traveling between two sites made it a lot more fun and easy for us in terms of planning. (I hope this makes sense, I have a migraine.)
I already have all my first cousins in the list and I have already told my parents that I am *not* going to be inviting too many people that are past that because I can't afford to have a huge wedding. I swear I am related to most of the Twin Cities area at times.
We are looking at a winter of 2011 wedding so I am not really worried about them being booked yet.
We had around 100 people at our wedding. Each parent "set" was given 15 people to invite, for a total of 45. (There was still gnashing of teeth, since my parents were divorced 5 years before my wedding and...drama ensued whenever someone felt slighted.)
We figured out our budget for the wedding first, then backed into location amount of people we could invite. We were not sure how much help we would have from family. Tom and I started saving 6 months before the wedding and socked away a decent amount to pay for it completely. (I really recommend this path. Figure out what you can afford before falling in love with X place.)
With my siblings, aunts & uncles and first cousins the amount is at 81 people. That doesn't count Zach's side of the family, the couple of extended family relatives that I would want to invite or any friends at all.
My dad keeps telling me that I shouldn't worry about it but we haven't had a sit down about numbers yet. I still plan on keeping this as frugal as possible, I don't want them paying for more than they have to.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-10-27 06:29 pm (UTC)Your/his parents could help with the guest list. With my wedding, we gave half of the guest list to the parents (divided evenly among them). "You have X number of people to invite. Within 1 month, give us the names and addresses of who you want included on the list." Some family members were already taken care of from our list, but I told them that already. It took trying to remember every single 1st cousin out of the equation.
What it boils down to is what kind of wedding do you want? Small or medium or big? Church or secular? Tom and I had our wedding and reception at a historic event site, officiated by a judge. We did pictures beforehand so we could get to enjoying the party as quickly as possible. Not having people traveling between two sites made it a lot more fun and easy for us in terms of planning.
(I hope this makes sense, I have a migraine.)
no subject
Date: 2010-10-27 06:37 pm (UTC)We are looking at a winter of 2011 wedding so I am not really worried about them being booked yet.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-27 06:40 pm (UTC)We figured out our budget for the wedding first, then backed into location amount of people we could invite. We were not sure how much help we would have from family. Tom and I started saving 6 months before the wedding and socked away a decent amount to pay for it completely. (I really recommend this path. Figure out what you can afford before falling in love with X place.)
no subject
Date: 2010-10-27 06:48 pm (UTC)My dad keeps telling me that I shouldn't worry about it but we haven't had a sit down about numbers yet. I still plan on keeping this as frugal as possible, I don't want them paying for more than they have to.
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Date: 2010-10-27 07:11 pm (UTC)However, doing it during the winter will save you money, since I bet most MSP brides don't choose that time. (I'd think...)
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Date: 2010-10-27 07:15 pm (UTC)