Things You Need To Do After You Get Engaged

Just Engaged?

The day that a couple gets engaged is such a beautiful day. They have usually been dating for a substantial amount of time and have both had ‘the moment’ when they realize that they definitely want to spend the rest of their life with this person. Some people have thought far enough ahead that they have an idea of what they want the wedding to look like. Whether you are starting from scratch or starting with some ideas, there are a few things that definitely need to be done immediately after that engagement ring goes on your finger.

What to do after you get engaged:

• Tell your family and friends:

Of course, you will want to gush with your friends and family about how beautiful the ring is, how excited you are for the wedding and how much you love your future spouse! You will probably also want to start strategizing with your parents and/or siblings about how they will be helping with the planning.

• Set a budget:

The last thing you want to do is start your marriage off with a crazy amount of debt. While we all want our wedding day to be lavish a beautiful, don’t overextend yourself. See what your parents would be willing to help you pay for, but don’t rely too heavily on help from others. You can get personal loans, but they typically have high-interest rates. Consider very seriously how long you will want to be paying for the wedding costs and use that number to plan for the budget.

• Start your guest list:

This is an easy thing to do and starting it early will help you later. You can easily put your family and close friends on the list and let it grow (or shrink) as you plan. You will also want to have a general idea of the guest list as you start planning so you know how big of a venue you will need.

• Find a venue:

There are a lot of details that go into choosing a venue, so you definitely want to start this early. You can start narrowing down the many, many choices by thinking about the number of guests, theme (rustic, classic, elegant), budget, and availability.

• Start building your Pinterest board:

Every bride’s best friend and every wedding vendor’s worst nightmare: Pinterest. You can gather so many ideas and narrow down what you want by seeing what others have done. Just keep in mind that this is your day and it is meant to be unique. Don’t have your heart so set on certain details because you will be disappointed if they don’t turn out exactly like that one Pinterest post.

• Start your registry:

Building your registry is a lot of work! (I know this from experience) First, you need to decide where you want to register. There are lots of stores that offer registries, but there are also lots of online registry services. For example, you can use a service like Zola that combines products from lots of different stores along with an option for a honeymoon fund. Just keep in mind that some websites will take a percentage of money donated to a honeymoon fund, so do your research about fees on any website.

• Honeymoon destination:

Honeymoons can be expensive, so start thinking about where you want to go early and start saving money. Keep in mind that all-inclusive resorts offer lots of perks and take the stress out of the whole experience since you don’t need to worry about carrying cash with you all the time.

Start Wedding Planning Early

There are so many details to think about when planning a wedding, but if you can get a head-start, you will save your sanity and probably some money. Make sure you and your fiancé are discussing all the details and being up-front about your feelings and expectations. Although weddings are known for being stressful to plan, they really don’t need to be. Enjoy being engaged and have fun planning your wedding!

Complete Weddings + Events is happy to help you with multiple services for your big day to reduce your stress even more. We can be your ‘one-stop-shop’ for DJ, Photography, Videography, Coordination, Lighting and Photo Booth services in Austin and the surrounding areas. For more information email [email protected] or call 512-458-3535.