Firstly the vicar may not talk to much about it till closer to time, but you can pencil the date in with him. I would start looking at venues, and just tell ppl what you want, be selfish its your day, have it how you want it! Im travelling away from home about 1-1.5 hrs much to my mums disapointment, also having it on a weekday and she works in a school... another disapointment, my large family wont be there, again disapointed! So i did say i would have a party on a sat for everyone and have that at home, well a function room at home!

Welcome Griff and congrats x

Thank you! I'm just trying to get everything together will hopefully book the Church in a couple of weeks!

Congrats on your forthcoming wedding!

The venue really sets the date for everything else so you can't do much until you have that sorted. You need to create a budget and stick to it. I used an excel spreadsheet to work out roughly what everything would cost and then had a column for the actual costs and deposits paid, what is left to pay etc. It really helps you to work out where you can spend your money and where you need to start saving. It helps you no end to work out where all your money has gone! Work out what is the most important to you and try and get them booked asap as you will have more choice over prices and services. Dates can get booked up two years in advance! That doesn't mean that you have to panic as there are plenty of places to shop.

Don't worry about telling everyone what you want at this stage. Tell them you are looking around for inspiration. Its a big investment for both of you so take your time and don't rush it. Get ideas from here, the internet, mags etc to work out what you would like and if it fits into your budget. Even if other people are kind enough to pay for your wedding it doesn't give them the right to dictate to you what you should have. You don't have to turn into Brideziller to get your message across. As long as you are polite and explain the reasons to them they should be fine with you. Above all enjoy it and make sure the day goes how you and your H2B want it as its YOURS and your H2B's wedding!

congratulations and welcome x