never too early - venues get booked up early espeically for August. A good way of cutting costs is to make things yourself so by starting early you have time to research and make things!

Good luck with the planning - it can be stressful but everytime you achieve somethnig off your to do list it gets you excited about the big day again!

Thanks so much all of you!!
I was just worried people would think I was being stupid starting to look at venues and dresses and things!
I have loads of idea that I write in my "bible" but never go through with them, just keep saying "the time will come soon!"

But, thanks to you lovely ladies - THE TIME IS NOW! :) :)

I have now bought the blank keyrings for my save the dates (impulse buyer - not gonna be good when I am in full blown wedding mode), which I can start playing with and finding the nicest designs, ready for when we finally have a date!!

xxx

I'm getting married on 7th June of June so far I've booked
Church
Venue deposit pay and price holdfor this year
Cake this year price again deposit paid
Casino tables (we love las Vegas) this year price deposit paid
Wedding ring deposit paid and paying £19 for 20 months for it
Dress picked deposit paid it of monthly
Chocolate foundation at next year price deposit paid
Wedding shoes
Booking thing early people will hold prices which can save you a lot, I've been paying thing for eBay for making things myself I buy on thing a week nothing over £10 before you know it you got loads.
I got engaged on 27th dec we had the venue booked and deposit payed by April, the time will fly be before we know it it will be 2014.

Linzi-Jo, I am just like that, I know that in a year or so I might change my mind or not want what I worked hard on already - I have changed my mind on the place I wanna get married 3 times!
My family are in Aberdeen, his in Newcastle and we live in Coventry. I keep flitting between the three places lol

I want to make as much as I can myself, so its cheaper but also it is unique.
I love the idea of wine glass charms!

thanks trace - what a good idea also, do most places price freeze?

I am so glad I joined this site, everyone is so kind and helpful

xxx

I have known since I was a little girl that I wanted to marry at my church so that was easy and I could book that as I knew I wouldn't change my mind! We then found a lovely and affordable venue just 5 minutes down the road from the church too so knew that was perfect and we wouldnt change our minds so booked that too! The invites I figured would be ok as it's not the end of the world if they are a different colour to our final colour theme and the wine glass charms were done with just pearls and a silver heart charm so they will be fine too. Everything else will have to wait though to make sure I dont change my mind! And wine glass charms are very easy to make and so cheap! It cost me £21 to make 200, so they cost 21p each! So even if I didnt use them, I could sell them on. You know how much you can do and when will be best to do it for you personally. Everyone is different so there is no right or wrong :) xxx

I'm looking at October 2014 and we're pretty close on deciding on a venue and going to get that booked - discount for early booking and also in talks with a couple of photographers! xx

I think I booked our venue just under 2 years in advance. well provisionally booked as we could only make a provisional booking with the registrar that early x

Awww, congratulations on your engagement on NYE :D

Definitely not too early to start planning. As others have said, a lot of the popular nice venues get booked up 18-24 months in advance so it would be sensible to get in there early, especially if you need to match up dates with a place of worship if you're having a religious ceremony.

HAPPY PLANNING!!

The sooner you start planning the sooner you know how much you need to save xx

hi,
we have been reading lots of brochures on venues in our area, trying to decide on which to view and what offers are available. The style of the invites have been chosen as I am going to make them all, been checking out BM gifts and also tried on a few dresses to see what suits me. The only downside is that I have found "the dress" but as not saved up I cant buy it and the shop is an outlet one so the dresses they have can not be ordered and once sold that's it they wont be able to get another the same - Wish i hadnt gone for a look ...

Hi,
Thanks for that - we shall arrange some viewings sooner rather than later and especially if they can offer discounts on early bookings or keep it at the price it is now. We have our free engagement shoot in Sept and from what we have seen so far the photographer has reasonable prices so will sort him if the photos are good and have looked at his other work. As for the dress, that makes sense plus all the more reason for me to save and look only when i can afford it. x

me and my partner are getting married on the 16th August 2014, we have started to do the major things like church, venue etc.
i feel the same i cant help but think i am getting to into it far too early but i'm just so excited.
do the major things now and then try to scatter the other things that you have to do from now till the wedding that way you wont get bored with any of it as well.
good luck with all the planning :)

Huni defo never to earlie, i was the same as you bought every magazine under the sun, infact i now have just about everything sorted and i still by magazines lol, but all my friends and family h2b and his family told me to wait till the year before then start planning and now i wish i had ignored them and just went ahead and started lol, so you go for it girl and make sure and enjoy every moment of it.xxx

No not too early!

We are getting married April 2014, and have been looking at venues (due to book next week), paid deposits on wedding rings and paying them monthly, we're checking out photographers now.

I also have al the beads and charms for wine glass charms, and have done mood boards in our colours to get the ideas flowing.. I have a file on my computer with all the ideas in (getting bigger and bigger!) but its great to reference that.

My only problem is that I don't feel like it's going to happen anytime soon! its too far away and I like to get everything sorted quickly! Just feels like I'm not doing much wedding stuff!

xx

Hi !
I'm new to this but I agree with you, I thought i was stupid looking at everything as its still nearly 2 years away but it's cheaper if you book now :) we are getting married in march 2014 and we have venue, rings, photographer,MY DRESS, chocolate fountain and venue decoration booked already :) so its never to early!!! All I gotta do is lose 2 stone :) xxx

snap we got engaged new years eve too and getting married in 2014 june . we have booked the venue and church already and ive gone and booked in for my bouquet as want something different . but i understand what you mean . always talk about it but am not booking any other things year till next year . thats when will get into the swing of things . xx

There will be no worse feeling than if you miss out on your dream venue or something because you waited too long, especially if you were eager to start the planning!

We booked the venue, registrar etc around eighteen months before and then left the planning alone for a bit, as I don't want to feel I've done it all too long before the wedding.

Also, I change my mind. A lot.

So glad to read these posts, we got engaged in June and haven't finalised a date yet (thinking 2014 or 2015) but H2B keeps telling me its too early to do anything yet but I would prefer to start the ball rolling, good to see I'm not alone in thinking this.

We are going to look at a venue on Monday evening, We were looking around end of October- Beg of Nov and they have told us they only have 3 dates left for 2014 around that time.

The lady at the venue said they find alot of couples book further away these days as money is always tioght for everyone, the venue takes bookings up to 3.5 years in advance!!!

So that made me feel better as I thought it may have been abit silly booking so far in advance but I dont anymore!!

xx

OH MILS can be such a nightmare (luckily i have found this yet but i imaginge i will at some point!).

I keep wondering when to start stuff we planning 2014 so we have time to save but my concern like others is it if i book stuff I will either change my mind or the worse one is we wont be able to afford it all (we are good at saving etc but you never no what is going to happen and im so frightened that ill book somewhere plan everything and then have to cancel!) OTT i know but i am a worrier!

If i had the money right now id start booking its never to early x

its all so hard isnt it, we not doing the church thing so are going for 1 place for whole day to cut some cost out (hopefully)

Like you hopefully can pay it off slowly during the 2 years but as we also buying our 1st house i really hoping we arent pushing our banks to far lol!

oh snap if only not even the whole jackpot just a large lump of ot would be nice (maybe i should still look for nice rich man lol) x

i had 27 months and pretty much had most of it planned by 18 months hehe... it really helped as I knew exactly what it would cost and could pay bits off bit by bit x

we struggled to get price freezes, venue wouldnt do it but firework company and band did after lots of persuasion but it is worth asking... dont get put off doing it early, it definitely helped us and there was loads to still do before the big day so the more you can do early the better. It also lets you know the financial situation as I mentioned x

we were gunna book our venue next week sometime, but we've decided to put it on hold for now (home improvments need doing, yay ): ), we know what we want and where we want it, i just get the feeling becasue im thinking, oh its ok, its aaages away yet, its gunna creep up on me and Il have nothing done haha

im doin same were lookin round at venues .think iv found my dress just got 1 more dress shop 2 look at n if i dont find any other (cheaper ) i like ill start payin for the one i want now so by time we get married i should of paid it lol x