Five Things to do in the Winter Months to Prepare for Your Summer Wedding

Although I’m sure you are hearing otherwise on all your social media platforms, you certainly don’t have to plan your wedding 12+ months in advance. I have helped couples plan plenty of weddings in less than 6 months, less than 3 months, one was even planned in 5 weeks. There are a lot of things that contribute to the decision of when to get married, but for the sake of this blog post let’s say you are planning a wedding with at least 9+ months of lead time. You got engaged in the summer or fall and you aren’t getting married until the following summer or fall. In this situation, there is very likely going to come a time where you aren’t constantly in communication with your vendors, there isn’t a never ending “deadline” looming over your head of that next thing you need to accomplish. It is particularly true when you have a whole season of holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years) right in the middle of your wedding planning journey. During this, sometimes anxiety inducing, “in between time” when you feel like there is something you should be doing to keep your train on track, but also know a lot of your necessary boxes are already checked, it is important to breath, take a moment to just be with your significant other, and enjoy some time with family. It all goes so fast. Being engaged doesn’t always have to be about planning a wedding. It is also about what comes after the wedding – a marriage!

All of that said, if you have good momentum and want to keep rolling down the track at a steady pace, there are definitely some easy things you can be working on during this winter planning “downtime” that will continue to check boxes off your list for your wedding next summer.

1. Pick your music – This is a fun and easy task that can be done over a longer period. My favorite is when couples make a date night (or multiple date nights) out of it and just spend some time in their living rooms listening to good music together making sure the vibe is going to be spot on for the wedding festivities! Some good things to have music picked out for are…
   • Processional (sometimes multiple songs depending on who and how many people are walking down the aisle)
     • Click over to this blog for Five of My Favorite Songs for Walking Down the Aisle
   • Recessional
   • Grand Entrance
   • First Dance
     • Click over to this blog for Ten of My Favorite First Dance Songs
   • Any Other Special Dances (i.e. father/daughter, mother/son, mother/daughter, etc.)
   • Any Additional “Moments” (i.e. cake cutting, anniversary dance, garter toss, etc.)
   • Last Dance
   • Cocktail Hour Requests/Suggestions
   • Dinner Background Requests/Suggestions
   • Reception Dancing Must-Haves
   • DO NOT Play List (just as IMPORTANT!)
2. Draft up a rough day-of timeline – I always tell my clients when we are creating a timeline, that won’t actually be put to practical use for several months, that really nothing is set in stone. Even once the save-the-dates and invites go out, the only thing set in stone is the ceremony start time, we can still adjust other things as needed throughout the planning process. That said, make sure to enlist the help of your coordinator and/or photographer in this task! Your vendor team will have a special knowledge of how long things take during a wedding. Even if you have been a guest at dozens of weddings, I am guessing you do not necessarily know how long a family picture session takes. I can visibly see couples have more peace of mind when there is at least something rough in place to help understand the flow of how the event will likely go.
3. Personalized décor/elements – There are so many ways to make sure your wedding day is unique and personal to you both as individuals and as a couple! Don’t feel like you need to stay within a box or mold here. Weddings are not one size fits all, so your celebration can be and look like whatever you want! Think like… funny cake topper, clever and useful party favor, unique guestbook, little nods to your favorite obsession on each table, etc., etc.
4. Wedding website & registry – In today’s world, you need a wedding website! Even if you send out paper RSVP cards you still need a way for people to RSVP electronically because humans are forgetful and busy. Your wedding website is also a great place to house things like hotel room block links, answers to frequently asked questions (so maybe you can get less phone calls & text messages), event information (address, time, dress code, etc.) and a gift registry. This is also a task that can be completed over a longer period. Try to work through each tab on the website one at a time. It can be overwhelming if you try to tackle it all at once, so it can be helpful to more simply eat the elephant one bite at a time.
5. Notepad is your best friend – This is literally one of my favorite and most used apps on my phone, and I know I am not the only one thinking that! The notepad app is an extremely useful tool that can be used to keep those random (but important) wedding planning thoughts and notes in one place. Create a wedding folder so these lists & ideas don’t get jumbled up with your other day-to-day things. Then work through creating notes for things like a photo shot list (use names, not just who they are to you), wedding day packing list, what signage you need/want (and which you are making versus buying), wedding day emergency kit list, etc.

Every year I have conversations with my clients right around the holidays that include taking a short wedding planning break and catching up a few weeks down the road. During this time, even working on just a couple of the 5 things I’ve mentioned here will help keep your wedding planning anxiety at bay and give you the confidence that you are still working on wedding things without working on wedding things. So when that New Year’s ball drops and it is suddenly your wedding year, you know you are prepared to tackle it with grace!

Still feeling overwhelmed and like you are missing important pieces to your planning puzzle, let’s chat about how a wedding planner can help alleviate some of that anxiety. And in the meantime, be sure to check out these other important wedding planning blog posts:

3 tips to help make wedding planning less stressful

So you are engaged, now what?

15 things you may be forgetting when planning a wedding