Yes. You read that correctly.  Corey and I are engaged (finally).

I’m so excited to share our planning process.  I’ve been pseudo planning a wedding for a while now, but now that things are official I’ve been able to really get started.  But really, the best part of being engaged is knowing that in 13ish short months we’ll have officially sworn to spend the rest of our lives together. I like thinking about that.

Here are the answers to the frequently asked questions about our engagement:

1//  How did he propose?

Corey propose in the comfort of our living room with my family all around.  I had just finished eating the dinner I’d made for everyone and we were relaxing and giving my dad some gifts for his birthday.  Corey handed me a wrapped gift and Clara gave me a note that says “Will you marry my, Daddy?”  She’s a very well trained 15 month old.  It was the perfect proposal.

2// Did you pick out your ring?

Nope! Corey picked it out all by himself.  I gave him a few idea about what I wanted in an engagement ring and he went to Shane Co. and picked one out that he thought I would love.  He was so right!  I am in love with his choice, but more than that, I love that he knows me well enough to pick something out that is so me.

3// When are you getting married?

Our date is tentatively set for January 19th or 2019.  That date is subject to change depending on venue availability and pricing.  Our wedding budget isn’t huge so if we can get a better deal with a different day, we might make some changes.  Don’t worry, we’ll send out some save the dates.

4// Are you getting married in Utah?

Yes!  Corey’s family is spread out between the Midwest, The South, and the East Coast and mine is mostly in Utah so we decided that it’d be best for us to get married where we live.

5// Um can I come?

We’ll be perfecting our guest list for the next little while.  If you’re dying to join us for our wedding, please let me know so I can put you on the list!

6// Are you going to share about your wedding planning process on the blog?

Duh!  I have a whole series planned out for this event.  I’ve already learned so much about wedding planning from wedding blogs, podcasts (yes, there are wedding planning podcasts), and Pinterest.  I’m beyond excited to share everything I learn along the way with all of you.  That way you can learn from my mistakes…and my triumphs.

Have you planned a wedding?  Do you have any words of advice to share with me?  Bonus points if you got married around Salt Lake, Utah.

Even before I got engaged, I, like many other women, was planning my hypothetical wedding. I would pin beautiful, dreamy photos all over my Pinterest boards and dream of my amazing and extravagant wedding.  I’m still doing it, but now I’m thinking much more realistically.  I’m focused.  I’m only pinning things that I think have real potential for my wedding day. 

As I started to get more serious with my Pins, I figured it would probably be a good idea to get a little more serious with the big details that really matter when you plan a wedding:  Budget.

Some people can pretty easily determine their budget.  They’ll do what all the blogs and wedding pros tell them to do:  Take the average cost of a wedding in your area, split it up into the expected percentages and plan to spend about that much.  Period.

While that might be nice I know that the average cost of a wedding in Utah is WAY more than I plan to spend on our wedding.  Then I went to work looking for other ways to design a budget.  I thought about giving myself a set limit of what I thought I could afford and running with that, but I didn’t even really know what that was going to be.  So I started searching high and low for other great tools to help me set my budget.

When I realized they don’t exist, I decided to make my own.  I designed this process and spreadsheet after endless research and a lot of listening to wedding pro podcasts.

1//  Sit down and discuss what is most important to you and your Fiance

This is the most important step to determining your budget.  This will help give you an idea where you’d like to spend a little more money, and where you’d be okay with trimming the fat.  Check out my post about each wedding element and how they contribute to the big day.

2// Write your guest list

All the pros will tell you, guest list determines your budget. 3 big factors rely on guest list:  Venue, catering, and stationary & postage.  

I started with writing our “A-List”.  The A-List consists of all of the people who absolutely must be invited to our wedding.  It has the bridal party and their significant others, the bride and groom’s immediate family, closest friends, and others who we feel are “essential” guests at our wedding.  We also have a “B-list” for “No” RSVPS, and if we have some wiggle room in our budget once everything is all priced out.

3// Find your top 4 or 5 favorite Venues and get an average cost

Personally, I reviewed their pricing before I added them to my list.  If I felt like any part of their prices was outrageous, they didn’t make the list.  I also tried to pay attention to the fact that some of the vendors are full service and have a lot more included for the price.  This means a few of the more expensive venues made the list if they offered linens, set-up & tear-down, coordinators etc. Remember, you will need to make sure all of your venue options can hold the number of invitees!

4//  Find your top 4 or 5 favorite caterers and get an average cost

In doing my research I have found that not all catering services are created equal. Some provide full service, others drop of trays with little to no set up or clean up.  This made the pricing vary quite a bit.  Remember to use that guest list number here when making your estimates and getting quotes.

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