Vendor Booking Timeline + Tips with WeddingWire

Getting engaged and planning your wedding with your fiancé is without a doubt a fun and exciting time. Of course, there's a ton of planning and organization that goes along with that. WeddingWire created a Vendor Booking Timeline to help engaged couples figure out which vendors to book and when.

According to WeddingWire’s 2017 Newlywed Report, the average length of an engagement is 13 months. My husband and I planned our wedding in 6 months, we're attending an upcoming wedding that had a year engagement, and my best friend will be getting married next year after about a 2-year engagement.

Let this timeline serve as a guide. Each wedding and couple are different!

There are several factors that come into play when searching for your wedding vendors. Before you begin your search, set a budget and begin to brainstorm what type of theme and atmosphere you want for your big day. Once you have those details covered, you're ready to get planning!

Having a longer engagement? Download the 12-Month Vendor Booking Timeline here!

If you plan on hiring a wedding planner, that should be one of your first tasks. Your wedding planner will be able to recommend vendors and put together your wedding team. My husband and I did not hire a wedding planner, so our first step was finding a ceremony and reception venue.

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We got engaged at the beginning of October and after searching online and touring a few nearby venues, we booked our venue at the end of the month. We chose Piazza on the Green in McKinney, TX for its ideal location, beautiful chapel and grounds, the large ballroom, various inclusions, and ultimately because it felt like "us" and we could both envision starting the rest of our lives together there.

November and December were crucial planning months. We booked our photographer and florist, after meeting with several talented creatives. Opted not to purchase save-the-dates, but ordered formal invitations to be sent out early. I found the hair and makeup artists for myself, bridesmaids, my mother, my grandmother, and my future mother-in-law. The bridesmaids purchased their dresses to allow plenty of time for alterations... And last but certainly not least, I purchased my wedding gown!

Throughout January, we booked our bakery, quartet for ceremony music, officiant, and made our honeymoon travel plans official!

Sidenote: We really hit the jackpot with our bakery! Finding a reasonably priced allergy-friendly cake turned out to be harder than we originally thought. After not being able to taste at our first cake tasting due to dairy and eggs, I realized I would have to do a lot of communicating up front. I found a great bakery online and reached out to see if they had experience baking a dairy-free and egg-free wedding cake. We went back and forth via email and then had our cake tasting. After just one bite, we were both sold! We ended up serving 4 cakes, one being our small vegan tuxedo cake.

Even though everything worked out in the end (as things usually do) let this be a lesson if you feel like a certain aspect of your wedding could take more time to plan than others, plan ahead and stay on top of it.

The final months flew by as we booked the last of our vendors, organized everything, ensured everybody was on the same page, took dance lessons, and purchased the final pieces. One of the last purchases we made was my husband's wedding band. He purchased my engagement ring and wedding band together, so that was already taken care of. For his wedding band, we decided to use James Allen. Their online gallery, lifetime warranty, and hassle-free returns made the process very easy.

Finding the right vendors to work with is key. Hire people you trust and get along with. Remember this is a fun once-in-a-lifetime experience! It took a lot of research and thought to form our wedding team, but having a timeline helped keep us organized.

Knowing you're on the right track when planning and finding vendors are among the top 5 challenges couples face. Make decisions easier and more confidently when you visualize which vendors you need to book and when!

What stage of the wedding planning process are you currently in? If you're already married, what was your favorite aspect of wedding planning? Let me know in the comments below!