Planning Your Wedding

Image by White Fluffy Cloud via Sweet Country Picnic Engagement Shoot

My fiance Chris and I are terrible at celebrating anniversaries – in that we celebrate any potential anniversary that could possibly be celebrated! We have the date we first started chatting on RSVP (2 October 2011), our first date (6 October 2012), the date I moved in (16 July 2012) and the date of our engagement (26 September 2012) – and we’re about to add 21 March, our wedding date! We’re so obsessed that we celebrated Valentines Day as “one year, one month & one week” til the big day, and today is one year one month!  😀 We did something special for every month anniversary our first year dating and even though my mum thought we were a little too nuts about it (Mum! It’s our ten month anniversary!), for a couple who had never found love before, never had a partner, and never really dreamed of falling into a committed relationship practically overnight (thank you RSVP!)  it’s great to celebrate the small stuff. 🙂

Oh dear, a tangent! I’m good at going off on those… anyway back to the point of this post. After we got engaged in September last year, we were quick to hunt for venues (or more correctly, my parents came over from New Zealand and did most of the legwork for us!) and easily settled on Harbour Room at the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron. My parent’s reception was at a yacht club, and my brother’s at a marina, so it just seemed fitting. Next we had to choose a date. We basically ruled out January and February as being too at risk for extreme heat (with many guests coming from NZ and not used to that, it was only fair), and early March as being at risk of collision with the Grand Prix. Practically by default we settled on 21 March 2014, even though it’s my brother’s birthday!

So… we ended up with an 18 month engagement – ironically six months longer than we knew each other before we were engaged. But of course I am always slightly anal-retentive when it comes to planning things – and incredibly enthusiastic when it comes to planning this wedding that seemingly popped out of the blue into my lap – and determined that I’d get onto things sooner rather than later! Hence, with a year and a month to go, our venue and photographer are already booked, and I have a folder full of florist, car, cake and other quotes that I’ll be taking home to NZ with my at the start of March.

But I keep getting these surprised exclamations from vendors when I tell them my date! And in fact I was glad when we ticked over to 2013 so I could finally say “next year”. How early is too early? Surely being of the super organised persuasion isn’t a bad then when it comes to planning such a complex event? And surely having more rather than less time up our sleeve can’t be bad? I’m going to be a lot happier when I know who we’re working with, even if we don’t sort out the finer detail til later in the year. Regardless, I’m keen to make sure everything possible is pinned down by Christmas, so we can enjoy our final three months as an engaged couple without me morphing into Bridezilla.

So I have to ask… how early is too early? Am I crazy to be planning this far out?

Ms Gingham says: I don’t think you’re crazy Carly! There is no harm in being organized earlier rather than later that’s for sure! And I love the theory of being organized so you don’t turn into a Bridezilla. I think that’s very valid!

Carly says: “My “day job” is as a receptionist (hoping to get a new job soon!) but I also run my own pageant site – long explanation needed there but it brings me a lot of satisfaction, I’ve made some amazing friends in the US and was even blessed to have them donate two and a half grand to get me to Vegas for the show last year. icon smile Chris & Carly ~ An Introduction