Yesterday marked six months till Dave and I get married, and in 11 days, we’ll celebrate a year or being engaged! There were many factors that went into our decision to have a long engagement (17 1/2 months total), but the biggest one was that we were still long distance when we got engaged and wanted to give ourselves plenty of time for Dave to get a job here and get settled in. While I love all lengths of engagements and can say with 100% certainty that you can plan a wedding in any timeframe, we are so grateful, in our situation, that we gave ourselves this time cushion to enjoy being engaged (and short distance!) without having to think about our wedding every minute, or even every day. With just six months to go now, we are definitely picking up speed, and I feel more than ready and excited for it!! One of the most helpful things to me throughout wedding planning has been reading the monthly wedding planning updates in my friend Emily‘s archives. Traditional lists haven’t seemed to fit my timeline or priorities, so it was helpful to read through the process of someone similar to me. I’ve been keeping track of the wedding activities we’ve done each month since we got engaged, and it feels great to look back on and be affirmed in how much we have gotten done. I’m going to start sharing monthly updates at the beginning of every month leading up to May 2, but first, this post is a big ol’ recap of our first 11 months of engagement!

Graham Terhune

November (18 months to go)

• We got engaged!!
• We chose a photographer
• We narrowed down venue options
• We chose a tentative date
• We set a budget
• We made a preliminary guest list with our families
• I started collecting dress inspiration
• We started narrowing down wedding inspiration

December (17 months to go)

• We looked at and selected our beautiful venues
• We chose a date
• We booked our photographer
• We celebrated with our Texas family and friends at an engagement party!
• We asked our bridal party
• I started looking at bridesmaid dresses

January (16 months to go)

• We booked our venues
• We met with the venue florist
• We started interviewing personal florists
• We chose and booked our videographer
• We started researching stationers

February (15 months to go)

• We set a date for our engagement session
• We interviewed a DJ
• I started working on our wedding website
• We signed up for pre-Cana/engagement retreat

March (14 months to go)

• We booked a DJ
• We booked a personal florist
• We bought our tickets for our engagement session and started brainstorming outfits
• I booked a hair and makeup artist for our engagement session
• We tried on wedding rings for the first time
• We started working on our save the date and invitation wording

April (13 months to go)

• We continued to collect and refine our paper inspiration
• I researched hair and makeup artists for the wedding
• I started brainstorming details with Emily
• Dave bought his wedding shoes!

May (12 months to go!)

• We finalized our save the date wording
• We interviewed calligraphers and selected one
• We interviewed stationers for the invitation suite and selected one
• We picked out our engagement picture outfits
• I made bridal salon appointments!
• I finalized dress inspiration
• We started learning Natural Family Planning

June (11 months to go)

• We took our engagement pictures!
• I went dress shopping!
• I bought a wedding dress!!!
• I bought a veil!!!
• I chose and tried on the bridesmaid dresses with my maids of honor/sisters, Dana and Kristen
• We finalized the guest list with our families
• My mom booked two hotel blocks

July (10 months to go)

• We created the bulk of our registries
• We (almost) finished our wedding website
• We researched vintage cars
• We finalized a plan for our honeymoon!!
• We received our engagement pictures!!
• We finalized our guest list
• We collected addresses
• We ordered our save the dates!

August (9 months to go)

• We finished our wedding website
• We sent our save the dates!
• Most bridesmaids ordered and received their dresses
• Dave tried on a suit
• Dave researched groomsmen attire options

September (8 months to go)

• Dave’s parents booked our rehearsal dinner venue
• We bought flights for our honeymoon!
• Dave bought a few tie options
• Dave bought groomsman gifts, thanks to a great sale
• We made a site visit with my mom when she visited NC and came up with some more details
• I researched more hair and makeup options
• I looked for wedding shoes
• My mom, Dave’s mom, and I researched their dress options
• We hunted for candlesticks at an antiques market
• We found a flower girl outfit
• We met with our priest to discuss our Pre-Marital Inventory

October (7 months to go)

• I refined our overall inspiration and tweaked our inspiration board
• I bought my wedding shoes!
• We started planning a few DIY details
• Dave bought his suit!
• We bought our wedding rings!
• We sent in our invitation wording

On our list for November:

• Book a hair and makeup artist
• Amp up my pre-wedding workout routine
• Order some small details once we receive our custom monogram this week!
• Book hotels for our honeymoon
• Go on our church’s Engaged Retreat
• Celebrate our engagement anniversary!
• Make a detailed master list of the details we’ll need to collect/make in the next six months–I’ve been putting this off because it feels so intimidating, but it’s time!