I Said Yes! . . . Now What?

CONGRATULATIONS!

There’s nothing like the glowing face of a newly engaged couple. I don’t care how long you’ve been dating or how long you’ve talked about a wedding – as soon as a couple agrees to spend the rest of their lives together and a token of love and appreciation is passed, there’s an undeniable glow to a newly engaged couple after engagement. Well, even any engaged couple, really. It’s a lingering effect. 

Getting engaged is a unique emotional rollercoaster. The question is asked, someone says yes, and celebration ensues. Toasts, hugs, celebrations, congratulations and then. . . what? What do you do? Outfits, venues, food, flowers, dance music, showers, bachelor or bachelorette parties, planning or nor planning a stag and doe. The list is endless. So, as a newly engaged couple, what do you do first?

7 Steps for After You Say Yes!

Step 1: Enjoy It

You just got engaged to the love of your life. The first thing to do is to enjoy it. Relish in the glow. Go out for dinner or dance around your kitchen. Kiss and hug and spend time enjoying and celebrating you! Your relationship! Your journey! Every couple is different and every couple is beautiful. After all, a wedding is all about you two. 

You don’t need to answer phone calls or call every person you know. There’s no need to post about it on social media right away. You can stay in your bubble and celebrate just the two of you for as long as you want.

Step 2: Announce It!

Your friends will freak out. Your parents will freak out. Siblings and grandparents will freak out. There will be tears and hugs and pictures and champaign. . . welcome it and enjoy it. It’s totally normal for your people to want to celebrate this milestone for you. 

This is the one place that I would recommend putting your people ahead of the general population. While the wedding should absolutely be about the two of you as a couple, no one wants to hear that their brother or best friend is getting married by seeing a post on social media.

Step 3: Decide if Engagement Photos Are For You

Many couples choose to celebrate the beginning of the rest of their lives with an engagement shoot.

Engagement photos can be great to use for…

• Save the date cards
• Wedding books
• Printed and social media engagement announcements
• A celebration of this engagement and your agreement as a couple

Step 4: Brainstorm What Type of Wedding You Want

Many people think that picking a date comes first before figuring out the details. While this is true, it’s also important to think first about the general feeling you want for your wedding. 

If you want something small and intimate, you might not need as much time to plan as you would if you wanted a few hundred people to show up. A destination wedding can take time and budgeting for your guests. Outdoor weddings might not have as many date restraints as the hottest venues in town. 

Outfits can be a big play on this. In general, renting a suit or getting one bought and altered can take a few weeks. A dress could take anywhere from a few weeks if bought from a small shop, off the rack, and needs only a few alterations to months to order and fit properly. 

With everything else in wedding planning, there’s no right choice. There is only the choice that fits with you and your partner. So, think about it first. And have fun with it! You’re planning your wedding day, after all.

Step 5: Get Inspired

There are so many places to get inspiration for your wedding. Wedding magazines, local wedding shows, and Pinterest are three of my favorites. Any and every couple should have a Pinterest board where they can look up DIY projects, brainstorm color schemes, look at decor examples, and get a clearer picture of what kind of wedding you want. 

Don’t worry about deciding things right away – it’s your prerogative to change your mind and, trust me, you will. But having an idea of what you like and don’t like will help you when it comes to choosing a date and looking for a venue.

Step 6: Think About Your Wedding Party

Whether you know exactly who’s going to be in your wedding party or not, now is the time to think about it. You may be asking yourself why it sits so high on this list. You haven’t even selected a venue yet!

Well, this is why. 

As soon as a date and venue is picked, things seem to flow really quickly. Having your people around you and knowing who to involve in shopping and planning and scheduling can be really helpful. Plus, you may want your people around you to visit locations or figure out the details. Of course, you may want to get all that figured out first with your partner. Either way, you should be thinking about it, at the very least.

Step 7: Pick a date & Get Planning!

Now that you know what kind of wedding you want to have, choosing a date comes next. Now, this date should not exactly be definite, but a generalized date. Finding a date and then a venue that fits that date is the secret. 

Sometimes if you find a venue you love you will have to be flexible on your date. It works the other way around too – you may have a date that is special to you and you’ll have to find a venue that fits that date. 

Either way, my recommendation is to not confirm dates or send out any kind of “save the date” to any guest until you have the venue booked. 

From there, you’re on your path! 

Once you know what kind of wedding you want and where you’re getting married, you can start looking at suits or dresses. You can start designing your floor plan and to put together your invite list

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No matter what kind of wedding you have or how long of an engagement you have, I really must say that Step 1 is most important: the most important thing to do when you first get engaged is to celebrate it.

Although none of us know what life will bring us, you may only be engaged once in your life. Take time both at the beginning of the engagement and throughout the planning process to step back and remember how it all started. 

Love. And that, my friends, is something worth celebrating.

Check out this fun engagement session from Disney World here

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