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Original poster

Getting married in 6 months - is it possible?

37 replies

naturalblonde · 01/01/2008 15:10

DP and I are hoping to bring forward our wedding by a year and do it this summer, due to an ill elderly relative, really want her to be there and have been told it's unlikely she'll still be here in 18 months time. We haven't booked anything, but does anyone have any advice, is everything gonna be booked up for this summer already? What do we need to do? Also, DD will be 21 months at time of (possible) wedding - is this too young to be a bridesmaid?

OP posts:

CarGirl · 01/01/2008 15:12

We arranged our wedding in about 4 months, we had our 4 dds as bridesmaids the youngest was 19 months on the day and it was fine. It did help that is was a March wedding and I attend church and we had the reception at the church too so it was easy. I think it depends whether you want the huge white do or something smaller/quieter. Getting married not on a Saturday is cheaper and there will be more availability.

sophy · 01/01/2008 19:39

You will have no problem, we organised our wedding in 4 months, in 2000 which was a peak time for weddings, in June, the peak month, and on a Saturday, and it was quite a big and elaborate wedding. Book the venue ASAP and the rest will follow. Think about buying a dress off the peg rather than having one made. As for bridesmaid, think 21 months might be OK if there is someone else who can keep an eye on her. DS was 18 months when we got married and did not participate in the ceremony, and I had my nanny there to look after him.

WigWamBam · 01/01/2008 19:44

We did ours in less than four months, and found the only person who sucked her teeth and made dark mutterings at us was the lady who made the cake - she liked the cake to mature for four months and thought we were cutting it fine. But otherwise we had no problems at all.

I personally wouldn't have had such a young bridesmaid, but there's no reason why you shouldn't have her if you want to - at that age she won't understand and won't be taking an active part, so it's just about appearances.

corblimeymadam · 01/01/2008 19:48

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corblimeymadam · 01/01/2008 19:48

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flamingtoaster · 01/01/2008 19:50

We got married in ten weeks so six months is plenty of time.

wobbegong · 01/01/2008 19:56

no worries at all. I got engaged at Easter and married in July. It actually made things easier - less time to fret about things! The only issue would be the venue- you might want to move fast with that one.

Notquitegrownup · 01/01/2008 20:05

We did it in 6 months. Was just OK, though busy and we got hung up on one or two details (like trying to find an "our song" to kick off the reception, as we hadn't got one) so ran out of time for others (hair styles/flowery things for bridesmaids). Agree with poster above, get that reception venue booked, and then it's just heads down and full speed ahead. It can be done.

Of course, we didn't have MN to help us with a "help me plan my wedding/what have I forgotten/what do you think of these" which would have been sooo useful for me - specially with dh who is a "Yeah, whatever you think best" kind of guy!

Best of luck

Original poster

naturalblonde · 02/01/2008 09:42

Thanks for all your help guys, think i will drag dh to some venues this weekend, try and get the ball rolling.

OP posts:

BabiesEverywhere · 02/01/2008 10:09

Totally possible, we got married in under 6 months.

Venue & Registar needed sorting straight off, we choose a hotel so the day and night do were at the same place and DJ was included.

Dress, hair, makeup for Bride/Bridemaid via local hairdressers.

Bought rings.

I made simple invitations.

Cake, Flowers for venue from family recommendations.

Photographer

We didn't bother with cars, favors etc

Just took a CD with the songs we wanted to the hotel on the day.

Relatively inexpensive and we had a lovely day.

lalalonglegs · 02/01/2008 10:36

Easily done and much better for it ? lost count of brides who have spent 3 years planning every last detail of The Big Day and the whole thing ends up like some frigid pantomime. "Ohmigod ? the napkin rings don?t match the best man?s cummerbund, the whole day is a disaster!" scenario. We did ours in five months ? nothing matched ? but it was a truly brilliant day where everyone had loads of fun and really enjoyed themselves.

Find a venue you like asap, start shopping for a dress (if you are buying a bridal gown from a store as they often have long lead-in times) and make sure you can co-ordinate venue date with registrar/church. Job done. Just think of the reception portion of it as a really great party and don?t get too bogged down in the whole wedding favours/how many bridesmaids/what size ice swan rigmarole.

lalalonglegs · 02/01/2008 10:37

And never, EVER read a bridal magazine.

jamila169 · 02/01/2008 10:51

TBH you do most of the arrangements in the last 6 months anyway, so it's very doable - We took 8 months because I made my own dress so that had to start a bit earlier, other than that, apart from actually booking the venue and church, everything is done with much less than 6 months to go. Bridal magazines are away with the fairies when it comes to timescales (and budgets)

hanaflower · 02/01/2008 10:52

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HolidaysQueen · 02/01/2008 11:00

We did ours in 6 months - the hardest bit was finding a venue that we liked and was available, but so long as you can be a bit flexible on the date you should be fine.

Then get your dress sorted out next - the dress shops were so snooty because I didn't start looking until 5 months before, which I thought was quite organised, and some of them said it would have to be a rush order...

Otherwise everything else fell into place fairly easily - flowers, photos, food, music etc. We did quite a bit ourselves which means we controlled how long it took etc - bought booze from France, designed invites and made stationery, made our own favours etc. And it also means you have an intense 6 months where you can be really focused on the wedding and enjoy the whirlwind but never get to the stage where you are bored or sick of it, so it is actually a lot of fun and I think the best way to do it!

Good luck!

FourPlusOne · 02/01/2008 11:29

I would agree that getting your registrar and venue(or church) booked should be done asap, that is the most important thing. I booked these about 5 months before the day and then forgot to do anything else! I think that I looked at dresses with about 3 months to go, but got one that I liked in the sale at the bridal shop, so they didn't have to order one in - they just did the adjustments there. In hindsight I wish I had just gone and bought a designer dress off the peg - would have been about the same after cost of adjustments came into it. Though I am not really the sort who has always dreamed of a particular type of wedding or dress so I know loads of my friends would never have dreamed of doing it that way! Picked a venue for reception and ceremony that was a lovely local listed building, but not used that much for weddings so no problem with getting a date really.
Then I forgot to do anything else until about 6 weeks before! At this point my mum got me a bridal magazine out of sheer desperation - I read it and it made me cry! I didn't look at another one! Florists, cake makers, caterers etc were all surprised that I'd left it so late, but as I had a weekday wedding and quite simple plans for flowers they all managed to fit me in. I remember the florist telling me that people booked well over a year in advance and I was so surprised. I was just v naive about how long these things usually took to plan. Was the first of my friends to marry and didn't realise how much time many women put into planning! A friend of a friend (who is a cardmaker) made me some lovely invitations (might have done this myself if I'd allowed a little more time), I made some placecards, didn't bother with favours, and my parents sorted out the alcohol.
DS was about 16 months at the time and took no part in the ceremony. Just spent the day being passed around lots of doting aunties and grannies. Though I think if he'd been a girl and a bit older I may have been tempted to have a little bridesmaid.
We moved house at the same time too and so it was a stressful time!

hanaflower · 02/01/2008 11:50

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tigerschick · 02/01/2008 12:07

Agree that it is possible (tho I took much longer). As someone has already said, once the venue is booked everything else happens in the last few months whether you take 6 months or 3 years to get it all ready.
The only thing I would add to the advice already here is that, if you go for a weekday, make sure you let people who work know in plenty of time. You don't have to send them official invitations but just let them know the date so they can book it off work. We got married on a Friday in August and BIL had a bit of trouble getting the day off, despite being given about 6 months' notice.

Hope everything goes really well for you

EzrasMummy · 02/01/2008 13:27

Congrats!!

I did it in 4 months too. 160 guests, a nice buffet meal, a good photographer. I did my own make up (the lady at the MAC counter showed me) my hairdresser opened half an hour earlier for me and it only cost £22. I bought brides maids flowers (silk ones) from a shop that had a sale for £3 each. i got the 3 bridesmaids dresses from Coast in Debenhams, I got the wine from tesco wine sale online (the white wine lasted over a year after the wedding and worked out only £1.24 a bottle - plus i got clubcard points. My dress was expensive but i got a tiara and veil for free as it was sale price. Debenhams do nice dresses but i couldnt find my size (6 at the time) as it was sold out.

We did our menus and wedding programmes our selves, and the favors too, I could go on forever!
It wasnt even a mad rush it was all done in good time.
Just try to be as organised as possible and when the day comes ENJOY it! trust me, it goes really quick!

Once again, congratulations!!

EzrasMummy · 02/01/2008 13:29

Oh and if your little girl isnt bridesmaid (my boy and my nephew were page boys sort of and they were 2 and 3.5 yrs) then let her be flower girl she'll love it, looking like a little princess!

FoghornLeghorn · 02/01/2008 13:29

First thing to do is have a list of possible venues and dates, then call all venues and church to get their available dates, when you have 2 that match (and you are happy with the venue) then go for it.
Totally dooable I think !

bealcain · 02/01/2008 13:31

i started planning my wedding today, it's on the 2nd of feb, yup that's a month away!!!

originally meant to be september but am now pregnant and due around then.......

it's definately possible.

bealcain · 02/01/2008 13:31

..............i hope

JodieG1 · 02/01/2008 13:33

We arranged our wedding in about 6 weeks It was a small affair but lovely.

FioFio · 02/01/2008 13:36

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