How long does it all take?

[Unbridezilla]

So I'm recently engaged (whoop!) And we've started looking at venues. We'd really like to get married next year, but don't want it to be more stressful than it needs to be.

There are a few venues we like which have "late availability" for spring / early summer next year. Is that too soon? It doesn't seem that late to me!

I've been trying to find stuff online but I just keep coming across US wedding bloggers who talk about having to get a dress 12 monthps in advance or there will be no time to get it done, buy then the US wedding scene seems way crazy and over the top. What's the UK like? Can I get a nice dress from a UK boutique in 6-9months?

Also any good people to follow about UK weddings on IG etc would be great, thanks!

Congratulations on your engagement! We got engaged in the December and married mid October. I didn’t start looking into venues etc until after Xmas and new year so we did it all in about 7/8 months. I felt like it was plenty of time and just wanted to get on with it without hanging around!

I would say though to get your dress sorted asap after booking the venue as I started dress shopping in feb and was told I was cutting it fine with fittings etc. Of course that was from a bridal place where they had to order it in…..if you buy off the rack you’d have no problems and I’d finished dress shopping in 2 days. I’m sure some people do it in far less time so it can be done. Good luck with it all

Book the registrar when you book the venue. Dress wise it depends. Some of them come from China and I believe have a longer lead time, but made for you in the UK is quicker. DD went to Stephanie Allin and although she booked her date well in advance I don’t think they actually started the dress until a couple of months before the wedding. Be aware that if you choose a popular date others will have booked florists and DJs etc well in advance so you’ll have less choice.

I got engaged last month and have just started trying dresses on. I keep getting told I need to order fairly quickly now as it can take 7 or so months and you need to add in some time for Christmas which slows things down-then some time on the end for alterations

We got engaged in July this year booked a venue and registrar for May next year. I can't do dress shopping until January/February so we'll see how that goes 😅

Getting married next month, will have done it all in 6 months, absolutely fine.

If you want the extortionate traditional made-to-measure dress from a proper bridal shop you need about 9 months lead time.

If you are a size 8-14 (and possibly up) you will have plenty of choice from off the peg options - samples, old display etc etc all perfectly as good as new and you can just get any small adjustments made.

Having watched friends pay thousands and thousands for the bridal boutique made to measure thing I just don't get it personally. But if you want that then Spring next year is probably cutting it very very fine.

It's not necessarily that it takes a long time (dress aside, as PP have pointed out, although you could go somewhere like Wed2B and take it home that day). I got engaged in December and had the wedding more or less booked by February. But suppliers book up so far in advance that if you have any preference at all you might be disappointed. I enquired in January 2022 about Jun 2023 and lots of photographers, celebrants and hair/make-up stylists were fully booked for our date. It's particularly bad at the moment due to all the weddings that were postponed from 2020/2021.

I'm getting married in June and going dress shopping next weekend, and both boutiques have told me they can't offer me at least one designer due to lead times. If you want to enjoy wedding planning, have a reasonable budget, and don't want it to be stressful, I'd reconsider late spring. If you just want to be married it'll be fine.

I got engaged in December and had the wedding more or less booked by February. But suppliers book up so far in advance that if you have any preference at all you might be disappointed. I enquired in January 2022 about Jun 2023 and lots of photographers, celebrants and hair/make-up stylists were fully booked for our date. It's particularly bad at the moment due to all the weddings that were postponed from 2020/2021.

I'd agree with this with the caveat that it depends where you are getting married and exactly when in the year. We did it in less than a year and had little trouble finding suppliers but we were late September, in a church, and in London - so outside peak wedding season and with a huge amount of choice.

When and roughly where are you thinking OP? If you're looking at late May next year, a civil ceremony in the Highlands you might struggle. If it's early April in southeast UK it will probably be absolutely fine (as long as you're not mega picky). I mention church v civil as registrars tend to be booked up pretty quickly as I understand. Our church on the other hand does about 5 weddings a year so we could basically pick whenever we wanted for the ceremony.

@Stiltonlover Was that before covid? I guess all I'd advise is that OP makes some enquiries with preferred suppliers before handing any money over to reserve a date with the venue, just to get an idea of availability. It was a big shock to me, my preferred photographer was booked till 2024. I've seen suppliers open their 2025 diary already.

Also re Highland weddings, you can have a legal Humanist ceremony in Scotland so you're not limited to registrars. Might actually be easier!

@Unbridezilla Try Guides for Brides and Rock my Wedding on Ig. I've found Facebook groups quite helpful for seeing what other people do. The most useful one I'm on is a more local one, but try Brides on a Budget. The Bridebook app/website is also really useful for timelines and getting an idea of your budget.

pulled mine off in 3 months! booked the venue (first one we saw we loved) they had a day available in 3 months so we took it

Ordered my dress online a week later (wasn't interested in getting a "wedding" dress

Then we just made invites and booked the registry office.

It wasn't too difficult

It's not too soon, as long as you are relaxed enough to book things that are available rather than only being willing to have the {insert} photographer / dress / cake / florist / transport / band / string quartet / or whatever else people "insist" they need.

Plenty of time for getting a dress as long as 6 months before. Be more concerned about other things like florists, photographers entertainment etc. I have everything sorted but despite trying to book 16 months in advance I cannot get a florist at all. I have been trying for months now to try get one with availability and have now resigned myself to having to buy flowers from a wholesaler the week before and just wing it 😭
If you have a look around and make sure that certain suppliers have a availability then you should be good.

It depends entirely on what kind of wedding you want and how particular you are going to be about things being a certain way.

Do you think you will be OK if your preferred suppliers turn out to be booked up and you have to go with a different one?

What if you have a dress wobble in a few months' time and realise you need a new one, without enough time to go to a boutique - will you cope with that or are you the type of person who needs things to be perfect?

If you want perfection, I would recommend you need at least a year - ideally more like 18-24 months (and as others have said, get your dress sorted asap).

If you are flexible and creative/ take life as it comes and can be a bit more relaxed, then you will be fine with the time you've got.

There's no right way - people are just different.

If you're having a normal/larger size wedding, I would say that's too late notice to expect 50-100 guests to make it. Might also have issues with suppliers.

If it's a smaller wedding, probably fine. I got married with 2 months notice (but 20 guests- only parents and siblings).

For 2 months notice it was obviously a wed2be job for the dress and homemade flowers, with a slightly very weird photographer.
Was still lovely, and I wasn't particularly worried about those small details, but if you are then you'll struggle in the time frame.

We got married 6 months after the engagement
Registry booked first, then venue.
Sent out invites
Bought a dress off the peg
Did the flowers myself
-Bosh.

Totally depends on how much faff you want to engage with, but the dress will be the biggest problem if you're not buying off the peg.

Proposal 3rd March, wedding 29th April (same year). Full church ceremony with 3 bridesmaids. Reception at a well-known Edinburgh hotel (we lived in Europe at the time).
As I was buying my dress abroad there was none of the UK hype about decades in advance. Actually that was one of the easier bits and sorted within 4 days of proposal.
This was over 20 years ago, so internet etc. yes, but not as digital as everything now is.
Trip over to Scotland at the beginning of April (with our European paperwork) to give notice.
Small wedding (under 50 guests) but had all the important things I wanted, such as terrific music and fabulous food.