Tell me about your short engagement

[stoptryingtomakefetchhappen0]

We got engaged a week ago and have set a date to be married for four months time. We are only having a small wedding and have some money saved already so just wanted to crack on.

Venue is booked, just need to sort out the reception now...

I'd love to hear your stories of your short engagements, and how stressful or not that you found the timeline. :D

I feel fine and that we will get it done. The hardest bit for me is choosing a budget dress. Something cute and that won't result in a nip slip!

Congratulations!

We got engaged, booked a venue for 2 years time. We then found out we were expecting DS. Wanting to save money combined with DH’s family dramas (parents can’t be in the same room as eachother) made us decide to elope a few months later.

Less than 2 months, for us. The only 'admin' part that was stressful (the 'people' parts were far more stressful) was shoes. I wanted fairly ordinary ivory satin shoes. I found suitable shoes very easily everywhere I looked, but every shop only had trying-on shoes which I was not allowed to take away. Instead, they would take the order and I had to supply a swatch for dying the shoes, which would take about 6weeks. But I didn't want to dye the shoes! I liked the colour they were. And by then I didn't have 6 weeks, anyway. Eventually, a couple of weeks before the wedding, by which time I was thinking I'm getting married in wellies or slippers or bare feet, I found a shop that would actually sell me a pair of ivory satin shoes and allow me to take them away that day.

I have never heard of dying shoes in my life! This must have been so annoying. Were they bridal shops? Why did they all want to dye the shoes? I’m intrigued.

One was the shoe department in John Lewis!

Proposal 3rd March, full church wedding with 3 bridesmaids in dressmaker-made dresses abroad (for us, as the wedding was in Scotland and we live in Europe) on 29th April.
Basically I just project-managed everything from afar. Quick trip over to Scotland to meet the minister and sort out the paperwork and the reception at the beginning of April. Only thing I nearly forgot was to send the gentlemen's measurements to Moss Bros.
In those days we had a snazzy laser printer, so I made the invitations myself, very traditional style, as well as the orders of service and menu cards.
Invited about 80 people, but realised that the short notice would mean at least 50% wouldn't be able to make it - I was right. On the day there were 32 in total.
Only thing I was slightly concerned about was a dress for me, as shops where I live had started doing the "need at least 6 months" spiel, so I went off on the Monday to my shop of choice and found something at the 3rd try on. Got a good friend to come in and view at lunchtime the next day and then that was it done and dusted.
We came in under budget too!
Strictly speaking we weren't engaged as our country of residence doesn't do engagement rings as such, you just wear your wedding ring on the other hand during your engagement, but we didn't do that either as the rings were about the most difficult thing to sort out. We knew what we wanted, but it took us a few days to find somewhere that could provide.

5 months from decision to marry to wedding, executed perfectly on budget. Couple of things could have been better such as the photographer who we didn't meet until the day and also with longer I would have ordered a petite dress rather than altered the standard size, but it was perfectly do-able. Bridesmaids (3) all lived in different places (none here) which caused the most difficulties/stress I think, logistically.

Main thing before telling people and confirming the date was to check we could get a venue, registrar and dress on that timescale. Everything else can be sorted!

We decided to get married in May. Sent invites last week. Wedding is booked for this September.
We're inviting circa 80 people. Tbh, I'm not sure how people spend up to 2 years planning weddings - makes me concerned we may have missed something important!

But then again there's a lot we just won't bother with so maybe it's that?

We have venue, registrar, food, drink, DJ planned, on-site staff.
Not sure yet if we'll bother with professional photographer, hair, make-up. Not having bridesmaids or a proper wedding dress.
Still need to plan decor, stationary, music, and outfits: anything I might have missed?!

Feel like we just booked it very easily and it's been pretty stress free!

@Celestron16 Most people don't spend the years actively planning, but suppliers often book up years ahead. For example our engagement was about 18 months. Within two months we'd booked the venue, photographer, videographer, flowers etc by paying a deposit to reserve their time on our date. Other than sort my dress, bridesmaids dresses and the menu tasting, we did very little else until a few months before the wedding when we had to start making decisions about colour scheme and other details. Yes some people love a drama so will drone on about how stressful the planning is, but I bet you'd find most couples spend the exact same length of time planning, it's just spread out - although some may spend longer researching suppliers as they have more options. There's a funny sense of superiority on this thread about all the 'silly brides' who spend time planning their days and don't just rock up to a registry office and a Wetherspoons in a dress from ASOS.

Plus if someone invited me to a September wedding now, I might struggle. We're already busy most weekends. That's another reason people book and send Save the Dates so far ahead - it's important to them that their guests can attend.

Also, I'd urge you to seriously consider a professional photographer. The photos, the rings and the marriage are the lasting reminders of this one day, it's worth investing in proper memories.

Thanks for the reply - very interesting. Yes it seems there's pros and cons to everything isn't there and everyone's preferences are different. Hmm I will think about the photographer - thanks!