today marks 18 months until our big day. it feels like a lifetime from now, but the past 4 months have actually flown by.

I don’t think that I ever thought we would have a 22 month engagement - but with big families, COVID, and the timing of everything - it’s for sure what’s best for us! in 2019 and 2020, the average length of engagement was 15 months (according to the knot and weddingwire), so we’re on the longer side compared to that - but like I said - with COVID?? i’ve seen even longer with postponements and honestly, I think I’d rather start out on the “longer” side than have to postpone again and again.

with that said, here’s where we are with a year and a half to go before the wedding!

the date: ok so now that it’s been a while, I can tell you that we legitimately chose our date the day we got engaged. we weren’t 100% certain of it then, but it turned out to be the date. I mentioned it in another post, but when we were calling our friends and family to tell them the news, many asked when the wedding would be. and of course, we’re like “we’ve been engaged for like 3 hours we have no idea.” but as we celebrated over dinner that night in January, we looked at our calendar, knowing we wanted a fall/winter wedding, and with the pandemic and our big ol’ guest list, that simply wouldn’t happen in 2021. so November 2022 it is! we also chose our colors quickly, fitting the fall/winter theme!

the venue: we chose our venue literally 2 weeks after we got engaged. we spent a bunch of time on the knot narrowing down our choices. we each came up with our top 3, and we had the same number one. so we agreed that when we toured our top choice, and we loved it, and it was doable, it was a done deal. and sure enough, we booked it! luckily our venue comes with delicious food, so no need for a caterer, thus striking another to-do off of our list.

the wedding party: I literally chose and ordered things for my wedding party within the first week (helped that we got engaged right after the holidays so things were still on sale)! while we both have chosen our parties, not everyone has been asked yet (we have a few out of state and have 0 faith in shipping things right now), but I can’t wait to share how we asked them! i’ve decided on where bridesmaid dresses will be from, but am still browsing for my flower girl.

vendors: this is a tricky one. we have our photographer (engagement pictures are next week, can’t wait), know who we want for our florist, but we haven’t quite booked the rest yet. we’re pacing ourselves (and our budget, which has already changed 🙃). we’ve of course had the band vs. dj talk and arrived at our decision. so we’ve LOOKED, but won’t be booking anything else until this summer!

misc: favors, escort cards, ceremony music, welcome bags, dessert, etc. has been chosen for the most part! we’ll send our save the dates out once we have engagement pictures back, and we’re having a small engagement celebration with our friends next month. other than that, we’re not going to be doing much in terms of decision making for the rest of the month!