Wedding Planning Update #1

After getting engaged at the end of last year, Alex and I made the deliberate decision to save all wedding planning for the new year. By end of January, we were struck with the realization we should probably start planning and making some decisions. I feel like we have gotten a lot of things done in the last month and a half though there is still so much to do! We have almost exactly 6 months to get everything done so fingers crossed. 😉

What we have done so far:

Booked the venue – Before we officially began planning, we talked about a lot of different things we wanted, didn’t want, or didn’t care about for the wedding. Both of us love the idea of getting married in Durham since we have so many memories in our city. I’m not sure if I feel comfortable disclosing the exact venue but I think it’ll be perfect! This ended up being the only venue we toured.
Booked the photographer – This was a HARD decision for us. Since we are planning the wedding less than a year out, we were actually worried that all the photographers would be booked out and were also hoping that the lack of availability will make it easier for us to pick (maybe just from one option). We had reached out to a handful of wedding photographers based in the Triangle and were overwhelmed with every single of them being available. After a few weeks of going back and forth, we booked the photographer, whom I’ve found through an old coworker’s engagement photos!
Booked the live band – Once we booked the venue, we felt like we needed a live band. Two of our friends who got married a couple of years ago had a band at their wedding that they love and recommended to us, which made this decision relatively easy!
Ordered the save the dates – I saw a video of a TikTok creator a while back talking about how she ordered her save the dates at a super affordable price from Amazon. I have been low-key boycotting Amazon for the last few years but I made an exception for this one… we ended up spending less than $5 (yes, no 0 after the 5) on ours!!! We still need to get the right envelopes and send them out but this felt like a huge accomplishment!

What is on our to-do list:

Book catering – We have a specific caterer in mind and got a quote already but need to decide on the menu and book them
Finalize guest list – While we have a pretty good working list derived from our previous years’ holiday card list, we need to finalize the list before sending out the save-the-dates
Reach out to hotels about wedding blocks – I’m a selfish and lazy creature and was not interested in setting this up but Alex graciously volunteered to take this task
Try on wedding dresses – I have an appointment later this month at BHDLN but I’m thinking maybe I should go to one more place?
Create a wedding website & registry – One day, we will get to this–maybe by the summer lol

I know the list above is still missing a LOT but the way Alex and I have been approaching wedding planning has been very (many too) relaxed. After booking the venue and the photographer, we haven’t been too stressed t hough that might change in the next couple of months!

Any wedding planning advice or suggestions are welcome!