Here’s What Happened 9 Months Before the Wedding

The engaged life is such a beautiful ride. Despite the endless “what are we going to eat next”, I think we’re now better partner to each other. We give and receive love better, understand why we both think, feel and act a certain way, and know how to work together and for each other. However, just like others, countless adjustments and compromises have to be made almost every day. That’s just how it is, and that I think makes love worthwhile. I like that we took a long engagement, but time indeed flies so fast. We’re now 6 months engaged, and we’ve been doing wedding planning for 3 months now. Keep scrolling if you’re interested to know what happened 9 months before our wedding!

Purchased a Wedding Planner

I never thought I’d be purchasing a wedding planner. It was never in my plan, and I never saw myself using one. But, I liked writing; both in journal and here in my little humble bubble.

Then, it just hit me – how wonderful it is to have something to hold and relive the memory of planning one of the greatest events of my life? There was no turning back for me.

The gold foils of this journal had me saying yes.

Set our Wedding Budget

Thinking of our top three non-negotiables and working around it helped us set our budget. My fiancé chose food and rings. For me, it was good music and ambiance. Then, we both agreed that we want the ceremony happening in the church. Our non-negotiables shall comprise the bulk of our money. The rest, we can go cheaper, DIY, or find great alternatives. Additionally, being on the same page on the theme and vibe helps. We don’t want a fancy wedding, so that’s going to cut costs for sure.

We settled each other’s share by going with how much each of us is capable of, and comfortable to commit. Finance could easily rock the boat, but it was very helpful that we’re both open to each other. In addition, we want to shoulder the expenses on our own. I think that mindset keeps our feet on the ground and within in our means, and focus on what matters for us.

Chose our Date

This appears to be one of the easiest decisions we’ve made 9 months before the wedding. My fiancé and I are not in a rush to get married. Also, with our budget and the location of most of my loved ones, we knew that it’s either end of this year or early next year. We’re not sentimental on dates, and we don’t believe in superstitions. Plus, blocking a date during peak season is not in our non-negotiables. However, we took the opportunity since we almost have a year of preparation in our hands. We chose a date that’s close to peak season, that for sure (and we manifest) is going to give us a lovely weather.

Drafted our Guest List

This may appear to be easy, but is actually tricky because the list could simply be endless. Briefly, my fiancé and I indulged in that moment. We freely identified whom we’d want to invite from our end. Then come the trimming down. Our family is priority, then our circles, then workmates. Afterwards, we tagged each if 1) both knows, 2) bride only knows, and 3) groom only knows. This helped us trim down our list down to around 120. This number is still up for debate for us, but at least we have a starting point.

Reserved the Ceremony and Reception Venues

These two being part of our non-negotiables were the easiest. We knew already what venues to book. We scheduled our trips to personally visit, readied our questions, and penned down their requirements. Of course, since it’s a non-negotiable, we had to deal with every rule they have. Reserving both venues also meant that our date is finally locked. This was our go signal to roll up our sleeves because next comes the finer details.

A side story: we reserved our reception venue first but on a wrong date. That was so funny! We both realized this after sharing it to some of our family members. We just adjusted it after reserving the ceremony venue. At least, moving the date for the reception was still free of charge, as long as it’s within the policy.

Booked Our Band

Since good music is another list in my non-negotiables, I know already who to book. This band is so good in performing live. Their style, though versatile, specializes in the theme that we envision. It’s a plus that they’re open to any song and genre. We have an initial setlist but that’s subject still for discussion with the fiancé. At least, we still have 9 months before the wedding.

I just want to share a funny story with a spice of moral in it. To book the band, they require 50% downpayment. I tried to do online transfer, but the failed status popped up. I tried again and still the same. I finally asked my fiancé to pay the 50% because of the faulty system; finally successful. As I was checking my e-mail, I received two mentioning successful transfer. Oh, the stress it gave! Apparently, we now paid 150% to the band. Luckily, the band manager was easy to talk to. We just asked him to return what’s beyond the full payment.

Attended Bridal Fairs

There’s a lot of bridal fairs, and I wanted for us to attend so we could get its feel. But, when is the best time to visit? Is it too early, since we still have 9 months before the wedding? For sure, it’d be overwhelming.

We took advice from married friends: at least come with ideas in mind. Building a Pinterest board, and discussing how we envision our wedding helped.

I’d say it was a nice learning experience. We took inspirations for some, and interviewed various suppliers. The wedding industry is a different ocean in itself. Vendors are so creative and flexible with their promos and packages.

Agreed on a Theme

It seems like all themes can now be easily translated in all possible ways, from table napkins to arcs and chandeliers. The wedding industry has a lot of creative minds, so really, all themes, fantasies, wishes and dreams are within reach.

To stick with our plan and not get overboard, here’s how we finalized our theme. Firstly, we thought of our wedding date and what season it is. Since our wedding is a destination wedding, we’d want our guests to experience the beauty of the place during that time of the year. Secondly, we took advantage of the reception venue – simple but beautiful with its lush greenery. That’s a nice starting point, and we know it will only require minimal design. Thirdly, and what I think validated our plan, is how we can incorporate elements and colors from our love story so we’re able to tell the story to our guests.

I admit, there’s still a lot of things to finalize on this one, including a lot of vendor searching. However, story telling through theme? This stirs excitement!

Inquired and Interviewed Vendors

My fiancé and I don’t have much idea about weddings. It appears that we’re going to be the first to get married from both our sides post(?)-pandemic. Hence, we don’t have any idea how much prices are this time. Good thing, our wedding venue has a list of recommended suppliers to which we started to scout for their prices, packages, and special offers. That helped us further validate the prices we allocated in our wedding budget. Also, upon seeing their portfolios and photos in their social media accounts, my fiancé and I were also able to determine what we like and don’t. Doing this is important for us so we could determine our top suppliers 9 months before the wedding.

Ordered our Wedding Rings

All of the wedding ring suppliers we interviewed are able to customize, so it’s easy to materialize Pinterest inspirations and pegs. The decision point just differs depending on the details and brand. We got our wedding rings on one bridal fair because they were offering an amazing promo. My style preference is classy, with diamonds but not too flashy, and versatile for every day. The band also has to be chevron to fit my engagement ring style. Meanwhile, my fiancé wanted a thick band, no diamonds, but with both satin and shiny finishes.

Really, 9 months before the wedding and we’re both happy with our progress. Although admittedly, there’s still a lot of decisions to thoroughly think of, and payments to make. We’re just enjoying the process!

Thank you so much for reading this blog post! Let me know in the comments below if you have any thoughts about this post. Here are other lifestyle blog posts you might like.