12 Essential Things to Do Once You are Engaged

This is it! This is the moment you have been waiting for! You’ve just been engaged, and it’s all you need to set the motion of wedding plans set in motion. You’re probably light-headed right now with the new developments that you’re not sure what to think first: tell your family! No, wait until they’re all together with you at dinner. Whichever you go with, you’ll definitely have a ton of things to do after you get engaged.

Let’s dive into the list of things you need to get done before you square away the picking a wedding date.

1. Get Pretty and Celebrate

Get a manicure, pedicure, get dressed, and celebrate! You’re going to want to spend some time celebrating with your honey before letting everyone in on the good news. Open a bottle of champagne, clink glasses, and soak in that special moment before you break the wonderful news to everyone.

2. Announce the News

Call your parents, siblings, and best friends because it’s time to party! Let them hear the news from you personally before they catch wind of it on social media. Let them know first, and then you can announce your engagement to the rest of the world.

3. Capture that Special Moment -- and that Beautiful Ring

You are probably a step ahead of us and have done this already. But if you haven’t, by all means, take that special shot of that new bling! Your special moment deserves to be remembered in every possible way, and keep that special photo up in the cloud -- or in social media -- and have a special memory for you to look at from time to time.

4. Get Insurance for Your Ring

Understandably, it’s not something you would see as romantic. But bear in mind, this is a special piece of jewelry, and you want to make sure it’s protected just like you have protection for your life, your house, or your car. Imagine, this ring will have sentimental value -- you want to make sure it’s protected with insurance. The good news is that it’s very affordable if you add it to your homeowner or renter’s insurance.

5. Pick the Wedding Date

There are several ways to go about picking a wedding date, and one of the biggest steps towards your wedding date. Whether it’s a memorable date for both of you like your couple’s anniversary, the same date as you first met, a number sequence that happens to coincide with the year, or something else, you’ll need to make plans early. Most of the interesting dates to be married are usually snapped up depending on which venue you might be looking to get married, so plan ahead!

6. Set a Budget

Before you start making any wedding decisions, you need to set a wedding budget. It is so easy to find yourself caught up in the wedding planning, and get increasingly excited as the wedding planning goes in full swing. When you’re in that mode, you tend to find more ways and more details you might want to have at your wedding, and soon you’ll find that you’re actually spending more than you originally planned. Set your budget so that you can make your lists according to how much your target budget is.

7. Determine Your Guest Size

Early on you’ll have a pretty good idea of whom you want to be at your wedding. It’s best to determine your guest size early on so you can anticipate who you can narrow down the guests that you definitely want to be there. If you have family members footing the bill, they need to be part of deciding who goes into the guest list.

8. Research Your Wedding and Reception Venue

Now that you’ve set a budget, it’s time to look at different wedding venues and reception areas -- or one, if you’ve already settled on a place. Major tip: in order to save your guests the transportation and the cost, try to go to a wedding venue and reception in one location. This is also when you can pretty much pin down the date you’d like to get married depending on the availability of the venue on that date. You’ll also want to know how many guests each venue can accommodate as you want to make sure you can fit most of your guests in the venue.

9. Get Your Ring Sized

Hopefully, the engagement ring is a perfect fit. If it isn’t, take it to a jeweler to get it sized. That way, both you and your spouse-to-be will be present when you get both ring sizes.

10. Get Inspired and Start Looking Up Different Styles

You have probably already started doing this as well, but this is very important. This gives you different ideas of how you might want your wedding to look and what various ways you can do to pull it off. Gather it together, and consult with your wedding planner or coordinator later on. If you are working with a wedding planner, they would also come armed with several suggestions for wedding motifs, styles, flowers, even outfits for the bridal party.

11. Draft Your Bridal Party List

Get together with your fiance, and figure out how many bridesmaids and groomsmen you want to be in your bridal party. Then decide who you will ask to be the maid of honor or the best man. You can choose how many people you want in your bridal party and as of late, there is no strict number as to how many members of your bridal party should be.

12. Start Getting Quotes and Interviewing Vendors

This part is going to be important and will weigh in later when you finalize your options. Start shopping for quotes and interviewing wedding planners and vendors. Get reviews from friends and family, and check reviews online as well. If you’re looking to save, also look out for up and coming talent. There are a lot of talented photographers and videographers that are looking for a break, and it might come out as a win-win situation for both of you. Get suggestions and feedback from previous clients if you can, and do as much research as you can. Check out bridal fairs and schedules. You can get discounts for vendors, and even wedding planners if you book in advance.

Kara K

Kara has been with Wedding Favors Unlimited for 2 years. She’s been giving wedding and style advice for the past 5 years from bridal magazines to bridal boutiques. Feel free to ask Kara a question below!