Booked hall, booked band-what

Hi everyone, Well, FI and I finally agreed on our reception hall (Fox Hollow) and band (Arcadia), and we are very happy with our choices. We are getting married next November (''''02). What''''s next? How far in advance of our wedding should we book photographer? I know that we need to wait for florist since I haven''''t decided on my dress or BM dresses yet. How far in advance should I be planning to order my dress? I am new to this, and appreciate any advise you can give me!! Thank you!! oxox Krissie

Booked hall, booked band-what

Congratulations!! I would start looking at photographers now. They book up fast. My future sister-in-law just ordered her dress for her November '02 wedding. You have plenty of time but you should start to look at magazines and get an idea of what you want.

Booked hall, booked band-what

I booked my photographer before everything. I didn't plan it that way but it just happened to work out. So I would do that next. Next on the agenda is gowns. Ive been looking since June and haven't found 'the one' so I would suggest looking now to make sure you don't have to rush into any decisions.

Next steps

I am also getting married Nov. 2002. Congrats on your engagement!! You should start looking at photographers and video. Also, depending on what designer makes the dress you want it can take 6-8 months to get it into the bridal shop. So just keep that in mind. You don't want to have to pay 'rush' charges. I have also been getting lots of invitation samples in the mail. Although I do not need to order for a few months it is nice to know that I have it all picked out. One lesson that I learned from a friend: Order your invite earlier that you have to. Her first batch got lost by FedEx and she had to have them do tracking, looking for them, etc.. plus the invite vendor had to rush her new ones. So I am going to order mine 1 full month earlier than I need to just to give me some breathing room. Good Luck!!!

Next steps

Congratulations!! I agree with everyone here, you should start looking at photographers now and it's never too soon to start looking at dresses.

I'm a Scotto Brothers Bride too ...

Krissie, I'd liked to first congratulate you on your decisions. We booked the Westbury Manor in May '01 for June '02. All our vendors were booked by August. We rather book early then scramble later. I agree with everyone else, your photographer is next and I'd go to the Florist too, especially if you are going to use one that the hall recommends. Arcadia is a great band - we looked at them but decided on a Frank Wayne Band instead. And Christine is right - it is never to early to look at dresses. Good Luck

Ceremony location, photographer

Hi Krissie, I am also a Nov2002 bride! Congrats!! We are at the same point of planning as you-booked our reception and band (Arcadia also). Have you decided where your ceremony will be? Our church did not have many fall 2002 dates available. I'd make sure that you had all of that squared away in the next few weeks. As above, I think that the photographer is the next vendor to book. Do a search on these boards-lots of good information, suggestions. Good luck! Keep us posted!!

Next Steps...(Long)

Congrats on your upcoming wedding, and good luck on your wedding planning! Like everyone else, definitely make photo/video a priority. When we started planning our Sept. 2001 wedding in Sept. 2000, I didn`t want to get shut out of any vendor who we might like, so we stayed focused and booked everything within three months after choosing our date. Believe it or not, the florist was among the first we booked. We met with Flowers by Brian, and loved their work. I also thought we might need to wait until we had more concrete information, such as head-counts and colors, but you don`t need to do this. Plus, Flowers by Brian only books so many weddings per weekend, so we signed on a contract and made whatever adjustments we needed in the time leading up to the wedding. We didn`t finalize colors and flower selection until about a month before the wedding. Some things weren`t chosen until just a couple of weeks prior, and we also had a last minute change one week before. But they handled everything with ease, making me feel so much more relaxed. The day before the wedding, we saw my bouquet and the girls` bouquets. Talk about building on the anticipation!!! My excitement skyrocketed! And even men were raving about the flowers afterwards!! They were gorgeous. And Bobbi and Lisa were so helpful. Like the other girls said, start getting ideas for gowns that you like, not only for you, but also for your girls. But keep in mind, sometimes what looks good in a picture doesn`t always look so good on, and that plain dress on the hanger could very well be 'the one.' http://www.weddingchannel.com provides a helpful fashion section where you can pick certain criteria and see pictures of what fits what you`re looking for. Just remember, try to keep a steady pace and get things done. There will be lots of little things that keep popping up, especially as the day gets closer. As for invitations, I know a lot of people are doing them on line, but to save on keeping track of samples you`ve requested, you might want to just go look at places that have lots of books. We ordered our invites from Bridal Boutique, 500 Sunrise Hwy, Massapequa Park 516-797-4355. It was great havning someone there to answer all our questions. They gave us all the time we needed to go through all their books without pressure. They were so helpful with our order, making sure we didn`t get things we didn`t need, and their prices reasonable. Plus, if you purchase your favors through them, you get an addition discount. They also have tons of headpieces and veils to choose from. By the time we found them, it had been months after I ordered my headpiece and veil though, but I saw them in action with other brides, and they seemed very helpful in that area too. For our Sept. wedding, we ordered our invitations in May, and got them in about 1 week! And Tony was right, he had us cut our order down by 25, which worked out perfect. We do have extras, but not so many.

Start thinking about a hotel for guests *NM*

Start thinking about a hotel for guests *NM*

Congrats on all the things you have accomplished in planning for you big day. We booked the Westbury Manor in March 2000 for July 4, 2002. We also chose the church we wanted at the time also. Photographer this past March. Limo's this past February. I went with Prime Time Live from LI Paramount. I just booked the flowers last week, I went with Simply Elegant. They created exactly what I envisioned and the prices are good. I ordered my dress last month. I really think it's a good idea to look for a dress. You will be surprised that when you go to different bridal salons, the amount of different styles and sometimes you will end up changing your mind on which dress you like. Good Luck with the rest of the planning and have fun =)