How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

Original post by Kara and Todd

Oct 10, 2006 12:46 PM

FH is driving me up a wall.

We want to get married next summer before he goes back to school and before my parents retire / move out of state. That leaves us very little planning time.

We agreed not to announce anything until the ring comes, which makes sense to me... but that also means we can't pick a date b/c I do at least want to check dates with close family to make sure there isn't a conflict...

Now, we're getting the ring in a couple of weeks... He's running the marathon the weekend of Nov. 5th - so his family will be in town, no planning that weekend. He's in Philly the weekend before that to go to a football game with a friend of his. He now wants to go away for a weekend on some camping trip that was planned last minute by his college buddies. I told him I need him around on weekends to help find a hall -- b/c we won't really be starting to look / pick dates until we get the ring / announce it. I said it needs to be AFTER we find and book a hall. I don't see how this is unreasonable. We work in the city and live on LI - We have to do this on weekends...

He tells me, 'Looks like it's the weekend of Nov 18th, so plenth of time to get things booked.'

***????????????????????????

He's kidding, right? Realistically, that gives us ONE weekend to do this. No possible way this is happening.

Am I being totally unreasonable???

We are working on a very short time frame, and we need to get moving on booking the hall... but I am NOT half-assing this decision either. It's a HUGE decision / financial commitment.

I don't want to lose yet another weekend to things FH wants to do.

Ironically, these things never come up for him, so normally it wouldn't be an issue... but I really think that finding a hall is more important.

How long were you looking???

PS - we haven't even figured out how many people / how much we want to spend... All things we need to discuss with our parents AFTER we get the ring...

GRRR!

snydl40 Posted: Oct 10, 2006 02:43 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

It took us three months. It was easy narrowing down places online because we knew certain places we wouldn't be able to afford right off the bat.

Plus, usually if you book closer to the wedding date-they give you a better deal. Relax and enjoy your search. Brides have thrown weddings together in much less time so I wouldn't worry.

Angiebeeen Posted: Oct 10, 2006 02:56 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

It took about a month....as soon as i saw it i fell in love with it

jennd311 Posted: Oct 10, 2006 03:00 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

we did it in one day. I took off work as did he .. made appointments for a bunch of places we wanted to see and that was that. made a decision that night and then booked a few days later

GabrielleandJohn Posted: Oct 10, 2006 03:01 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

I went looking with my friend with the intention of bringing FH to my top3. Well one Saturday and 9 halls later (I am dedicated) I had found THE PLACE. The next day I took FH to it and left a deposit. We booked in July for June 07. We knew we wanted June and a Saturday night.

Here are pointers for a speedy and successful shopping:

Have a guestimate of your lists: FH and I wrote ours ourselves for us and our parents. We were only 10 ppl off when we got the real lists.

Know what you can spend: Have your big number, the start to finish including Honeymoon. Take half of that number, divide it by # of ppl. There is your cost per head. (40K budget/2= 20K/135ppl= 135pp pls tax and tip)

Look at halls online and limit yourself down: Catering hall, hotel, estate. Water, bay, hills, garden......

Call: A great judge of how they will be on your wedding day is how they treat you on the phone. Remember this is them selling themselves so if they treat you like garbage or are dismisive when they are trying to get your $$ imagine how they will be once they have it.

Good Luck and Congrats!!!

eden Posted: Oct 10, 2006 03:07 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

first of congtrats!

second, do what YOU wanna do! if you wanna look now, LOOK! I'm serious! Reseaching take alot of time, it took me 1 month to research the perfect place before I dragged my DH with me to find something.

We got engaged Nov 30, 06 and we didn't start looking until Jan 2nd. In the time span I bought a bunch of magazines, set up appointments at a few halls and set up a budget and guest count.

So do your research NOW and line up a couple of places to visit, like 3-5 in one day is not unrealistic if they are close together. That way you can decide ASAP!

Good luck!

JenMike331 Posted: Oct 10, 2006 03:17 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

2 wks after we were engaged it was easter vacation (im a teacher) and i booked within the week

Bridex100 Posted: Oct 10, 2006 03:19 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

There is a lot of research you can do. Find out the style of venue you'd like, how much you can afford or want to spend.

Even though I researched 100 venues online and visited 25, I wish I had taken a little more time to pick a venue. I like my venue but I don't love it.

kahlua716 Posted: Oct 10, 2006 04:06 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

Posted by HelenZ

I definitely think you should try to take it easy and really enjoy the engagement when it happens. I know it's hard b/c I'm a planner too and you want to have things set so you don't have to worry later. I've been dating FH for 6 years....we started looking at rings in 2002!!! We knew one day we'd get engaged and we always talked about it, but I also didn't expect him to buy me a ring until he was financially able.....so that made it all the more special when it happened- 4 years after first looking at rings!!

I'm not saying you'll have to wait 4 years....but definitely don't stress before the engagement happens!! It will take away from your joy!

That being said, if you really feel like you want to get a head start, if I were you I would look at halls by myself and kind of narrow it down to what you like as far as style and then bring your FH back after he proposes, by then you'll know what your budget is.

Good luck!!

I agree with this...I brought my sister and a friend to all my appointments. When FH did come he was bored and un-interested (as he has been with EVERYTHING). It took me about a month and a half and 20 different locations to find one. But, I was picky.

rojerono Posted: Oct 10, 2006 04:34 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

I did all my research on line. Went to eat at the place and booked it during my first visit. It took me a week to research and a single day to decide. LIWEDDIGNGS was invaluable in this decision making process.

Don't stress.. you will find the PERFECT place!

hayleyandsteve Posted: Oct 10, 2006 04:48 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

I haven't read anyone's replies... there are a LOT of them!

But here's my situation...

Before we got engaged, I did a ton of research about different reception halls. (I knew that we'd be getting engaged soon... we had been dating for 5 1/2 years and had gone ring shopping). I found a place that I really LOVED, and I called them to see how many dates they still had available for July of '07. They only had like 3 dates left for day weddings in July... so we ended up going to look BEFORE we were actually engaged. Well, it was LOVE at first sight! We booked on the spot.

My point being.... 1) we only looked at one place. 2) we booked without having the ring! (at first I was also hesitant about doing things without having the ring... but, does it really matter what everyone thinks? you know its coming... why wait?)

I think it's a bit silly to wait to talk to your parents until you get the ring! You know that you two are going to get married, so what's the difference if you have the ring or not? Just go for it!

Good luck with everything!

PoeticJustice Posted: Oct 10, 2006 05:17 PM

Re: How long did it take you to find and book your RH??

It is never to early to start looking. I went to look at halls this summer without FI and then brought him back to the Swan Club once I had narrowed down my choice. Now FI and I are thinking about moving our date up. I called Swan Club today and all of the summer Fri/Sat /Holiday dates are gone for 07'. So if we want to move it up it will have to be sometime in 08'. So I say go for it, time truy does fly by