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Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

Kara and Todd Posted:

Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

I realize that most of the best places book up rather fast and far in advance- especially during the more popular times of the year. I also realize most people recommend booking yourdate at least a year in advance.

We are just starting out and looking to have approximately 130-150 guests. We were wondering how far in advance we'd need to book a reception hall. Would it be preposterous to assume we could pull this off by next July? Should we really be looking at next fall?

I also realize there are so many other factors to plan (dress, rehearsal dinner, band, flowers, photographer, etc.)... Would we be out of our minds if we tried to pull this off for next July?
kitty1224 Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

people pull it off in 3 months. I mean it is better to start earlier, but it definettly can be done is 8 months. A lot of places will be booked.

kittythestray Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

7/707 is an EXTREMELY popular date - could you plan an entire wedding in 9 months, ABSOLUTELY - can you get that DATE, I would guess many vendors would already be booked just because that particular date is so popular. So I definitely think you can plan a whole wedding in even as little as 6 months, I am just not sure about THAT date. Good Luck!

Audreygirl Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

Posted by kittythestray

7/707 is an EXTREMELY popular date - could you plan an entire wedding in 9 months, ABSOLUTELY - can you get that DATE, I would guess many vendors would already be booked just because that particular date is so popular. So I definitely think you can plan a whole wedding in even as little as 6 months, I am just not sure about THAT date. Good Luck!


i agree. it can be done, but most likely not for that date. it's been booked almost everywhere really far in advance.
laural2979 Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

I don't think that it's difficult to plan a wedding in under a year, but if you really want 7-7-07 then you may be out of luck. That's supposedly the most popular wedding day of 2007 and I think that I heard that almost all of the halls on LI are booked for that day. If you try for a different day in July then you will have an easier time, especially if you're willing to have it on a Friday or Sunday.

Good luck!
Kara and Todd Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

Thank you, all!

We weren't looking to have THAT date - we were just wondering if we could pull it off for such a popular time of year in a short amount of time.

I guess we just need to start looking and then we'll find out if we can get anything we like in that time frame.

Thanks a lot! :)
Kara and Todd Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

d'OH! I just realized my PROFILE said 7/7/07... That's why everyone was hung up on that date. Whoops!

No, we are NOT set on any particular date. I just threw that in there because it made me put a date down. I couldn't figure out how to get by without putting in a date.

We'd like to get married by the end of the summer before Todd goes back to grad school part time. Of course, if we have to, we can still do the fall and work around that...
kittythestray Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

Posted by Kara and Todd

d'OH! I just realized my PROFILE said 7/7/07... That's why everyone was hung up on that date. Whoops!



In THAT case, GO FOR IT! I am sure you can do it!
Audreygirl Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

Posted by Kara and Todd

d'OH! I just realized my PROFILE said 7/7/07... That's why everyone was hung up on that date. Whoops!

No, we are NOT set on any particular date. I just threw that in there because it made me put a date down. I couldn't figure out how to get by without putting in a date.

We'd like to get married by the end of the summer before Todd goes back to grad school part time. Of course, if we have to, we can still do the fall and work around that...


i'm in law school part-time and working and i'll be getting married next october (with still 2 years of law school left). you guys can DEFINITELY pull it off if you want to do it in the early fall. not to be snooty - but YOU'LL prob be doing most of the work anyway, so him being in grad school will prob not affect him so much as if you were the one in grad school.
Kara and Todd Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

Thanks!

It's not so much the planning we're worried about as him missing two weeks of classes for our wedding and honeymoon. I went to law school, too! (Good luck, btw!) So I understand his worry about missing classes, but I know it can be done, too. I think since it'll be his first semester, he's afraid he won't catch up when we get back with working full time, etc.

I guess we won't really have answers until we start looking. I just wanted to make sure we weren't completely out of our minds!
MandG072909 Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

I can definately be done...we did ours in 9.5 months planning from out of state...we got our first choice on everything...only had to comprimise by having Saturday day rather than Saturday night which in the end worked out to be really a better choice for us anyway...

my only advise (not that you asked but I'll throw it out anyway) is don't let the 'time crunch' get you too stressed out....I was so preoccupied by worrying that nothing would be done in time that I didn't have very much fun during a lot of my planning...just keep it in your head that you'll be fine and everything will work out wonderfully and it honestly will
CLMon7906 Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

Posted by kittythestray

7/707 is an EXTREMELY popular date - could you plan an entire wedding in 9 months, ABSOLUTELY - can you get that DATE, I would guess many vendors would already be booked just because that particular date is so popular. So I definitely think you can plan a whole wedding in even as little as 6 months, I am just not sure about THAT date. Good Luck!


yup....while that weekend usually isn't too big [b/c the 4th is right before it], people love the 7-7 bit and next year, it's 07-07-07 or '777' and some think it's lucky. so if you really want that date next july, i'd definitely search NOW to see if any halls have it open. i say it's not a 'big' weekend because in LATE January of this year, we changed our date to that weekend [of this year] as it was an oddly open and free weekend still.
Kara and Todd Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

Thank you - and you read my mind. I think my next question would have been - 'Even if we could pull it off, would the stress be out of control??'

I think as long as I can just stay relaxed about it, it'll work out fine... but havin never planned a wedding before, what do I know?

I know with my brothers / cousins, some handled the stress better than others. I think I'll have to talk to those who seemed to handle it really well and ask how they did it!

I generally handle stress pretty well, but I'm open to the idea that all bets might be off here!
CLMon7906 Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

hmm...august is huge for teachers as well...there are a lot of teachers on LI...so you have to keep that in mind...fall might be a better time for finding a date at this point.

good luck.
LaurenluvsTJ Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

You could definitely plan a wedding for next July. Just know you will have to do a lot of things in a short amount of time. It will be stressful, but fun too!

rojerono Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

You already have acknowledged that your choice of halls is limited the longer you wait... and with a date like 7/7/7 - you might have more of a challenge finding an open spot..

If you start looking now - you will probably find some great halls with some availability! But I wouldn't wait too terribly long to get the hall booked.

That being said... you can probably STILL find some places 3 months before hand... just likely not your top choice!
Kara and Todd Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

There is no set date. We don't have our hearts set on anything, and we can be flexible. Does anyone know how to change the settings so you don't have to put a date in?

I just picked a random weekend in July because we were hoping for July. I don't have my heart set on 7/7/07 (never really even thought about that)... I just had to put a date in to register.
metmymatch Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

if you're flexible on date & vendor selection, you can plan it in a short amount of time if you're willing.

jeanla4c Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

You could do it! We got in engaged in August 04 and got married in July 05 (the only thing we had booked by October was church and hall....so get on that and you should be fine)

stephanielyse Posted:

Re: Realistically - How far in advance do I need to plan the reception?

As long as you're willing to be flexible about the date (and day of the week) you'll be able to do it no problem. We started planning our May 06 wedding in Sept 07 and had no problem getting every vendor we wanted! Good luck!

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