Congrats! You’re engaged, now what? A lot of times during this magical transition into the wedding journey, many couples are overwhelmed with what the heck to do next. Fear not my friend, I’ve put together the first 7 things you should do after you get engaged to the love of your life.

Enjoy this time.

Take a big, deep breath and relax. This is one of the best times of the wedding journey. Butterflies, big dreams and sharing the news is such a fun time, you should enjoy it! Pop the bubbly, call your parents & friends, make it Facebook (or Instagram!) official and enjoy your honey.

Get Your Ring Insured

With something shiny and sparkly on your hand, it’s super important to remember to keep it protected. Accidents happen, rings go down the drain, get lost in the car or worse, stolen. Call your insurance company and put a policy on that bad boy.

Create the Guest List

Creating the guest list isn’t the sexiest task but it will determine a lot of other items such as catering cost and venue cost. I want to stress how important it is to remember that this will be YOUR day. You don’t need to invite allllll your parents friends, or aunty so-and-so twice removed on your mom’s side. Pick the people that mean the most to you.

Set the Budget

Knowing your guest list will help you determine this number. Do some minor research into some local vendors and get a good ballpark of what some numbers could look like. Often times the “percentage” budgets the big wedding websites put out are far from the truth. If food is super important, delegate more money there, if photography is your must have (which gets my vote!) allocate a larger budget there. Your priorities will set your percentages.

Choose a Date

Whether your super flexible or have been dreaming to do a specific date, finding the time that’s right for you will help when finding a venue and seeing how long you have to plan.

Find Your Venue

Now that you have your wedding date selected, you know your budget and how many humans you have to house, it’s time to go venue hunting. If you’re getting married locally here in Seattle, I highly recommend finding a venue that has a rain or shine plan. Whether is unpredictable here, even in the high summer, so make sure you have options!

Book Your Photographer

Not only am I shamelessly plugging myself, but photographers are one of the fastest booked vendors. Typically a year out from your date is when you should expect photographers to start booking. The sooner you know your date and venue, the sooner you can have your dream photog snapping those epic photos for you to keep forever!