Ridiculously long engagement...

[nataleeza]

Anyone else facing a very long engagement?  I cannot get married within the next 32 months (more like 36 in reality), and I'm not sure if there are any things I can really decide before the 12 month mark (the furtherest out most checklists go).

Anyone else dealing with (or dealt with) the same thing?  I'm just feeling a little left out as all the people I know have chosen a 10 month engagement at the extreme longest.

[nataleeza]

Sorry, that's totally what I meant.  I mean, I can hardly start making centrepieces to store until 2011...  Is there anyone who's crafted anything this far in advance?

[sweets4ever]

Do you have a theme, colors, location or anything like that picked out or reserved yet?  Seems like that's when the majority of my crafting commenced -- once I had the ceremony and reception sites booked, that is.

[sweets4ever]

PS - Congrats!

[ruby_soho]

you might be doing yourself a favor if you waited to do things until it got closer... our engagement period is about 22 months and the things i did at the beginning, i wish i hadn't.  now i'm stuck with stuff that either doesn't go or stuck doing things twice...  wait till you book the halls to do things, otherwise they may not fit with the "feel" of the place.

that said, you can definitely start looking for vendors you'd like to hire, or toying with invitation designs... or start building a website... or accumulating things you KNOW you'll have no matter what (i.e. my FI was going to wear his family's tartan no matter where we had the wedding, so we were able to order that right away)...

HTH!  congrats!!

[BoxOfRocks]

you might be doing yourself a favor if you waited to do things until it got closer... our engagement period is about 22 months and the things i did at the beginning, i wish i hadn't.  now i'm stuck with stuff that either doesn't go or stuck doing things twice...  wait till you book the halls to do things, otherwise they may not fit with the "feel" of the place.

that said, you can definitely start looking for vendors you'd like to hire, or toying with invitation designs... or start building a website... or accumulating things you KNOW you'll have no matter what (i.e. my FI was going to wear his family's tartan no matter where we had the wedding, so we were able to order that right away)...

Great advice.  If you started doing stuff now, another challenge would be where'd you store all the finished products and making sure they stay in good condition. 

You have the luxury of time to do lots of research, pull ideas into a notebook, budget, explore lots of concepts and options, etc.  Good luck!

[schtankylu]

Lawsamercy--I'd recommend getting your guestlist together. It's been not only the most time-consuming, but also the most contentious item yet!! Then you will know in advance how many people you'll need to find a space for and feed.

[kjlutz]

I think the best advice (as has already been mentioned) is to just start pulling ideas together.  One of the biggest mistakes we made planning our wedding was buying/making things early and then changing our minds so we either had to incorporate things that we didn't really like or change things costing lots of money. 
So start comparing ideas, budgeting, and even making prototypes to learn new skills (or see if crafting things is even the way to go). 
Good luck, and remember if it's not fun it's not worth the fuss. 

[sweets4ever]

Ooh... start a box or a notebook (or both!) with all of your ideas, magazine clippings, etc.

kjlutz, I love your outlook/motto!!

[dannispring240]

I'm not getting married until 2011 either. I haven't been crafting (eventough I want to =D) because it is too soon.

But, it has given me TONS of time to figure out the wedding of my dreams. When you have as much time as you and I do, there is no pressure to figure out colors, style, etc.

Don't worry, you will have plenty of time to craft. Right now, just relax and enjoy the research, becuase when you get to 6 months before the wedding you will be running around so much that you'll wish then you had more time. XD