Hey friends,

Welcome to Wedding Wednesday!

I don’t know about you, but the second I got engaged I was overwhelmed. I think a huge part of my anxiety was the fact that was transitioning back from studying abroad in London to life in Michigan. There were so many changes happening in my life that I couldn’t even begin the think about wedding planning.

Not only that, but I also felt very lonely. I was missing my study abroad friends and I was actually dreading telling family and friends about my engagement. I wanted people to be genuinely happy for us.

Brett and I waited a whole month before announcing our engagement to people other than our parents, grandparents, siblings, and our closest friends. We wanted to have time to celebrate together before being bombarded with questions.

Here are a few of my suggestions for what to do right after you get engaged:

1. Take a second to just enjoy the moment. For this one moment, it’s just the two of you who know that you have decided to spend the rest of your lives together (unless other people are there to witness your engagement). When we got engaged, Brett took me on a walk and videotaped my reaction. I am so glad that I can look back on that moment forever. I will always be able to remember my reaction, his words, and how I felt after I said “Yes!”
2. Decide who you want to tell first and when. It all depends on your relationships, but I would recommend telling your parents, family, and close friends before announcing your engagement to the whole world. I personally don’t think that there’s a right or wrong way to do this. However, some of my extended family seemed a bit put off that I didn’t personally tell them the news before announcing it on Facebook. Only you can decide what is right for the two of you.
3. Be ready for lots of different opinions. I struggled with this. I wanted everyone to be as excited and happy as I was! Instead, I felt lonely and let the lack on enthusiasm bring me down. So please take my advice on this one, if you are happy that is all that matters.
4. Decide on a timeline. When do you want to get married? If you want to plan a wedding for some day in the very near future you will need to start planning right away. If you are like me and have over two years to plan, you can just sit back and enjoy at first.
5. Think about your wedding at a very high level. In the beginning, don’t think too much about all of the details. Start by figuring out the basics like date and budget. From there, all of the other details will get figured out.
6. Start saving. Weddings are expensive so the earlier you can start saving the better. Talk to your parents or any other family members or friends that have expressed the desire to help out paying for wedding expenses.
7. Have fun! Enjoy the fun of being engaged because it won’t last forever! One of my biggest regrets is that I hated planning my own wedding. I would love to help plan someone else’s in the future because wedding planning should be fun!

Even though we were engaged for over two years the time still went incredibly fast. Try to enjoy the process as much as you can because hopefully you will only need to do it once! My biggest tip is to just have fun with each other.

Remember that at the end of the day you will be married to the love of your life. Not everything will go as planned and that’s okay! Some of my favorite memories from my own wedding happened because something didn’t go as planned. Enjoy the ride.

Thanks so much for reading! Let me know if you have any questions or ideas.