4 Ways To Start Wedding Planning Before You Get Engaged
Do you have a sneaking suspicion that your significant other is going to propose this holiday season? Whether you’ve been dating for years, or in a whirlwind romance that’s moving quickly…there are some wedding plans you can make before you get a ring on your finger!
Bonus: Most of these can be done in private…in case you don’t want your SO (or your friends) to think you’re jumping the gun! Read on below for the top 4 tips from Elope Telluride!
Envision What Type of Wedding You Want. I don’t mean all the tiny details, but big picture things like….
What size wedding “fits” you as a couple? A traditional large wedding with all the family? A destination micro wedding with your 4 closest loved ones? Perhaps an adventure elopement with just the two of you on a Colorado mountaintop? Remember it’s what you want…not what tradition or your parents say. Even if you have large families, an adventure elopement might be what you’ve been dreaming of. (If so, drop us a line at joe@elopetelluride.com!)
Time of year you’d like to get married. This might be dependent upon your location, as is the case with elopements we photograph in Telluride and Ouray, Colorado. Even snowy mountain towns are great for year-round weddings though: sunny mountaintops in the summer, epic fall colors, and snowy landscapes in the winter.
How can you blend your personalities into your big day? Are you classic white dress and bouquet? Do you want to create a boho chic vibe? Or maybe modern and minimalist? It’s OK to daydream about what attire you’ll wear. All of these themes can work for both a large wedding or a destination elopement. If you’ve got questions about how to logistically hike to your elopement in your dress or with a bouquet, send us a message and we’ll help plan & figure it all out!
2. How lengthy of an engagement do you want? Lots of our couples decide they want a destination elopement, and plan the big day about 3 months out. This can also depend on the location or time of year that you choose. Here in the San Juan Mountains, we photograph elopements year-round, while summertime gives more access to the higher elevations like 14ers and waterfalls.
3. Where do you want to have your ceremony? A destination like Ouray or Telluride? The church you grew up in? The waterfront park where you first met? Reach out to your favorite 2-3 venues and find out how far in advance they usually book, and get a ballpark figure of their costs.
4. Photographer. We’ve had couples over the years contact us before they were even engaged, because they loved our work and knew they wanted to hire us. Having a couple choose their wedding date based on our availability is the coolest compliment ever! Photographers can get booked up over a year in advance, and often they won’t take more than one wedding per weekend. Do some social media stalking of your fave photographers in the area in which you want to get married. It’s usually the first vendor that a couple locks down.
Thinking ahead about these things will also give you a general idea of how much your wedding may cost altogether. You & your partner really need to be on the same page about this important topic. Things that can drive costs up quickly is getting married in a big city, a large number of guests, and wanting the “best of the best” of all bells & whistles! On the other hand, having an adventure elopement can save you tons of money compared to a traditional wedding. I.e. No venue fees, no costly floral arrangements, no dinners for everyone, and you can honeymoon at the same destination! To see our elopement packages, click here.
This might be something you’ve daydreamed about for a long time. Maybe you’ve actually discussed it with your partner to see if you’re on the same page. If your partner is cool about discussing these things before the official engagement, that can be a huge benefit to reducing wedding planning stress down the road.
If the thought of a destination micro wedding or adventure elopement makes you giddy, send us an email at joe@elopetelluride.com. We can take it from there, because our goal is to make it 100% stress-free for you in the gorgeous Colorado mountains!
