Congratulations! We’re so happy for you! You’re on cloud nine and spinning with excitement… then all of a sudden you feel just a tiny bit overwhelmed. Where to begin? Perhaps this adventure caught you by surprise or maybe you’ve been planning for years. Either way, you have to start somewhere and we’ve made this little post for you about what to do when you get engaged.
There are a few things you’ll do right away, like tell all your friends and family. {obviously} We’re pretty sure you’ve got all of that covered 😉 What we’re going to walk you through are the first few steps of planning you should start when you get engaged.
Top 5 Tips
Our top 5 pieces of information are topics not everyone might think of, but should definitely consider.
- Get a Checklist
- Open Special Accounts
- Get into Groups
- Educate Yourself with ECourses
- Get Organized
Get a Checklist
There are many great Checklists out there for newly engaged couples. We’re going to cover this one for you right here and now.
Not only do we have a great checklist for you, but it’s FREE:
This is the Green-Eyed Girl Checklist which will walk you through all sorts of good stuff including money saving tips!
Open Special Accounts
Wedding Email Address
Now this one might sound a little strange but trust us when we say that it will help make things much more efficient for you in the long run. Once you start planning your wedding you’ll be in contact with a lot of new people. You’ll have vendors emailing you and you’ll be dealing with online vendors/store more than you might think. It will be very convenient for you to have a separate email address, specifically for wedding business so that it is all in one place.
we strongly recommend opening a Gmail email address for several reasons. First, it’s free. Second, you can easily merge details to your calendar when you start making meetings with your vendors. Third, you can have emails pushed to your phone so you never miss one {other emails do this too} but it is a perfect feature for the on-the-go bride. Fourth, and most important, you get “all of Google in one account” which means access to document sharing, Google Drive and so much more.
Open your FREE Google email account now
Wedding Credit Card
You’re going to be spending a lot of money, let’s face it. Even if you are on an economic budget {aren’t we all} you’re going to have to pay vendors and place hotel rooms on hold. For another efficiency sake, try to keep all of your spending in one place. The first benefit of this is that you’ll know, accurately where your wedding expenses are and can easily reference them online, such as who has been paid already. Second, you can “pay off” your wedding if you absolutely have to one payment at a time if you do not have all the funds readily available {disclaimer- this is not advisable because #interest but the credit card definitely is if you pay the full payment every month and here is why}Third, and most beneficial, you can earn money back from your wedding! You’re spending the money anyway, right? You might as well get points, air miles or cash back for it right? I don’t know any way to earn cash back when writing checks or paying cash, but think of the nice litter chunk of change you’ll earn back with a point-earning credit card.
There are many to choose from but our favorite is the Chase Freedom Credit Card which gives you 1.5% Cash Back on all of your purchase and starts with a $500 limit {easy to pay off monthly for the wedding and to control your spending}
Take a look at their details and card options HERE
Get into Groups
One of the best ways to start planning a wedding is to ask others who have already done it. Believe us when we tell you that newlyweds are quick to share with you what they loved about their wedding planning and what they would have done differently. From vendor referrals to how they said their vows, there is so much to gain from a support system of knowledgeable women. I encourage you to join a few of these Facebook Groups
I am in Oregon, so these are the groups I am a part of, however, I am sure there are many in your area if you just search!
Inspired Coordination | GEG’s Facebook Group: Join other Brides & Couples working their way through the Green-Eyed Girl Systems online!
Willamette Valley Wedding Resale: Buy pre-loved wedding items from newlyweds at a great price, plus #recycledwedding
Educate Yourself
There is so much to learn about planning a wedding, especially when you’re doing it for the first time. Nothing is quite perfect the first time around, not even a recipe. So, why not borrow the recipes from someone who has done this awesome dance say, hundreds of times? Yep, Wedding Coordinators. And, yes, we know you can do it all on your own and you might even want to. We’re merely suggesting you educate yourself with a few of their recipes for success; Their tried and true methods. How do you do that? By taking their FREE ECourses of course 😉
We’ve put together an 8 email online course that sends you automate advice and planning structure for your first 2 weeks of wedding planning. We call it the I’m Engaged ECourse. In it we walk you through several main topics that you should educate yourself on including the best practices for:
- Interviewing & Hiring your Vendors
- Building your Budget and Guestlist {FREE Excel Spreadsheet too!}
- Family Talks you should have about your wedding planning
- Building those “recipes” for styling the wedding
- and most of all, how to save money when you start spending!
The ECourse guides you through our 7-Day Get Going Strategy where you have a handful of assignments to complete in 2 days before the next email arrives. It is a quick, organized, to-the-point ECourse that will send you off in the right track as you continue planning.
The I’m Engaged ECourse is completely free. Educate yourself…
[Click Below] Or sign up for the I’m Engaged ECourse HERE.
Get Organized
Best of luck to you on your Wedding Planning Adventures!
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Start Planning your Wedding:
The I’m Engaged ECourse | Our famous FREE ECourse
Are you recently engaged? Congratulations, and you’re in the right spot! If you haven’t already, go enroll in our FREE I’m Engaged ECourse on Teachable. You’ll receive a 7-Day Action Plan, free downloads, and Introductory Wedding Planning Videos. Find it HERE.
The Project Block System | The GEG Trademark
Our Project Block System on Teachable is our unique way of organizing wedding set up that has clients hunting us down worldwide. ENROLL HERE.
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