You can sense that your relationship is heading down that road, but your boyfriend has yet to propose and offer the ring. While you're waiting for him to pop the question, you can actually start planning for your wedding. After all, preparedness is important for big days like a wedding as it helps lessen the stress.
But where do you start with the preparations when the engagement is still looming? Below are a few suggestions:
1) Start perusing ideas for your wedding's theme. Use Pinterest and set up a secret board to collate favorite images. Many bride-to-be's on Pinterest are in the habit of doing this already, according to a social media survey by Mashable.
2) Get an idea of the expenses so that you could plan a budget. If you want that dream wedding to happen, knowing how much it will cost is pragmatic. "Think about it: You wouldn't buy a house, car, or make any type of big purchase or investment without knowing what you want to spend," said wedding planner Jaclyn Fisher, via Brides.
3) Begin listing your wedding guests so that you already have an idea for how big or small your wedding is going to be. The list will also help you not to forget to invite people who really should come to your wedding.
4) Start scouting for venues. Popular wedding sites get bookings years in advance, so it's likely that a favorite place is already blocked off by the time you have that ring on your finger. To avoid disappointments, look for more than one wedding site so you can be flexible about changing the venue if the other one is already taken.
5) Do your research and begin looking at rates and availability for wedding service providers or wedding vendors, like dress designers or photographers, who might also have prior engagements in advance. Make a list and file it away so you can refer to from time to time. "I may have already bought a dress (non-traditional, 100 bucks, I love it, but can change it pretty easily with little loss), I have lots of venue ideas and several photographers bookmarked, as well as some spreadsheets of ideas," said one commenter via a wedding planning discussion on Reddit.
