You're engaged! Now What? How to Plan Your Wedding in Rhode Island

You’re engaged! Now What? How to Plan Your Wedding in Rhode Island

It’s official: You’re engaged! Now, what do you do next? While you don’t need to make concrete wedding plans right after announcing your engagement, there are a few preliminary steps you can take early on to make the process easier.

Below, discover 10 steps to take after your engagement, in no particular order. Plus, learn where to find the best wedding planners in Rhode Island who can bring your vision to life.

10 Things to do after you’re engaged

Savor the moment

You don’t need to rush into planning your wedding the day after your proposal. Instead, take a few days, or a few weeks, to slow down and savor the moment. Call your parents. Get a manicure. Take a ring selfie with your fiance and post it on all your social media — even better if you have pictures of the proposal itself. Just take a while to bask in the glow: After all, this is your moment.

Choose a date

When you’re ready to step out of the lavender haze and think about wedding planning, your wedding date is one of the earliest things to consider. You don’t have to settle on your exact date right now. (Although, if you already have a sentimental date in mind, that works too!).

If you’re unsure, consider the season when you’d like to tie the knot: Do you want an outdoor ceremony surrounded by spring flowers, or a warm and cozy winter wedding indoors? Talk it over with your fiance and see if you both have the same vision.

Discuss your budget

Money may not be the most romantic wedding topic, but it’s certainly an important one. After all, it will affect nearly every major decision of your wedding day. For example, do you have the budget to invite a larger guest list, or will you stick to a smaller microwedding?

You may also want to consider where your wedding budget will come from — Will you and your fiance pay for everything yourselves, or will your family members chip in? It’s helpful to have a discussion about your wedding budget early, so you’ll have an idea of where to splurge and where to save.

Find your wedding venue

With a general idea of when you’d like to host your wedding, you can begin vetting venues with your fiance that are available during your wedding season.

We’ve already covered what to look for in your Rhode Island wedding venue in detail, but here’s a quick cheat sheet of factors to consider.

• Overall size and guest capacity.
• Access to indoor or outdoor venues and backup spaces for rainy days
• Multiple spaces for different aspects of your wedding day, like your ceremony and reception.
• Proximity to your home, hotels, and airports for ease of travel.
• Aesthetic, color palette, and overall wedding style
• Vendors and amenities like catering, on-site rentals, wedding planners, and more

Interview wedding vendors

Beyond your wedding venue, now is also the time to consider vetting vendors for your wedding day. It may be best to wait until you have a more concrete date in mind, so you can ask about availability. But a list of people you may consider contacting includes:

• Caterers
• Hairstylists or makeup artists
• Wedding Baker
• Wedding Florist
• Rhode Island Photographer or wedding videographer in Rhode Island
• DJ or Bank

As a starting point, see if your prospective venue either provides some of these services themselves or recommends a third party to make your search easier.

Build inspiration

Now is also a good time to dust off your wedding Pinterest boards and start curating a mood board. While you don’t have to settle on any definitive direction just yet, you may notice patterns begin to emerge in your choice of aesthetic — Like modern design touches or a jewel-toned color palette.

Having a general idea for the season can also make this process more streamlined: No need to save photos of winter bridal shawls if you’re planning a summer wedding

Curate your guest list

You may not be ready to send out invitations just yet, but now is a good time to consider who you’d like to invite to your wedding ceremony. Will this be for close friends and family only, or will your extended relatives and acquaintances get an invite? Finalizing the list can take place later, but for now, it’s enough to see if you and your fiance are on the same page.

Choose your wedding party

Speaking of wedding guests, you also may want to begin thinking about your most special guests —- your wedding party. This includes filling roles that may include, but certainly aren’t limited to:

• Bridesmaids
• Maid Of Honor
• Groomsmen
• Best Man
• Flower Girl
• Ring Bearer
• Officiant

Again, you don’t need to make any definitive decisions about roles just yet. But it can be helpful to sit down with your fiance and discuss who you’d like to accompany you on your journey down the aisle.

Build a wedding website & registry

While it’s not strictly necessary, a wedding website can be a helpful tool throughout your planning process. It can act as a centralized hub of information for you and your fiance and for all your guests. For example, you can use it to track RSVPs, provide directions to your venue, and feature a gallery of downloadable wedding photos.

It can be helpful to set up the site early, so you’ll have it ready when you need it. Tools you can use to build a wedding website and registry include:

• The Knot
• Joy
• Zola
• Minted
• WedSites
• Wix

Work with a wedding planner

If you’re already feeling overwhelmed at this early stage in the process, consider scouting out a Rhode Island wedding planner to streamline the process. Instead of personally arranging everything yourself, you can leave the details to your planner and take the stress off your shoulders.

A wedding planner could also help you make key decisions if you or your fiance aren’t on the same page about something. They can offer their professional advice and help you reach an agreement that makes you both happy.

Get Married in Rhode Island with Kirkbrae

Planning a wedding day on your own can be complicated. But with Kirkbrae, we make it easy to bring your wedding dreams to life.

Our Rhode Island wedding planners can help you throughout every stage of the process, from the earliest stages to ironing out the final details. We’ll help you enjoy all your special moments in our elegant ceremony and reception spaces — and we offer amenities like on-site catering to make your day go even smoother.

Get a head start on your happily ever after with us, and get married in Rhode Island.