Woo hoo! Pop the champagne! Getting engaged is one of the most exciting times in your life! The love of your life just said they want to be with you – forever! That’s a huge deal! But now what???

We just passed Valentine’s Day. Did you know that roughly 6 million people get engaged every year on Valentine’s Day?! And more than 40% of all engagements happen between Christmas and Valentine’s Day?! So if you’re one of those newly engaged couples, huge congratulations to you! This is such a fun time in your life!

Here’s some tips on what to do now that you’re planning forever with your special someone!

 

You’re Engaged! Now What? | Ohio Engagement Photographer

 

 

Get Your Ring Sized & Insured

If your ring size isn’t perfect (it happens!) get it sized right away. The last thing you want is a ring sliding off your finger! Most jewelers offer free resizing if you bought it through them. If not, resizing is usually pretty affordable and should take a few days at most.

And on that note, whatever you do insure that baby! I actually had a bride once whose ring was stolen before she could get it insured and they had to buy a whole new ring!!! So much sadness! My wedding ring is insured through our personal property insurance through our bank. It’s a couple dollars a month. WORTH IT!

 

Start Thinking About Wedding Dates

You can’t do too much planning until you decide on a date, or at the very least a month! You cannot book a wedding venue without a date or a wedding photographer!

Think about dates to avoid. Do you want your wedding anniversary close to a certain holiday, long weekend, or birthday – or not? What will the weather be like during that time? Etc.

 

Decide What Kind of Wedding You Hope to Have

The sky is the limit when it comes to weddings. Everyone has preferences, and if you’re like many brides, you’ve had a vision in your head of your perfect wedding day for some time now. If you haven’t had a big conversation about with with your new fiancé, now is the time to get on the same page!

Do you want a big, huge event with all your best friends, people who have watched you grow up, all your college pals, etc? Are you more private and prefer not to be in the spotlight and a small private family-only ceremony with a still-small reception after are more your style? Know someone with a beautiful property you could use or have you been eyeing that dream wedding venue for a while now?

 

Set a Budget

Once you have a date in mind, set a budget so you can start actually planning. If you start planning without a budget, you can blow all your money on one part of the wedding only to realize you don’t have enough for something else!

The best way to set a budget is to decide what matters most to you. If having the best venue there is is super important to you, put your money there but realize you may have to ease up on funds somewhere else. Is photography and florals most important to you? Put money there and see if you can use a venue that’s not a designated wedding venue, like an outdoor park.

 

Find Inspiration

Hop on over to Pinterest and start planning that wedding! It’s useful to decide on a color scheme and general style. If you’re like me, maybe you even have a wedding Pinterest board already! It’s never too early to start planning right? You can get a lot of ideas for weddings on Pinterest, wedding blogs like The Knot, Zola and more.

Schedule Your Engagement Session!

And last but not least, I highly recommend having an engagement session!

I hear lots of objects to this from clients all the time. But we’re awkward. We’ve never been photographed before. We don’t really want one, we just want wedding photos.

There is no better time to get photos of the two you than now! Being engaged is a limited and special time. Capture that before it is gone!

Having an engagement session is also a great way to meet your wedding photographer and create a relationship with them. That’s why all my wedding collections include a complimentary engagement session!

Dayton, Cincinnati, & Columbus Ohio Engagement Photographer

I love being an Ohio Engagement Photographer to capture new love like this! For more details on engagement sessions, see this page.

I’d love to chat with you about capturing this special time in your life! Reach out to me today for more information!

xo Melissa

While you’re here, you might also like… 

• Bri & Neil’s Raven’s Roost Engagement Session
• Engagement photographers Dayton Ohio | Lindsey + Jordan