Congratulations!!! Getting engaged to be married is such an exciting time. It can also be quite chaotic as there is so much to do and you wonder where to even begin...
There are three things you want to do right away...
First, get at least a rough idea of your wedding budget. Are you and your fiance paying for the ceremony? Will you have help from parents or other special people in your life? Everybody involved in paying for the wedding needs to have a rough idea of what it is that they are willing and able to contribute.
And I say "rough idea" because as you go along, you may find that you can adjust your overall wedding budget to pay more money for the products and services you really want, and less on things that are not as important to you.
For example, I decided that having Michael's make silk flowers for my wedding (for $89) was good enough. I put the money I saved toward really nice earrings for our daughters. This was more important to me than getting "real flowers" and I have the extra treat of having my silk wedding bouquet on my nightstand. It is the first thing I see when I wake up every morning and that brings me joy each and every day.
So, what's next? Once you have the budget in mind, you want to book your wedding and reception venue and you want to book your wedding minister. You can dream about everything else later...
The good wedding venues and the good ministers book fast! Especially if your wedding falls within the "busy season."
As for your ceremony location...if you are contacting A Joyful Celebration! you are probably not holding a traditional ceremony in a church. There are many options available to you, and we are happy to give you our recommendations. One thing I find that seems to work for the majority of our brides is to find a location where you can book your ceremony and reception all at the same place. I will also caution you that if you find a place to have your reception only and not your ceremony, you may find you will have difficulty to find a location that will accomodate just the ceremony itself as most venues make their money through their catering services and not the ceremonies themselves. Again, this is something we can talk more about.
As for hiring your Wedding Minister...check back soon. We will be posting more information about how to find the person who is just right for you.