Celebrate! An engagement party should be thrown no more than a month after the proposal, but if you’re getting married in less than a year, you can forgo the engagement party and just announce the good news via social media or save-the-dates. Choose a date. Decide which season you want to get married in and then choose a month. Be flexible with the dates inside which month you choose, as your venues may be booked on the specific date you choose. Create a wedding email. Over the next few months to a year, you’ll be meeting a lot of people while collecting tons of information. It’s super convenient to have everything stored in one inbox; easy to or- ganize and find. Ask your wedding party. Choosing who will stand beside you when you say "I Do" can be one of the hardest decisions in the wedding planning process! Our advice: don’t ask someone to be in the party just because you feel obligated to. Attend a Today’s Bride Show! Wedding shows are one of the greatest ways to get wedding inspiration and meet with local vendors. You can attend a fashion show, buy your dream dress, see new trends in-person, and book wedding services all under one roof! Average Wedding Cost: $27,441 Now that you’ve gotten past the initial sticker shock, let’s talk budget. Weddings aren’t cheap, and you don’t want to start a marriage in debt. When you’re coming up with an over- all budget, it can help to break each category down into individual budgets. At the start of each section, you’ll see an average price range for different services. Though we’ve re- searched and interviewed Northeast Ohio vendors to come up with these ranges, we encourage you to remem- ber that they are not set in stone. Use these estimates to guide you in creating a realistic budget so you feel prepared when you meet with potential vendors! 4 | TODAY'S BRIDE Visit TodaysBride.com to start planning! Get a free email at Gmail or Yahoo! wheeee! wheeee! We’re beyond thrilled that you’ve found someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. Now let’s start planning your special day! You're engaged, now what?