5 Things To Do Once You're Engaged

You just got engaged? Congratulations! This is such an exciting stage in life. We know there are a lot of questions that can come up, but you don’t need to have those answers right away. For now, there are five things we encourage you to do in the first few weeks to help you enjoy being engaged and have a smooth start to the wedding planning process.

First things to do after getting engaged.

1) Take whatever time you need to celebrate and enjoy the moment before sharing it with the world.

Let it sink in. You get to spend the rest of your life with your best friend! Grab a drink with just you and your partner, or if friends were there to share in the surprise, celebrate with them! Regardless, be fully present and get used to a shiny new ring on your finger. Give yourself some time to cherish these first moments before sharing it across social media or even telling your more extended family or friends, and definitely give yourself at least a week or two before diving into any planning. You’ll have plenty of time to do that later.

2) Get your ring resized and insured.

Wearing a ring can take some getting used to, but you’ll ease your mind if it fits correctly and is insured. Your jeweler usually takes 1-2 weeks to get your ring back to you after your resizing appointment, but insurance can be active as soon as the next day. Get these steps out of the way early and you’ll never have to worry.

3) Create a wedding-specific email address.

It can be as simple as your first names. When you start planning, you’ll likely send emails out to several vendors or subscribe to different newsletters. You’ll thank yourself later if everything you need to reference is in one place—and you’ll be so glad your normal email doesn’t get overrun with wedding information! Plus, if you use a Google email, you’ll also be able to work from shared documents that your vendors will thank you for later and you and your partner can both easily access it.

4) Have the “who, what, and where” discussion about the wedding.

Do you want to be able to invite all your family and friends, or would you prefer to have something smaller? Do you have a favorite city and time of the year you want to get married? The size, season, and location of your wedding will drive all other decisions. Deciding this general vision will help guide you throughout the rest of the process and give you an estimate of how long your engagement will be.

5) Have the budget talk(s).

How much are you willing to spend, and will you have any help financing the celebration? Be up front, honest, and transparent, and knock these conversations out early. We also recommend setting yourself a goal that you would still be comfortable going 20% over—it happens to the best of us! This will save you so much of a headache down the line and will help level expectations for all involved.

Bonus: There are so many steps that come along with planning a wedding, but once you take care of the above, give yourself a breather. The next step will be to look into a wedding planner if you want to hand off all the planning to someone else, otherwise you can look into purchasing (or even downloading for free!) a planner or planning timeline that will walk through all the steps you need to take until the day of the wedding.

These five steps are the main things to do to set yourself up for a great planning process, and everything else can come a bit later. Most importantly, be easy on yourself and know that everyone’s wedding is unique. If you stay true to what you and your partner want and are able to block out pressures from others, you’ll be the most successful.

We've found that it's incredibly easy for brides to feel overwhelmed after getting engaged, but it shouldn't be that way. Our goal is to help make the wedding planning process simple, easy, and enjoyable. As you continue planning, we want to give you the resources and information you need to have fun throughout the wedding planning process.

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