You’re Engaged: What’s Next?

You’re Engaged: What’s Next?

Getting engaged is a very exciting milestone in life. Your love has just asked you to spend the rest of your life with them—or, in some cases, you may be the one who has done the asking!—and the answer was yes. This is huge: making the commitment to share the next 60-80 years of your life with someone else. Naturally, your mind will be filled with questions. How do you tell your loved ones? When should you start planning the wedding? Where should you go on your honeymoon? How is this decision going to change your lives? How do you respond to the dozens of questions your friends and family will inevitably have for you when you share the happy news?

Getting engaged should be a happy time, not a stressful one. You don’t even have to tell your family and friends right away if you just want to take a little time with your partner to process the huge decision you’ve made together. What your loved ones will want is to be told in a meaningful and memorable way, so perhaps plan to arrange an informal party, dinner, picnic or potluck where you can tell everyone at once.

If you’re just itching to start planning the wedding, the first thing you should do is draw up a timeline together of when each step of your wedding planning should be complete. Next, make sure to relax and spend quality time with your fiancée—you’re going to be very busy over the next few months, so you want to be energized and ready to tackle wedding planning when the time comes. Go to a spa together and get pampered. Go out to dinner or a show and just enjoy each other’s company. Reminisce about the days when you first started dating. Don’t let the excited questions of loved ones stress you out—assure them everything will be planned in due time.

If you know when each step of your wedding planning is going to happen, you will be vastly more prepared to approach this exciting time in your life in as organized and confident of a way as possible. If you take some time to recharge and prepare yourselves for the project ahead, you will be eager and ready to plan the best wedding ever and rejoice in seeing it unfold before your eyes. Congratulations, and best of luck!