Some couples can’t wait to get married right after the proposal, others go beyond the usual 12-month engagement mark, but most wait around a year. This gives you time to plan the big day and send invitations to friends and family. Remember, people need enough time to know about your wedding so they can plan accordingly.
There are many practical reasons to plan a long engagement. Below, we’ve listed some of the ones you should know about.
More Time To Plan Details
The shorter your engagement, the less time you have to decide on the food, décor, and other fine details of your special day. Feeling stressed makes it much harder to decide on things, and you don’t want to feel pressured about your wedding.
With more time comes more flexibility in vendor options. Plus, you’ll have more time to sample all the delicious sweets and foods you’ll want for your wedding menu. By testing and trying a wider variety of options, it’s easier for you to decide on the perfect menu for your wedding!
You Can Get Things Right
Sometimes, you have to wait an extra year to snag your dream venue, especially if it’s a popular spot and your wedding occurs at the peak of the season. By waiting, you can book vendors with greater availability and feel free to make any desired changes.
You Can Save More Money
It’s not a shock that weddings are expensive! While some parents cover all or part of the bill, this isn’t always the case. One key reason to have a long engagement is that you’ll have more time to save money. The longer you’re engaged, the more money you and your partner can save for the celebration. Likewise, having time to develop a plan makes it easier for the two of you to avoid common wedding budget mistakes. Take the time you need to prioritize how you’ll spend your hard-earned money.
Bridal Tip
There are many wedding-specific ways to save money. You can jot down how much you plan to set aside per month and note it in your checkbook. You can also keep cash in color-coded envelopes according to each wedding expense.
You Can Enjoy the Process
Dating, engagement, and marriage can create many beautiful moments between the two of you, so soak up the bliss! Some couples move in together while engaged because it allows them to see how one another lives. Sharing a home is vastly different from any other experience, including those week-long romantic vacations you may have taken together. Use this time to divvy up the chores, decorate the house, and decide who’ll deal with spiders and other creepy crawlies.
You’ll never stop learning new things about your partner, so remember to go on fun dates while engaged. And with nothing looming over you, it’s easier to enjoy the time you’ll spend together.
Bridal Tip
It’s also much easier to enjoy all those pre-wedding celebrations when you aren’t scheduling them back-to-back to accommodate a tight timeline. Your bridal shower can be at the halfway point leading up to your wedding day, so you’ll have more time to focus on the details. Most couples have the following parties before the wedding:
- Engagement party: shortly after getting engaged; the start of celebrating
- Bridal showers: the time to ask for the many items you’ll need for married life
- Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties: a chance to celebrate with friends before tying the knot
With a longer engagement, you have more time to space each of these apart, which also feels like a benefit to guests—they’re not constantly buying gifts.
Life Happens
Sometimes, circumstances pop up that you can’t prevent, and this could lead to extended pre-nuptials. If you have to move for work or a sudden change in your household, such as the arrival of a new child, you may have to extend your engagement. As much as many of us would love to see into the future, we can only try to determine what might happen and when.
It’s better to have a long engagement so you can focus on other life events rather than try to juggle them alongside a wedding. This can take away from that prenuptial bliss many experience when they pour their all into wedding planning.
You Lessen the Stress
Why not take a year to lessen the stress of wedding planning? Make it a memorable process you can reflect on with a smile! With more time on your hands, you can relax throughout the planning process or take a weekend trip with your sweetheart. Planning a wedding is no fun when you feel burnt out or start to view it as a second job. Use your extra time to ensure your wedding is the talk of the century!
