Wedding Wednesday: 6 Months Out Checklist + Q&A

     It's time for another Wedding Wednesday! May 16th marked six months until our wedding day. It's really starting to go by quickly now! I knocked tons of wedding to-do's between my first checklist post (at nine months out) and now. Let's get to it!

 Photo by Vinluan Photography

     Below is my checklist of what I wanted to accomplish between month nine and month six of wedding planning. Let's see how I did:

• Interview and hire a day of coordinator - February 2024
• Finalize guest list - March 2024
• Take engagement photos - March 2024
• Design and send save-the-dates - April 2024
• Make wedding website - April 2024
• Interview and hire a DJ - (Needs to be redone 😬 the one I hired in February 2024 cancelled last week...) 
• Interview and hire a florist - February 2024
• Interview and hire a cake baker - March 2024
• Ryan ask groomsmen to be in wedding - February 2024
• Set dates for bridal showers - February 2024 date set for one, April 2024 date set for other
• Decide on if doing bachelorette trip or not - February 2024 
• Research hair stylists and makeup artists - May 2024
• Research gifts for bridesmaids - (Ongoing a little bit each month? I have one of the gifts for all of them but still need to find and finalize others)
• Research potential registry items - April 2024
• Research honeymoon locations + decide if using travel agent - March 2024
• Ryan passport appointment - February 2024 
• Think about wedding day timeline - May 2024
• Think about wedding day transportation logistics (Haven't done this yet)

    Okay- overall I am so pleased with how much I knocked out!! Ryan also helped with a few of these things, too. I have told some of my girlfriends that I constantly feel stressed that I am "behind" with wedding planning. (I think that has also intensified since I lost my job and have often been distracted mentally from wedding things.) Seeing how many of my goals from my last wedding checklist that I accomplished on schedule makes me so happy and relieved! I guess I really am doing okay staying on track. 😀

      A few other things that I got done between months nine and six:

• Cake tasting - April 2024

• Menu tasting - May 2024

• Purchased bridal accessories - May 2024

• Secured accommodations / getting ready space for bridal party during wedding weekend - April 2024

• Attended our engagement party and wrote thank you notes for gifts - May 2024

• Started premarital counseling at our church - May 2024

• Finish wedding room blocks for guests - May 2024

• Finalized wedding crest design - April 2024

     And below is my wedding planning checklist from now until three months before the wedding! Still lots to do, but seeing all of my planning successes above I'm feeling much more confident heading into my next checklist: 

• Book a new DJ

• Solidify wedding day transportation logistics 

• Finalize my something old, new, borrowed and blue for wedding day 

• Finalize wedding day hair and makeup inspiration for myself

• All bridesmaids order dresses

• All groomsmen order suits

• Design or select invitations

• Mail invitations

• Finalize guest list and itinerary for my bachelorette evening

• Finalize favors for bachelorette attendees

• Attend my first bridal shower 

• Thank you notes for first shower in timely manner

• Attend my second bridal shower 

• Thank you notes for second shower in timely manner

• Book wedding dress alterations

• Finalize bridesmaid gifts

• Purchase wedding day beauty items needed

• Think about creative wedding seating chart display options

• Think about wedding favors

• Go wedding band shopping with Ryan 

• Think about / discuss wedding gift ideas to each other 

• Confirm honeymoon travel details / seat assignments on plane

• Continue premarital counseling 

• Confirm wedding rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and welcome party drink reception times for day before the wedding

     And here is a Q&A for this phase of wedding planning, from the questions that you submitted on Instagram Stories! 

      What state are you getting married in? - We are getting married here in Virginia! To be specific- locally here in the Virginia Beach area. I shared in a past Wedding Wednesday blog post why we chose to have a local wedding versus destination - read it here! 

      What's left on the to-do list? I think the whole first part of today's blog post should answer that! 😉

      Has anything surprised you about wedding planning? - How much I'm enjoying it overall! I feel like so many women speak very negatively about wedding planning, and you often only hear about the stressful parts. Overall I have really enjoyed it! I have waited so long to get married, and I am also a very Type A person who loves to plan stuff in advance, so for the most part I really enjoy it! For me, the most stressful part of the wedding was in our first two months engaged, before we set a date, found our reception venue and finalized our budget. Ever since those things have been done, I've been for the most part having fun!

      What has been the most fun so far? - Finding my wedding dress unexpectedly at a sample sale was pretty great! I also have really enjoyed bridal accessory shopping with my mom (a few months after finding my dress), everything to do with our engagement party, our cake and menu tastings, meeting with our florist, and starting premarital counseling with Ryan. 

      What are your bachelorette plans? - I am keeping my lips sealed for the most part on that until after it happens! You know I'll share all about it here on the blog after the fact. 😊 I am doing something that I think is a bit untraditional bachelorette-wise though. There won't be any big extravagant trip! And it is also going to be a larger group of ladies than just my bridal party. I am modeling my bachelorette weekend a bit after my friend Sierra's from a few years ago... she had a bridal shower and bachelorette in the same weekend, and that's sort of what I'm doing! 

     Are you making changes to your wedding plans following the loss of your job? - Great question. Not any major ones since 1.) The major vendors were already all booked before my job loss and 2.) While Ryan and I are both contributing a lot of money towards our wedding, we already had that money accounted for in savings. We aren't pulling any month from our checking accounts / day-to-day living expenses for anything to do with the wedding. 

     However... I would definitely say I am being significantly more financially conscious with decisions we do still have left to make. I am also very thankful I didn't plan to do an expensive bachelorette trip! Had I said yes to that, deposits would've already been made and it would've been too late to cancel when I lost my job. I am very relieved that I don't have tons of my savings money that I need to allocate to some over-the-top bachelorette trip that I didn't even really want. 

 Past Wedding Wednesday Posts:

Our Proposal Story // My Ring Shopping Experience // Local vs. Destination Wedding // My Wedding Dress Shopping Story // 9 Months Out Checklist + Early Wedding Planning Q&A // How Ryan and I Met // Our Engagement Photos // Virginia Beach Wedding Guest Lodging with Transcendent Stays // Our Engagement Party  

     God Bless,

     xoxo Annaliese