Just engaged?! Where to start, what to do now??

CONGRATS! Woohoo you're engaged!

You may be racking your brain... now what?!

Here's some helpful steps from a recently engaged bride who is currently in the midst of planning her big day!

Step #1 ENJOY IT

I hope you are just enjoying all the feels & the warm fuzzies of being recently engaged and saying YES to the love of your life. ❤️ It's such a special time and season.

First and foremost you need to ENJOY it. Be sure to take time and have moments of bliss with your person. My fiancé, Hunter, planned an incredible engagement party that we attended immediately after we got engaged. It was so fun to celebrate with family and friends, which we so enjoyed! Then when everyone left, Hunter and I just took it all in. (We were on a rooftop in downtown Fargo with twinkle lights on a beautiful summer night.) We love dancing💃, so we celebrated by dancing (just the two of us) to one of our favorite Ben Rector songs before leaving the engagement party location. (Any Ben Rector fans out there?!) Needless to say... find a way to enjoy it and take it all in.

*Here are some photos from our engagement... haha I had NO idea.

Sometime I'll write a blog post and give you guys all the deets.

Step #2 SHARE IT

Don't stop enjoying it, but at some point you'll want to share your awesome news! Not sure what your proposal was like, but as I mentioned before my fiancé took me straight to an engagement party so we got to immediately share the news with most of our close family members and friends... not all, but most. So after enjoying it with your person when you feel ready... be sure to call, text, and share your news. Some couples want to share it with the world right away, while others prefer to keep it private for a couple days. We wanted to call or text the "VIPs" in our lives. We started by calling Hunter's dad and a few family members who couldn't make it to our engagement party. I'm not going to lie, sharing the news with the important people in your life before you post it on social media can feel like a part-time job. Hunter and I both work full time jobs, so whenever we had free time I felt like we were constantly calling relatives and friends for the couples days following our engagement. After we had shared it with our "VIPs", we went public with the news on social media.

For any peeps out there struggling with a cute/clever Instagram caption... I found this article on the knot.com that might be helpful! 😎

Step #3 ORGANIZE + STRATEGIZE

Do not rush into the planning and organizing stage. Take as much time as you want/need before you jump head first into this step.

How long should you wait to plan?

This may depend on your timeline. If you are wanting a short engagement; you may need to be some big things off of the checklist... but if your engagement is lengthier no need to start anything too soon. Hunter and I started with the venue. I think that's where most people start. We found a venue that checked all of our boxes right away so we decided to not look any further. Shoutout to the Plains Art Museum; we are excited to get married at this local gem of an art museum in downtown Fargo. 👏🏼😁

Other big ticket items to check off your list sooner than later include: finding your dress (these beautiful gowns can take a while once ordered), photographer, and videographer.

Step #4 FIND YOUR DREAM TEAM

Another big step in the engagement process is creating your bridal party.

Evaluate the people you have in your life, and reflect on who are super meaningful to you and your fiancé. For Hunter and I, we have a really close group of friends and siblings. It was quite easy to build our "dream team".

I wanted to ask my gals in a fun way. I gave them all a gift with three items in it: (1) a picture frame with a photo of the two of us, (2) a handwritten card, (3) and a treat box filled with handcrafted cookies made by my wonderful mother. Not to brag but she is seriously incredible! I mean look at these cookies😍🍪, each one had their name on it & a calendar cookie with our wedding date highlighted.

For now, that's all of the helpful tips I can give. However, as I continue to plan who knows... I may have more that come up and I'll be sure to share!

If you take away anything from this blog post... ENJOY your engagement! Try your hardest not to let any of the stresses or anxieties put a damper on what really matters: you get to marry your best friend. ❤️