Congratulations! You’re engaged, now what?

If your partner has just said yes to your marriage proposal you are probably only now getting over the excitement of what that actually means. Once the exhilaration has died down, you might be wondering what you do next? Do you start ordering wedding magazines or look at where you’d like to go for your honeymoon?

After you have said yes there is so much to organise and plan, you might be put off the whole wedding idea, but don’t be.

Taking each step slowly and organising what you do next in the right order will make sure you are looking forward, and not regretting what you said yes to in the past.

Here’s our suggestions for what to do after you have got engaged.

Let people know

This is trickier than it seems. A lot of people will just make a broad announcement on social media, by putting up a picture of the ring on Instagram or posting a message on Facebook, but your family and close friends are going to want to be told first. So make sure you have let them know privately before any general announcement to keep them feeling special.

Set a date for the wedding

You’ll find that this is one of the first things people ask, after wanting to see the ring. If you don’t have an answer it all falls a little flat. So, if you can, at least tell them a few possible dates in the year that you want to get married, and make sure that your nearest and dearest have already agreed that these dates will work for them.

Sort out a budget

This is a pretty boring task but it has to be done, otherwise how will you know how much you can spend on certain areas of the wedding and the honeymoon? Sort out who is going to pay for what, it might be that the father of the bride is willing to cough up the majority, or both families agree to split the bill or the couple are paying for the whole thing themselves. Once you know your budget you can allocate funds accordingly.

Work out the guest list

At this point you only need a rough plan of who you want to invite, this is so you can get an idea of numbers for the final day. It is important to work out which family members are coming, and will there be any problems by inviting some people and not others. You can also take this opportunity to have a look at the seating plans for the day.

Look for suitable venues

This all depends on what kind of theme, if any, you have decided to have for your wedding. At the moment, being newly engaged you might not be ready to think about themes but looking at venues still makes sense in the long run. You will probably already know in your heart whether you want a church setting or something less religious so take that as your starting point and choose a venue that makes you feel comfortable and special at the same time.

Pick your wedding party

This is a more fun element of planning the next step in your engagement, thinking about the bridal party and who you are going to choose as your bridesmaids, grooms and best man. Obviously, this is going to be a very personal choice and most of the time it will come to you naturally, but if you are having trouble thinking of someone, asking friends and family for their opinions may throw up some interesting suggestions.

Start a wedding ideas scrapbook

This is a great time to start a scrapbook that you can cram full of ideas for your up and coming wedding. Anything you see that catches your eye, whether it be lighting, flower arrangements, wedding dresses or gifts for the wedding party can be stashed away in your book for a later date. You can also put in vital numbers of venues, caterers, stores and retailers so that everything you need is all in one pace.