Choosing the wedding date, how hard could this be?  Harder than you think.

When we were choosing the date for our wedding we sat down, grabbed a cup coffee and cracked open the calendar.  We didn’t have a particular venue in mind so that allowed us to freely choose the date.  We definitely didn’t want to get married during the winter or any cold months so November through March was out of the question.  We looked at our personal calendar and marked off dates where we were either working or had something already scheduled and crossed out those dates.  Our next step was to call our family and find out what their schedule was, we wanted all to attend so we had to mark off prior commitments that they had.

No problem… still a bunch of Saturday’s left.

Next, we called our bridal party and asked if they had any commitments… more dates crossed off… yikes!  After all this we only had a handful of dates left.  Do we prioritize our day over our friends date and if they can’t make it then… tough?  We didn’t think it would this hard.

We took the dates that we had available and started to make appointments with venues but we found that they were also booked on most of the days.  OMG this isn’t really happening is it?  We can’t have our dream wedding in the following year, was this real life?!?!

The next best thing we could do was put our names on waiting lists and so we did.  We put up a deadline and if nothing materialized by then we would have to think alternatives.

Two weeks later we got the call, July 4th suddenly was available… July weddings in Chicago can be a crap shoot, it can be a beautiful summer day not too hot and low humidity or  super hot and 100% humidity.  We took our chances and solidified the date… fireworks on your anniversary every year?!?! I’ll take it!!!

It worked out perfectly, our friends and family were available and they could make it an extended weekend due to the holiday.  That was one of our first obstacles in our wedding planning process and we don’t want you to get blind sided so we wanted to share some insight with you.

Here are our tips

When choosing your wedding date you must also consider if your dream venue is available.  It’s like which do I choose first the date or the venue?  We suggest being flexible on one or the other.  If there is a date that you definitely must have and is very meaningful to you then definitely choose date first.  If you are flexible on the date, then you need to consider having at least 5 venues to choose from and start calling them right away to see if they can hold your date until your appointment.

There are also particular dates and time of the year that are more popular than others.  These include New years Eve, Valentine’s Day, Spring Break, the 4th of July (that us :), the summer months particularly June and August.  July has been very hot and humid over the past years in Chicago so couples tend to avoid that month.  Fall has been popular in recent years because of the cool weather, colorful leaves on the trees.  But don’t plan too late in October because it gets cold quickly around here and the weather can change in an instant.

Check with family and your closest friends.  Are there any dates that are conflicting and will prevent your loved ones from being at your big day.  Is there a holiday that you can plan around so that guests from out of town can attend and you can have more quality time with them?  Because our wedding fell on a holiday weekend, our guests were able to spend more time with us so keep that in mind.

Is there a date that means something to you like your dating anniversary date, your parents wedding anniversary, your favorite number or a lucky date.  If it’s meaningful to you then definitely highlight that date as one of your choices.

If you are getting married in a particular church then check with them as well to make sure the date is available.  Nothing worse than getting your dream venue and then finding out your church is not available.  Date, church and venue go hand in hand most of the time.

So grab a cup of coffee or your favorite IPA, the wedding date is a top priority and popular dates for venues and vendors get booked more than a year in advance.  If you need help or have any questions were just a click away :)