Photos on thumbnail courtesy of Ivan Garcia Studio.

As we start 2024, we can’t help but get excited about “engagement season.” With several holidays intertwined throughout, engagement season runs from Thanksgiving through Valentine’s Day. It is typically the most popular time of the year for engagements to take place and we always look forward to seeing all of the amazing engagement photos that pop up on our social media feeds! With that in mind, we thought it would only be fitting for our first blog post of this year to be specifically focused on this special time known as engagement season.

In running a wedding venue, our team at Madera Estates has the opportunity to work with engaged couples looking to craft every detail of their dream wedding day. Long story short, it’s the perfect example of a job that never gets old. We mean it! With this experience, our blog is intended to be a resource filled with tips, advice, inspiration and more. Whether you just recently got engaged or are a few months away from the big day, we try to touch on different stages of the planning process. In this week’s blog post, we’ll provide some tips for those that may be expecting a ring this engagement season (or have already received one!) and get you ready to start planning your big day!

Prioritize

Without a doubt, planning a wedding is going to include several tasks and to-do’s in the months leading up to the wedding day itself. If you look at a complete list of everything that needs to be completed, it may even seem a little overwhelming. No need to worry though! Having a plan and/or checklist to utilize from the very start will make it a walk in the park, as well as truly ensure you can enjoy every step along the way. So…one of the first things you’ll want to do (after celebrating the exciting engagement news, of course!) is to prioritize the more time-sensitive items. Not everything on the checklist needs to be done right away, but there are a few you’ll want to knock out sooner rather than later. Make sure to highlight these items on your checklist. We’ll mention a few of them throughout this blog post!

When couples book their wedding at Madera Estates, they are provided with access to our Client Portal. In addition to a number of other resources, included in the portal is our planning timeline. This will walk you through the months leading up to your big day and help keep everything on schedule!

Celebrate the Engagement

We started with a wedding planning item simply because there are some tasks that you won’t want to wait too long on. However, after receiving that stunning engagement ring, the first thing you should do is celebrate the exciting news! You don’t have to start scheduling vendor meetings and setting up venue tours the very next day. There will be plenty of time for that fun stuff! From having an engagement party with friends and family, to sharing the big news on social media (and of course, one or two ring selfies), this is such a memorable part of the process that you certainly won’t want to rush it. Take your time and enjoy the moment!

Engagement Ring Insurance

Now that you are rocking that beautiful engagement ring on your finger, one thing that you’ll want to take care of is purchasing insurance to protect the stunning piece of jewelry. In the event that the ring happens to get lost or damaged, you want to make sure the ring is covered. Just as you would get insurance for a major purchase, like a house, it’s also a smart move to do the same with your engagement ring. There are a few options to consider, including adding it to your homeowners insurance policy or even purchasing a separate policy just for the ring. Nonetheless, depending on the price of the ring, it is typically rather affordable and will give you the peace of mind that everything is covered.

Start Doing a Little Research

While you’re celebrating the big engagement news with friends and family, you’ll likely be excited to get the planning process started, right? You’ll be ready to start scheduling venue tours, figuring out a theme, discussing floral arrangements, creating a guest list and more! However, while you’re in the early stages and celebrating your engagement, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start conducting some general research. You can look into average costs for a wedding in the city where you plan on tying the knot, including those costs specifically for different vendors. As you can imagine, weddings can vary significantly in price based on location. You can look into how the costs differ based on day of the week or season. Generally speaking, popular dates (such as a Saturday in the fall) are going to be more competitive and potentially come at a higher price tag. You can start searching for popular wedding hashtags (i.e. Houston wedding) on Instagram. This is a great way to not only find local vendors to consider for your own wedding, but also get some ideas and inspiration to possibly incorporate. All in all, as you’ll soon learn, there is plenty of information online that can help in these early stages of wedding planning.

Get a General Budget In-Place

While setting a budget isn’t likely the funnest project you’ll complete in the wedding planning process, it is undoubtedly an important one! And truth be told, the earlier you work on this, the better off you’ll be in the long run. The reason I say this is because having a budget in place will provide some clarity as to how much you can allocate to spend on the various vendors. Not to mention, once you start touring venues, you can gauge whether or not an all-inclusive package might make sense for your wedding! As we wrap up this blog post, I wanted to add this section because establishing a budget early on will eliminate a lot of the guesswork and also help you in deciding who’s paying for what.

Ready to Start Touring Venues? Come Check Out Madera Estates!

If you received a ring this engagement season, congratulations! We’re confident that you and your soon-to-be spouse will have an absolute blast planning out your big day. Throughout this week’s blog post, we highlighted a few of the items you’ll want to complete early on in the planning process. With that being said, one task that you won’t want to wait too long before completing is going to be touring and eventually booking your wedding venue. Venues can book up months or over a year in-advance (particularly for popular dates), so it’s important to avoid procrastinating on this task!

If you’re searching for a luxury wedding venue near Houston and The Woodlands, we would be delighted to show you around our venue, Madera Estates, which is located in Conroe, TX. Our team of wedding professionals is passionate about bringing dream weddings to life. To learn more about our wedding venue, we encourage you to download our Investment Guide HERE. In addition, if you have any questions for us, you’re also welcome to give us a call at (936) 441-9337 or fill out the form linked HERE and a member of our team will be in touch.