So why wait? Here's a few perks to a longer engagement:
1. Top choice of vendors. At two years out we still didn't get our first choice date at our venue, but we did get one in our top 5. For every other vendor so far, we have been able to get our number one choices. Like our phtographer, David Bibeault.
2. The Budget. longer time to save=our dream wedding. We only had a fraction of our budget saved when Mr. Newport asked me to say yes. So the extra two years has given us the time to really save for our dream wedding. Plus we're gaining interest on all of the money saved for a longer period of time. Interest alone has already covered two extra guests at our wedding! It was also helpful for our families, who are aslo helping to pay. My parents had just helped pay for Sister Newport's wedding, so we wanted to give them a break before wedding #2.
3. Time for DIY! I have so many projects for our wedding and if we had a short engagement, there is no way we would get things done. 
4. Time to enjoy it. I think it's fun being a bride to be, and I have two full years to enjoy that status.
5. Extra reasons to celebrate. Due to our long engagement, our friends threw us an engagement party and my bridesmaids brought me out for a one year countdown celebration. They were fun extra events that aren't too common, but we loved that our friends made these days special.
The down sides to a long engagement?
For us, there really hasn't been any.... until we started house hunting. We're in the midst of purchasing our first home, and to be honest, some days I'm just over wedding planning. There are days, I wish we were married and could start focusing fully on the home, and not worry about coordinating schedules, booking appointments and budgeting for two huge life events. Our life is pretty hectic and it's sometimes hard going through the two together. I keep hoping things will calm down once we close on the house, but who am I kidding....I know I'll want to reonvate and decorate, so it looks like the Newports have a busy year ahead.
How long was your engagement? Did you find any perks or downsides to having a longer or shorter engagement?
7 comments:
We had an 18 month engagement and it seemed like it was so long but now that we are just 5 days away I realized that it was a HUGE advantage! I had so much time to plan and get everything together.
We have a 16 month engagement, about 13 to go! I am enjoying it too though. I like that I have plenty of time to do all the DIY projects I want and save.
We're also trying to buy our first home so it is a bit overwhelming even in these beginning stages of planning. When you're trying to budget for your wedding AND a new house it's challenging. I was just thinking about your blog this morning and how funny you wrote a new post! :) Hope you're enjoying what is left of your wedding planning.
Our engagement was 18 months long. Within 6 months my husband was asking me why we couldn't just get married right then and there. I can't say that I disagreed with him either. It was great for planning and getting all the vendors I wanted but in the end it also dragged out some of the stress. There are good sides and bad sides to it all.
Good luck with the rest of your planning!
We got engaged on October 4, 2009 and our wedding is October 23, 2010- so just about a year. I am really happy with the time- we have been able to get get vendors and I feel like the checklist is coming along nicely. Just right for us! It does sound like the extra time to party & DIY are nice perks to a long engagement.
21 months dude. It's the best worst best thing ever. It would be smooth sailing if I didn't keep changing my mind!
Our engagement will be about a year and a half (though technically, we will have been engaged for almost 2 years total...long story). For us, it was mostly because we're moving from Chicago back to California, so we didn't want to have to plan the wedding from Chicago, but I'm glad we have more time anyway. I get stressed out easily, and this way, I've had a lot of time to check things out before we start planning the wedding for real. That's majorly helped with the stress.
We got engaged in February 2009 and will be getting married in January 2011 and while I share your sentiments about how I wish we were "already married," I do agree that for the most part, it's been really beneficial to wait. We have more time to research, to save, to plan, to DIY and mostly, to celebrate! I think that waiting for the date will make it that more exciting when it's actually here.
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