How to Plan Your Wedding in Six Months or Less

No, you're not going to walk the aisle naked. Yes, you CAN plan your wedding in six months or less (like, much less)! Let's talk details.

Real Couple. Real Wedding. Real Fast.

First off, hi! We're Taylor and Karley. We got married in 2013 (that's our wedding pic below) following a 4.5 month engagement, and we've truly loved every minute of marriage...even the not-so-glamorous ones filled with laundry piles and frozen pizza dinners. Just wanted to throw out a little introduction to let you know that we're real humans who planned a real wedding really quickly. 

If you're feeling overwhelmed, we don't blame you! Your wedding day is fast approaching, and every single wedding planning timeline floating around the internet says it's going to take 12-18 months to pull off. (We beg to differ, but we'll get to that in a minute.) There are details to determine. Guest lists to create. Vendors to select. Bookings to, um, book. That's a recipe for stress if we ever heard one. But here's the thing...

Your engagement doesn't actually have to be stressful

In fact, it can even be—dare we say it?—enjoyable! Picture yourself clinking champagne-filled flutes with your fiance just a few months (or even weeks) from now, smiling as you soak in every moment of your wedding day. You're greeting guests, and putting those dance lessons into practice, and slicing into the most delicious cake. And at every stop on your itinerary, you're so, so happy that the focus of your engagement was on growing closer as a couple and enjoying this once-in-a-lifetime experience together—12 months of freaking out over minor details not included. This is the experience we wanted, and we're guessing it sounds good to you too.
 

^^That's us on our wedding day! PS: Want a little freebie? Snag our 6-month wedding planning timeline and checklist
by clicking the button below.

When I (Karley) flashed my engagement ring in March of 2013—then announced that I would be getting married in July of the same year—everyone had two questions: "Why?" and "How?" At the time I was working at a Dallas-based publishing company, so to answer these questions I approached the editor of D Weddings magazine about sharing my experience via an online column. I titled the column "Hitched in a Hurry" and proceeded to document all of the ins and outs of our speedy wedding planning process. I've been working in and writing about the wedding industry ever since, and short engagements still continue to be my favorite topic of discussion!

Over the past four years I've had the opportunity to meet, work alongside, and build relationships with some of the biggest names in the wedding planning industry. But at the time of my own wedding, I couldn't have told you the difference between an escort card and a place card if you offered to pay me for the effort. Y'all, I was clueless...but I knew that I wanted to plan my wedding in six months or less, and I was determined to find a way to do so. In other words? If I could do it then, you can do it now. 

By now you've probably come across multiple six-month wedding timelines that offer the same cookie cutter checklists with basically no details. Timelines spanning 12-18 months are the norm, meaning I had to basically wing my wedding planning process. This website and our wedding planning guide, How to Plan Your Wedding in Six Months or Less, were created so that you don't have to do the same!

You're already working within the confines of a short timeline. Don't waste a single second of your time trying to make those "traditional" planning guides work for you, and DEFINITELY don't let those 12-18 month timelines scare you! Trust me, there are plenty of other brides out there rocking a short engagement right alongside you. No worries if you're feeling stuck at the starting line of the planning process right about now. How to Plan Your Wedding in Six Months or Less is a step-by-step guide that will get you to the finish line in the perfect amount of time!

"I saw your book tweeted about online, and thought I would reach out. As a bride who planned her Vegas wedding in five months (we had an overseas move to contend with) I definitely know where you are coming from. As do many of my readers, many of whom plan their still very stylish Vegas weddings in fewer than 9 months, typically. Your subject is one I fully support!" —Kelly Zenkewich, Editor and Publisher, littlevegaswedding.com 

Other wedding websites, bridal magazines, and planning guides MIGHT dedicate a single blog post or one short blurb to planning a wedding on a less-than-traditional timeline. Maybe! But this planning guide is exclusively dedicated to planning weddings in six months or less. I was intentional about approaching every single aspect of the wedding planning process from the unique perspective of a bride planning on a shorter timeline. Why? Because that's exactly how I had to approach my own wedding planning process!

But just what exactly am I getting?

How to Plan Your Wedding in Six Months or Less is a digital guidebook that features 70+ pages of instruction to help you navigate a short engagement. Inside the guide you'll find condensed planning timelines, checklists, creative gift ideas, suggested registry items, budgeting insights, information about how to officially change your name after the aisle, and other workbook materials that will make your speedy wedding planning process as simple and straightforward as possible. Here's a preview of what the inside looks like! 

After completing your purchase, you will instantly receive a verification email and will be directed to a download screen. Download your eBook + all bonus materials and save them to your device. Voila! Your wedding planning materials can be accessed via your phone, tablet, or computer. Gym time, pool time, travel time...any time (except, you know, date night) is wedding planning time. Now, how about an in-depth look at the Table of Contents?

About the whole "best day of your life" thing

Can we get real for a minute? Ultimately, a wedding is an expensive party. We're not saying it's not meaningful—it's incredibly special when family and friends come together to celebrate the commitment the two of you are making. But as good and as sweet and as significant as a wedding day is, it only lasts 24 hours. A marriage is meant to last a lifetime. This guide doesn't ignore that fact and encourages you to invest your time, energy, and emotions accordingly. As you read you'll be encouraged to have fun with the planning process, to listen to each other, to work as a team, and to use your engagement to build a stronger relationship with your spouse-to-be. 

Spend your energy where you want to during your engagement, and let this guide help you tackle those tedious details. This is custom-tailored, written-from-experience, tried-and-tested material, friends. I learned how to plan a wedding in six months or less the hard way so that you don't have to. We can't WAIT for you to get your hands on this! 

Lovers + Teammates forever. Starting now.

Yes, this book will help you plan your wedding quickly. But based on the feedback we've received from other readers, you can also expect these benefits:

• The two of you can actually start your life together instead of just talking about it
• The streamlined planning process will make your stress levels more manageable, meaning you and your fiance can spend less time fighting ("What do you mean, you don't like Italian Cream?") and more time learning how to love each other better.
• Your eyes will stay on the prize—a marriage that's built to last a lifetime, rather than an event that's over and done with in 24 hours.

At the risk of sounding like a cheesy "But wait, there's more!" infomercial, your purchase also includes a bundle of (seriously fantastic) bonus materials that will help you apply all of your newfound wedding planning knowledge!

Bonus Materials

• 2 Free Design Templates—Editable templates to help you design your own Order of Ceremony and Wedding Program
  
  
• 2 Free Bonus Books
  
  Real Life Love Stories: Stories and advice from other couples who planned quick weddings (including a couple who said “I do” after a 10-day engagement!)
  
  What Happily Ever After Really Means: Reflections on life as a newlywife
  
  
• Gift Budgeting Chart—Because saving dollars makes sense and cents (so much cheese, so much truth)
  
  
• "What's Our Hurry?" Worksheet—Printable worksheet to help you define the heart of your hurry (i.e., the reason the two of you said YES to a short engagement in the first place)
  
  
• "Are You a Bridezilla?" Quiz—Just for fun. But seriously...are you?

There's no getting around it—your wedding day is going to be expensive. Ultimately, it's our hope that the small investment you make in this guide will bring you a huge return in the form of all the structure, tools, questions, and encouragement you need to plan your wedding with peace of mind, and begin your marriage journey in the best way possible.

Because this is what really matters

I thought at one point that the success of our wedding would be measured by tangible things—the number of guests who RSVP’d, the compliments I received on our brunch buffet, and the volume of post-event Facebook statuses reading “Best wedding I’ve ever been to!”—but ultimately, it came down to something else.

People noticed the flowers we finally selected. They enjoyed the different flavors of our tiered wedding cake. They used the paper parasols we purchased to stay cool during our beachside ceremony. They even pinned their names to the map-turned-guestbook we set up at our reception. But they felt our love, and prayerfully, through entering into our love story they experienced more of God's love too (1 John 4:19). And that’s what made our wedding not only pretty, but powerful.

You’ve already done the hard work of falling in love. Stay in love through the rest of your planning process, and I promise: All the little details will work themselves out just fine.

We're cheering for you! 

—Karley and Taylor Kiker

1-Minute Book Review

Kind words from Brittany + Chris Pick, who used our book to plan their wedding in a little less than 3 months. (Wow!)