Just Engaged? Start Here.

Congratulations! Here's what to do next.

If you've found your way here, we're guessing you've already called your family, texted your friends, posted the photos, and told the proposal story a few times. Welcome to one of the sweetest seasons of your life! We're so excited for you.

If you're also feeling a little overwhelmed, you're in good company. Planning a wedding is a big project, and unless you've done it before, you're making a lot of these decisions for the very first time. Between Pinterest, social media, family opinions, and hundreds of vendor options, it can feel like you're supposed to have everything figured out immediately.

GOOD NEWS! You don't have to figure everything out today. You only need to start, and

we're going to walk through those together.

We've photographed weddings of all sizes, from intimate courthouse ceremonies to celebrations with hundreds of guests. Every wedding is different, but after documenting so many love stories, we've noticed that the happiest couples tend to start in the same place.

Your Wedding Planning Roadmap

Here's the order we'd recommend tackling your biggest decisions:

Step One: Dream together and create a shared vision.

Step Two: Decide on a budget.

Step Three: Estimate your guest count.

Step Four: Choose a venue that fits your vision.

Step Five: Book your photographer and other high-demand vendors.

Step Six: Have fun planning the rest!

There will be plenty of other decisions ahead, but these five create the foundation for everything else.

Step One: Dream Together

Before you tour venues or reach out to vendors, spend an evening with your partner talking about the kind of wedding you want to create together.

Every couple is different, and that's one of our favorite things about weddings! We've seen dance floors packed with everyone the couple's ever met, and we've seen barefoot ceremonies under a tent in the backyard followed by barbecue. We've documented elegant black-tie celebrations with antique Cadillac getaway cars! Our sister-in-law brought her and her wife's best friends to an airbnb in the mountains for a weekend of hiking, pizza, and a romantic riverside ceremony. We ourselves chose tacos and tequila with our best friend officiating and the bartenders witnessing!

As you dream together, spend some time talking about what matters most to each of you. What kind of experience do you want your guests to have? What parts of the day are you most excited about? How do you want your wedding to feel?

One question we encourage every couple to think about is this:

When you look back on your wedding twenty years from now, what do you want you remember?

Maybe it's hugging your grandparents.

Maybe it's hearing your partner's vows for the first time.

Maybe it's laughing so hard during speeches that your cheeks hurt.

Maybe it's looking around the dance floor and realizing every single person there showed up because they love you.

Wedding days FLY BY. Couples spend months, sometimes years, planning them, and then suddenly they're driving home wondering where the day went.

That's why we like to think about wedding planning as planning a memory. Once you know the memories you want to create, so many of the decisions that follow become easier because you're working toward a shared vision instead of simply checking items off a list.

Your First Step

Put a date on the calendar this week to dream together. Grab coffee, cook dinner, go for a walk, or open a bottle of wine, and spend an hour imagining the wedding you'll still be talking about decades from now. Ask yourselves: "what do we want to remember?"

Step Two: Decide on a Budget

Now that you have a vision, it's time to figure out your budget.

Your budget becomes a guide for the decisions ahead. It helps you choose a venue, estimate your guest count, prioritize vendors, and decide where you'd like to invest the most.

While you're researching wedding planning, you'll probably come across the idea of the "wedding tax." We'd love to add a little context because we think there's a more helpful way to look at it.

In our experience, wedding vendors aren't charging more simply because the event is a wedding. You're paying for experience, preparation, and the ability to navigate a day where there aren't any second chances.

As photographers, we bring backup cameras, backup lenses, backup batteries, backup memory cards, and multiple ways to safely store your images. We build timelines, anticipate moments before they happen, adjust to changing light, solve problems quietly behind the scenes, and help keep the day moving smoothly. Every wedding teaches us something, and that experience becomes part of what we're able to offer the next couple.

The same is true of planners, DJs, caterers, florists, bakers, venues, and just about every other wedding professional. You're investing in people who have spent years learning the nuances of wedding days so you can spend more time enjoying yours.

Your Next Step

Talk through the resources you'll use to finance your wedding, decide what feels most important to the two of you, and identify the areas where you'd like to invest. Having those priorities in place makes every decision that follows much easier.

Step Three: Estimate Your Guest Count

One of the next pieces of the puzzle is deciding who you'd love to celebrate with.

Take some time together and start making a list. Begin with the people you absolutely can't imagine getting married without. Next, add the friends and family members you'd really love to have there. Finally, think about the people you'd invite if your budget and venue allow.

As you build those lists, you'll naturally start to see the size of the celebration you're planning. That general number gives venues an idea of the size of space you'll need, helps caterers estimate food costs, and allows other vendors to understand the scope of your celebration. If you're working with a wedding planner, they can also help estimate how many invited guests are likely to RSVP "yes" based on your location and circumstances.

Your Next Step

Start your guest list together and estimate the size of your celebration. You don't need an exact number yet, but you should have a realistic range that will help guide your venue search.

Step Four: Choose a Venue That Feels Like You

This is where things start feeling real!

This may feel unrelated, but you'll want to start by setting a general date and determining how flexible you are. Then you can start connecting with venues! If you're flexible with your date or season, you may be able to snag a date at a venue that books quickly. Otherwise, you may need to make your venue selection based on your dream date. Either can work, but go in with at least a general idea of which is more important to you: location or date.

Serendipity Farm & Vine in Stilwell, KS

As you tour venues, imagine your wedding from beginning to end. Where will you get ready? Where will your ceremony take place? Will your reception be there too? If you're moving between locations, will it be easy for your guests to travel between them, and is it accessible for loved ones who need walkers or wheelchairs?

Strang Reserve in Overland Park, KS

One piece of advice we share with almost every couple is to genuinely love your rain (or extreme heat!) plan, too. We recently photographed a wedding where the couple had dreamed of an outdoor ceremony. It stormed almost all day, but thanks to an incredible planner, venue team, and a little luck, they were still able to get married outside during a brief break in the weather. It was absolutely beautiful, but it sure added an emotional rollercoaster to their day!

Choosing a venue with an indoor option you truly love means you'll be excited to get married no matter what the forecast decides to do.

Your Next Step

Tour a few venues that match your vision. Once you've found one you love, work with the venue to choose a wedding date that fits your priorities, then ask to see every space you'll use throughout the day, including the getting-ready areas and the backup ceremony location.

Want more help? Come back for our Wedding Photographer's Guide to Choosing a Venue (coming soon!)

Step Five: Find Your Photographer (and Book Early!)

Once you've chosen your venue and date, it's time to begin looking for your photographer!

Starting your search early gives you the most options. You'll have time to meet different photographers, compare styles, schedule engagement photos before your save-the-dates go out, and build a relationship with the team documenting your wedding day. If you're planning your wedding on a budget, starting early can also be a big advantage. Many photographers (including us!) offer payment plans, and booking earlier simply gives you more time to spread those payments out.

Every photographer has a different style and approach, so spend some time looking through full galleries, reading reviews, and scheduling a few consultation calls. You're choosing more than beautiful photographs: you're choosing the people who will be by your side during some of the most meaningful moments of your wedding day.

As photographers, we end up doing so much more than taking pictures. We fluff veils, pin boutonnieres, keep the timeline moving, calm nerves, carry bouquets, and celebrate on the dance floor. It's a privilege we never take for granted.

We hope you'll meet with a few photographers before making your decision. If we're one of the teams you're considering, we'd love to meet you! We'd be honored to hear what you're dreaming up, answer your questions, and share how we approach documenting wedding days.

While you're looking for your photographer, it's also a great time to reach out to a wedding planner if you think you'd like to work with one. Both photographers and planners often book a year or more in advance, especially during busy spring and fall seasons. If there's someone whose work you've fallen in love with, don't wait too long to introduce yourself. Chances are, other couples are hoping to book them, too! Starting early gives you the best chance of building the team you really want. Once those big pieces are in place, planning the rest of your wedding becomes so much easier.

Your Next Step

Start looking for photographers whose work and energy you love. Instagram is a great place to start! Inquire about your date and schedule consultation calls with two or three of them. You'll quickly get a sense of each team's style, personality, and approach, and you'll have the confidence of knowing you've found the right fit.

If you'd like to see if we're available for your wedding, Inquire here! We'd love to talk, and if you'd like to learn more about our transparent pricing and payment plans, you can find that here.

Step Six: Enjoy the Fun Part!

With those big decisions behind you, wedding planning becomes so much more fun.

Now you get to taste cake, choose flowers, plan your ceremony, pick out outfits, build your timeline, think about music, and add all the little personal touches that make your wedding unmistakably yours.

There are so many ways to plan a wedding, and there isn't one perfect approach. Whether you're planning everything yourselves, working with a planner, hiring a day-of coordinator, or keeping things beautifully simple, remember that your wedding only has one job: To celebrate your love.

Remember Why You're Doing This

As photographers, we spend a lot of time thinking about memories.

Years from now, you'll remember moments that could never fit onto a Pinterest board: your grandmother's hug, the tears in your partner's eyes during vows, your best friends cheering during your first dance, and, ultimately, the feeling of looking around the room , realizing that every single person there chose to spend the day celebrating your love.

As you move through each decision, keep coming back to the question you started with:

What do we want to remember?

If your choices help create the answer to that question, you're exactly where you need to be.