Call me delusional, but planning my wedding before I got engaged was one of the best things I could have done.
Taylor Knight and her fiancé Ja’Vail / Photo by Shamell Mason
As a 2025 bride, people always ask me, “Are you stressed out with wedding planning?” I always answer no because I planned my wedding three years before I got engaged to my fiancé (when I was 24). Some people look at me as crazy when I say it, but prior planning has allowed me to enjoy my wedding planning process without any headaches because I finished everything!
Although I said “Yes” to my college sweetheart on Aug. 18, 2023, my wedding planning process started in July 2020. I knew my partner would be my future husband, so whether I was manifesting our future or being de-lulu, I knew my wedding plans would come to fruition.
And I’m not the only bride thinking this way. Thea Henry, a 2025 bride based in Dallas, Texas, planned her 2025 wedding way before she got engaged to her fiancé in 2023.
“I’m a very type-A person, so I could not imagine not having an inkling or thought about my wedding,” Henry, 26, told MadameNoire.
Before her engagement, Henry called venues in Florida and Texas to see “what kind of numbers are we playing with” for her wedding budget. She admits that having an idea of what to expect helped reduce her anxiety.
“Had I not thought about this stuff until after I got engaged, I would be in distress,” she said.
Michelle Farley, a wedding designer and coordinator at Hazel Events & Design, agrees that people should consider planning their wedding before becoming engaged.
“As you get older and you’ve been with a man or woman for three to four years and you can see a future with this person, not saying you should say it to them, but I would create a Pinterest board and just put everything on that Pinterest board that I love.”
I must admit a lot can happen in three years of a relationship; you and your partner could break up, and wedding plans could go in the trash… but not really because I’ve noticed most weddings focus on the bride’s vision anyway. The groom is just happy to be there, and the little touches of your relationship in the decor won’t change the overall concept of the wedding decorations.
“If you looked at the Pinterest from a few years ago it is not matching the Pinterest right now,” Henry chuckled.
The preplanning stage can be vague because the overall goal is to help brides figure out the big-picture elements for their future wedding day.
Taylor Knight and her fiancé Ja’Vail / Photo by Shamell Mason
