As I mentioned, Mac deployed the day after he proposed. We had to figure out how to plan a wedding during a deployment. Ergo, all of our wedding planning was done long distance. I did lots of research for venues, catering, photographers, and all that jazz. When Mac was able to call me (sometimes we went weeks between calls), I would mention what I had found and what I liked. We discussed what we both wanted, and he was pretty receptive to my suggestions.
I created a short list of places to get married and other vendors to look at in person. Mac would come home for two weeks in July, and his tour was over in December. Obviously, waiting until December to book a June wedding wasn’t the best plan. We realized that we would have to look at and try to book our vendors during the two weeks Mac was home on leave. I scheduled some meetings to get the ball rolling while he was home.
Timeline
Are you planning to marry over leave? Right after the deployment ends? Mac’s preference was that he wouldn’t come home to a wedding. Because of this, we chose a wedding date in June. As I mentioned above, he was also deployed for a year, so we knew he would have two weeks of leave somewhere around the halfway mark. We decided to make some of the in-person decisions (like the venue) while he was home one leave.
Cost
What is your budget? To me, this is the most important decision in the wedding planning process. You need to be on the same page and have a clear idea of what you want to spend, how much you can actually spend, and who is contributing to that total. At the end of the day, Mac’s main concern was cost. Since we decided to pay for our own wedding, he wanted to make sure we were getting our money’s worth from the different wedding vendors we selected.
Location
Where will you have your ceremony and reception? Will they be where you live now, where you’re from, or somewhere else? Will you be able to visit your location and venue before the wedding? We opted to marry in Fayetteville where we lived because it was easier for us to plan.
Prioritize details
What wedding details are important to you and your fiance/e? Given the communication limitations that can happen during deployments, I would recommend each of you making a list of what your must-haves for your wedding are. The fiance / fiancee who isn’t deployed can do some research and determine what options are likely to happen or to not happen during your wedding planning timeline. Mac was pretty laid back and didn’t have many “must-haves” when planning our wedding.
Would you add any tips on how to plan a wedding during a deployment?
