How early should I...

I want to know how early should i get my wedding dress?

bridesmaid dress?

I am trying to get a venue now and it is so hard!

i would love to hear some advice about planning this wedding

Well, it depends on what kind of dress you want and if you are planning on losing weight. If your weight does not fluctuate more than 5lbs then anytime and the sooner the better.

It is fun and enjoy trying them on even ones you thought you would not like.

It totally depends. I bought my wedding dress a year and a half in advance because I knew it was the one, I'm not super picky so I knew I wouldn't have buyers remorse. It's still my dream dress to me! I did wait much closer to the wedding for alterations though.

My bridesmaids are just now buying their dresses for the wedding in May. 

Typically, the venue is the first thing booked. Once you have that you have the date and times for the invitations, can start looking at other vendors, etc. There is no perfect order of buying and hiring, but it's whatever is right for you!

I would pick your venue first since that is going to set the whole tone for the wedding. But, since it looks like your wedding is this fall I would start looking within a few weeks since it can take 3-6 months to come in then you have to leave time for alterations. Bridesmaids can wait about 3-4 months to order their dresses since those come in within a couple of months.

Welcome to Project Wedding my dear and congratulations on your engagement! I went to your bio so I know your wedding is in October of this year. So you have 9 months! Okay as August27bride said, I would also start with the venue. I booked my reception venue 9 months before my wedding and the ceremony five months before the wedding because my original place fell through. Why are you having difficulty with finding the venue? Are they giving you a certain date to call back or are they not responding at all? Next I would do the dress since you and then your bridesmaid dresses. My bridesmaid dresses were made to order, so the last possible date the girls could do their down payments for my June 2012 wedding, was January 31 and the dresses did not come back until the end of April. So it usually takes 3 - 4 months for dresses to come back for bridesmaids unless you find something you can buy off the rack, then they have to go in for a first, second or sometimes third fitting. The baker, the photographer and DJ were all booked at six months. Are you having your wedding catered or are you looking for a venue that does the catering? Are you using a florist? Any other help you need please let me know!

It all depends like the other brides where saying. I got my dress in october 2011, (my wedding was back in July 2012) at the beginning of 2012 all my bridesmaids ordered their dresses.

I always find that if you buy a bridal magazine, they have a checklist in there for how many months out you do certain stuff. Its really up to you, but I like to use that as a guide. Or just go on a website like theknot.com and they have checklists. Good luck.

My dress was the first thing I got!! But I agree with the other ladies - it depends!! My bridesmaid dresses weren't even considered until a couple months before my wedding (in July '12)