2012 Hopeful Bride BUT...not yet engaged! How much planning can I do?

[jeks]

Hi guys,

 

So I'm in an interesting predicament and would very much welcome some advice.  I know most brides have long engagement periods of at least a year and for me and my boyfriend, we want a maximum engagement period of six months.  The kicker is that my finger is still ringless but I told bf that I need at least 3 months to plan a wedding and I'm expecting a ring before the end of this year.  He's on board with a destination wedding and date wise I think we're looking at late April-early June of 2012. 

 

My question is how much can I do during this waiting period.  Once I get the ring, I want to be able to press the Go button and have things go as smoothly as possible.  Unfortunately, when I checked with a WC, she indicated that Olowalu is already booked for April so that's why I'm starting to get worried...I can't book a date because I don't know but I don't want to be left with no choices either which is why I have now started to email some WC's which I had avoided doing yet (because it seems a little bit premature and also maybe bad luck!?)

 

Are there things I could do in the meantime?  Can I design save the dates, etc?

 

Any advice is much appreciated, I feel a bit like an outsider! :S