Following the shock and excitement of an engagement, the wedding planning process can feel like being thrown into the deep end without knowing how to swim. And whether you plan to bring a planner on board or bring the big day together all by yourself, the first decision is picking a date. Angela DiVincenti Babin of Angela Marie Events says the length of an engagement can have a big impact on both the planning process, as well as the outcome of the wedding.

“I would say my go-to for engagement lengths would be about a year,” says Babin. “That gives you time to nail down your must-haves like venue, dress and key vendors. A little extra time ensures that you don’t have to compromise on the most important things to you.”

However, Babin says it isn’t impossible to pull something together a little more quickly.

“I’m finding that people are increasingly last minute,” she notes. “For a lot of people, it’s that they bring me on later in the process because they thought they could do it all themselves and then life crept up, as it always does. But the advantage to being more last-minute with plans is that you have less time to overthink.”

Babin says brides who spend years working on their big days tend to have too much time to rethink and inevitably change their minds or become conflicted. Her golden rule for brides? “Make decisions and go with them.”

Submit your questions for local wedding experts by emailing [email protected] or commenting on this post.