UNITED STATES—Getting engaged is an exciting and exhilarating time for romantics who can’t wait to spend the rest of their lives together. If you’ve recently become engaged to the love of your life, you might not know the next best steps to getting married. 

After telling your parents, best friends, co-workers, and everyone else who will listen, you might suddenly and worriedly realize there are some major to-dos left to achieve. No pressure.

Indeed, you shouldn’t stress — at least not right away — but you do need to get a head start on things before too much time passes by. Here are four things you need to do as soon as you get engaged.

1. Take a Deep Breath and Find Ways to Manage Stress

As with anything big or monumental in life, take the time to enjoy the moment with your beloved, family, and friends, rather than worry about every little thing, because it’s a time for celebration! That said, your life is about to take some big, breathtaking, and often stressful turns.

Most people will remind you that planning a wedding is a marathon event, not a sprint, so pace yourself, or you might hit the wall early. With the right mindset and coping strategies in place, such as trips to the salon for a manicure or a quick yoga class, you can get through it all with ease, composure, and your sanity intact. 

2. Discuss Timing and Planning 

Before you announce your engagement, you might need to discuss some key details with your fiancé. Do you want a short or long engagement? Does a large or small wedding make more sense? Do you want to get married in a church or another venue? What time of year makes the most sense? 

These are all essential questions you need to ask each other to start creating a road map to your wedding. After all, you want to make it as easy as possible for your friends and loved ones to celebrate with you, so take some time to sit down and have a conversation that’s just as important as the engagement itself. 

3. Talk About Finances

From the wedding itself to your daily life together, finances count for a lot. In fact, financial troubles are the second most common reason for divorce after infidelity. By sitting down together to discuss your respective spending habits and overall financial philosophies, you’ll have a better idea of what to expect from each other once you get married. Here are some critical questions to ask during this conversation: 

  • Do you want a smaller, more economical wedding or something more extravagant? 
  • Do you want to buy a house right away?
  • Do you want to have children?

This conversation will help you both grow and prepare for your life together, focusing on a vital topic for engaged and married couples. 

4. Send Out Your Save-the-Date Cards

Once you’ve discussed important topics and come to an agreement regarding your wedding timeline, it’s time to let everyone know the big news. The best way to do that is to send out specially designed save-the-date cards to provide your guests with the basic details and remind them that your nuptials are right around the corner.

Start Planning Your Special Day Together Knowing You’ve Taken Care of the Basics 

Hopefully, taking care of these tasks right away will ease your mind, so you can start planning your wedding together. You don’t want to leave important issues like finances, timelines, save-the-dates, and stress management lingering without addressing them. Since you have a lot of excitement, joy, and possible stress ahead of you until you get married, it’s best to take care of these matters to clear the path.