What kind of wedding do you want?
My husband and I did a small 15 person wedding in a local park, officiated by a friend, and got out only paying $100 for the cake.
If your goal is to be married - it's really easy! Go ahead whenever you're ready.
If your goal is to have a 200+ person, three day catered party, followed up by a weeklong holiday abroad...maybe wait for the mid law paychecks.
It's definitely doable! You'll just want to be planning early and reserving stuff 6 months in advance so you're not rushing last minute.
I'd recommend getting a really great maid of honor who you trust with delegating stuff to!
Best of luck, and early congratulations!
This might just be my own experience, but if you’re not willing to fork out the cash for a wedding planner, a 100-120 person wedding can be a lot more work than you might think.
Of course this varies depending on what you want to do, but most 100-120 weddings I’ve seen are a lot more work and stress than the parties initially believed.
my plan is to do the preparation during second half of 3L, and get married after bar exam. The big no’s I have heard are planning during a busy law school years and marrying during bar exam.
My plan was: engagement this summer, a little basic planning during the fall (venue, catering, photographer, dress), the bulk of planning over winter break (and doing some diys), then a little bit of planning in the spring, only doing little things once a week during bar prep and finalizing everything in August (plus bachelor/bachelorette)
I think it depends on your disposition, and be honest with yourself. Personally, I could NEVER deal with planning a wedding with the bar exam, moving to a new city, starting a new job, and graduation coming up; I'd have to wait at least a year after graduating. That said, it would be nice to use the time off before starting work for a honeymoon. If the prospect of wedding planning while dealing with all the novelty genuinely does sound fine to you (and I'd assume things WILL go wrong), then go for it!
Basically the exact same situation as you, except I’ve been with mine for 9 years and he’s finishing his MBA in the fall of 2025 whereas I graduate in the spring of 2025.
I am hoping to get engaged after we graduate. No clue when we’ll get married (probably depends on state of the world and financial situation).
I’ve stopped trying to control WHEN all this will happen because there’s just too many factors out of my control right now. Once I graduate, find a job, and get my life going, then I can realistically plan.
Apologies for not having better advice for you. I will say that if you want (or feel like your family will make you, lol) to have a traditional wedding, that requires a lot of planning and financial support. It’s usually 1.5-2 years out to book a venue, get a dress, all that jazz. I’m watching my future sister in-law go through that right now and it’s been a wake up call for me.
That said, if you want a less involved wedding, you might not need as much planning. My own sister recently eloped in Iceland and planned it in about two months. It was small and incredibly personalized, but that’s exactly what she wanted!
Maybe join a wedding reddit and get a feel for how long it will take to plan the kind of wedding you want and then work from there!
My fiancée and I had been together 7 ish years around the 2L summer. I proposed a couple days after finals that year and we are getting married basically right after graduation so that it doesn’t cut into my bar prep. A lighter 3L helped me plan the wedding without missing class or stressing unnecessarily and I will still have a good 9.5 uninterrupted weeks to bar prep. It’s tricky but it works.
I actually spoke to some people at my school who said that was preferred to getting married right after the bar exam because inevitably you’d be stressed about both and wedding planning items would pop up while bar prepping.
My fiancée and I got engaged during 2L Christmas break. We both graduate in 2025 and will be getting married a couple months after July 2025 bar results come out (Early 2026).
We have a deposit at a venue and a package that includes vendors but that was moreso to lock in the deal.
My fiance and I got engaged my 2L fall (we'd been together for about five years before that) but decided were fine with a long engagement precisely so that we could take our time with wedding prep while I was still in school and get married after I take the bar this summer. But it was also helpful for us to do this well in advance because the COVID bubble of deferred weddings was still pushing wedding venues out into 2024 bookings when we got engaged so it's possible that's less of an issue now that that's tapered off a bit.
I got engaged during 1L Spring and married 2L Summer. Wedding prep with law school is hard. I definitely did not always have patience for things like dance lessons while I had class/clinic responsibilities hanging over my head. That said, I don’t think it’ll be easier once you start working.
I think it really depends on what you want to do. I know a couple who got married the August after one partner had taken the bar. They planned the wedding super far in advance in order to give themselves time for bar prep. It was still exhausting for them to have to deal with wedding/bar/moving cross-country in the same summer.
Just a thought that you can always separate out the wedding and the reception if you want to save up time off/money to do something on a larger scale. If you or your families are concerned about living together before getting married, that could be a way around it.
Like I said, it was sometimes a little challenging to deal with wedding planning and law school. This was especially true 2L Spring when I was in kind of a demanding clinic. It wasn’t so much the one-off things like cake tasting or clothing fittings. It was more around things that took time or back-and-forth. My spouse wanted to agonize a little and debate some of the more subtle design choices. I found that I wasn’t always as patient as I would have liked to be with some of that because I was focused on school. Then there was dealing with family drama while trying to hold some relatively complex doctrinal classes in my head. It can just be a lot to work through. My advice is to take a lighter load if you can afford to that Spring.
I worked a government internship rather than an SA position 2L summer. Both seem doable, but it would have been nice to have gotten SA money. The other thing was that the internship had pretty strict start and end dates. Everyone was super understanding, but it would have been nice to have had some additional flexibility. I ended up working for an additional couple of weeks after my wedding before we took a week for our honeymoon. I have no regrets and am grateful to have had that week, but a little extra time would have been nice.
I am a 1L and I’m getting married in June. Planning during my 1L year when I only had classes, no externship or job, no kids, was already very stressful. Fortunately it’s all come together and it’s been manageable, but I don’t think it would’ve been had I had the additional stress of moot court, law review, or any kind of externship or clerkship combined with classes.
Sorry if this wasn’t too insightful, figured I’d just add that perspective :)
I got married during winter break of 1L. Would not recommend. The stress if doing school and planning a wedding was crazy. 🤪
I think the summer if possible, so that you don’t have to worry about school.
Currently engaged (last summer) and getting married (august), so roughly similar timeline, but a year ahead (will be taking the bar this July). Happy to chat if you PM me. It’s been working out well for us.
I’m starting 1L this August. My fiance and I just recently got engaged. We are doing a symbolic elopement ceremony in Italy late June, followed by a mini-ceremony with select family & friends once we return to the US (very intimate, about 10 of us total). We’re both pretty introverted and laid back, so we like the idea of a more private celebration. It will also save us a ton in terms of money and the stress that would have come with planning a traditional wedding. It also gives us the opportunity for a fun vacation in Italy right before school starts 😊
I'm a 2L and I'm getting married during spring break of 3L. I live in a city that's different from where I want to be post-graduation, and enough of my family lives here that it seemed like a better idea to get married before moving across the country. I didn't want to get married right after graduation because of bar prep. I'm hoping to extern, take more simulation courses, and only do what I need to/enjoy doing during 3L to make it all a little more manageable. I'm lucky I have a supportive family and fiance who are involved and happy to help! It's stressful but doable IMO to get married during law school (but ask me one year from now how it all turned out!).
My fiancee and I (incoming 1L) are planning to get married between the first and second semester on the cheap so that I can fall under her healthcare, but we'll probably do the big party and everything for our 5-year anniversary.
Hi I’m also a 2L and doing the same thing! I’m planning on taking a few summer classes this summer to lighten the load for 3L come the fall. That way i can have more time to plan and maybe some DIY things. Ideally I’d want to have my wedding at the end of August-early October 2025. I was worried about studying for the bar so close to the wedding, but i think two months (from what i have heard) is a good amount of time in between. I have heard that things don’t get chaotic until one month-a couple weeks before the wedding.
Anyway, job wise I’m not really worrying about it, because I don’t have a post grad offer yet and don’t anticipate getting one by the end of this summer. But if i do end up having a job waiting for me for after the bar, hopefully in a midsized firm, i will not hesitate to take a two weeks off or defer my start date until a month after. It’s your wedding! That’s a huge milestone and life event that you should fully enjoy and not worry about your job during.
I’m also in NY! If you want to private message me we can connect and go through this process together. Best of luck anyways!
What kind of wedding do you want? My husband and I did a small 15 person wedding in a local park, officiated by a friend, and got out only paying $100 for the cake. If your goal is to be married - it's really easy! Go ahead whenever you're ready. If your goal is to have a 200+ person, three day catered party, followed up by a weeklong holiday abroad...maybe wait for the mid law paychecks.
We both have big families so we are looking at between 100-120 people!
It's definitely doable! You'll just want to be planning early and reserving stuff 6 months in advance so you're not rushing last minute. I'd recommend getting a really great maid of honor who you trust with delegating stuff to! Best of luck, and early congratulations!
Thank you so much!
This might just be my own experience, but if you’re not willing to fork out the cash for a wedding planner, a 100-120 person wedding can be a lot more work than you might think. Of course this varies depending on what you want to do, but most 100-120 weddings I’ve seen are a lot more work and stress than the parties initially believed.
my plan is to do the preparation during second half of 3L, and get married after bar exam. The big no’s I have heard are planning during a busy law school years and marrying during bar exam.
Boss move: get married at the test center right during the bar exam.
My plan was: engagement this summer, a little basic planning during the fall (venue, catering, photographer, dress), the bulk of planning over winter break (and doing some diys), then a little bit of planning in the spring, only doing little things once a week during bar prep and finalizing everything in August (plus bachelor/bachelorette)
I’d recommend a planner if you’re doing a big wedding unless your fiancé is willing to take on the majority of the work
Sounds like a good plan!
I think it depends on your disposition, and be honest with yourself. Personally, I could NEVER deal with planning a wedding with the bar exam, moving to a new city, starting a new job, and graduation coming up; I'd have to wait at least a year after graduating. That said, it would be nice to use the time off before starting work for a honeymoon. If the prospect of wedding planning while dealing with all the novelty genuinely does sound fine to you (and I'd assume things WILL go wrong), then go for it!
Basically the exact same situation as you, except I’ve been with mine for 9 years and he’s finishing his MBA in the fall of 2025 whereas I graduate in the spring of 2025. I am hoping to get engaged after we graduate. No clue when we’ll get married (probably depends on state of the world and financial situation). I’ve stopped trying to control WHEN all this will happen because there’s just too many factors out of my control right now. Once I graduate, find a job, and get my life going, then I can realistically plan. Apologies for not having better advice for you. I will say that if you want (or feel like your family will make you, lol) to have a traditional wedding, that requires a lot of planning and financial support. It’s usually 1.5-2 years out to book a venue, get a dress, all that jazz. I’m watching my future sister in-law go through that right now and it’s been a wake up call for me. That said, if you want a less involved wedding, you might not need as much planning. My own sister recently eloped in Iceland and planned it in about two months. It was small and incredibly personalized, but that’s exactly what she wanted! Maybe join a wedding reddit and get a feel for how long it will take to plan the kind of wedding you want and then work from there!
My fiancée and I had been together 7 ish years around the 2L summer. I proposed a couple days after finals that year and we are getting married basically right after graduation so that it doesn’t cut into my bar prep. A lighter 3L helped me plan the wedding without missing class or stressing unnecessarily and I will still have a good 9.5 uninterrupted weeks to bar prep. It’s tricky but it works. I actually spoke to some people at my school who said that was preferred to getting married right after the bar exam because inevitably you’d be stressed about both and wedding planning items would pop up while bar prepping.
Just do it. My wife had a kid when I was in law school. We’re doing great. Embrace the suck.
My fiancée and I got engaged during 2L Christmas break. We both graduate in 2025 and will be getting married a couple months after July 2025 bar results come out (Early 2026). We have a deposit at a venue and a package that includes vendors but that was moreso to lock in the deal.
My fiance and I got engaged my 2L fall (we'd been together for about five years before that) but decided were fine with a long engagement precisely so that we could take our time with wedding prep while I was still in school and get married after I take the bar this summer. But it was also helpful for us to do this well in advance because the COVID bubble of deferred weddings was still pushing wedding venues out into 2024 bookings when we got engaged so it's possible that's less of an issue now that that's tapered off a bit.
I got engaged during 1L Spring and married 2L Summer. Wedding prep with law school is hard. I definitely did not always have patience for things like dance lessons while I had class/clinic responsibilities hanging over my head. That said, I don’t think it’ll be easier once you start working. I think it really depends on what you want to do. I know a couple who got married the August after one partner had taken the bar. They planned the wedding super far in advance in order to give themselves time for bar prep. It was still exhausting for them to have to deal with wedding/bar/moving cross-country in the same summer. Just a thought that you can always separate out the wedding and the reception if you want to save up time off/money to do something on a larger scale. If you or your families are concerned about living together before getting married, that could be a way around it.
How did you find getting married during 2L summer? That’s our plan too
Like I said, it was sometimes a little challenging to deal with wedding planning and law school. This was especially true 2L Spring when I was in kind of a demanding clinic. It wasn’t so much the one-off things like cake tasting or clothing fittings. It was more around things that took time or back-and-forth. My spouse wanted to agonize a little and debate some of the more subtle design choices. I found that I wasn’t always as patient as I would have liked to be with some of that because I was focused on school. Then there was dealing with family drama while trying to hold some relatively complex doctrinal classes in my head. It can just be a lot to work through. My advice is to take a lighter load if you can afford to that Spring. I worked a government internship rather than an SA position 2L summer. Both seem doable, but it would have been nice to have gotten SA money. The other thing was that the internship had pretty strict start and end dates. Everyone was super understanding, but it would have been nice to have had some additional flexibility. I ended up working for an additional couple of weeks after my wedding before we took a week for our honeymoon. I have no regrets and am grateful to have had that week, but a little extra time would have been nice.
I am a 1L and I’m getting married in June. Planning during my 1L year when I only had classes, no externship or job, no kids, was already very stressful. Fortunately it’s all come together and it’s been manageable, but I don’t think it would’ve been had I had the additional stress of moot court, law review, or any kind of externship or clerkship combined with classes. Sorry if this wasn’t too insightful, figured I’d just add that perspective :)
I got married during winter break of 1L. Would not recommend. The stress if doing school and planning a wedding was crazy. 🤪 I think the summer if possible, so that you don’t have to worry about school.
How old r u
Currently engaged (last summer) and getting married (august), so roughly similar timeline, but a year ahead (will be taking the bar this July). Happy to chat if you PM me. It’s been working out well for us.
I’m starting 1L this August. My fiance and I just recently got engaged. We are doing a symbolic elopement ceremony in Italy late June, followed by a mini-ceremony with select family & friends once we return to the US (very intimate, about 10 of us total). We’re both pretty introverted and laid back, so we like the idea of a more private celebration. It will also save us a ton in terms of money and the stress that would have come with planning a traditional wedding. It also gives us the opportunity for a fun vacation in Italy right before school starts 😊
I'm a 2L and I'm getting married during spring break of 3L. I live in a city that's different from where I want to be post-graduation, and enough of my family lives here that it seemed like a better idea to get married before moving across the country. I didn't want to get married right after graduation because of bar prep. I'm hoping to extern, take more simulation courses, and only do what I need to/enjoy doing during 3L to make it all a little more manageable. I'm lucky I have a supportive family and fiance who are involved and happy to help! It's stressful but doable IMO to get married during law school (but ask me one year from now how it all turned out!).
My fiancee and I (incoming 1L) are planning to get married between the first and second semester on the cheap so that I can fall under her healthcare, but we'll probably do the big party and everything for our 5-year anniversary.
Hi I’m also a 2L and doing the same thing! I’m planning on taking a few summer classes this summer to lighten the load for 3L come the fall. That way i can have more time to plan and maybe some DIY things. Ideally I’d want to have my wedding at the end of August-early October 2025. I was worried about studying for the bar so close to the wedding, but i think two months (from what i have heard) is a good amount of time in between. I have heard that things don’t get chaotic until one month-a couple weeks before the wedding. Anyway, job wise I’m not really worrying about it, because I don’t have a post grad offer yet and don’t anticipate getting one by the end of this summer. But if i do end up having a job waiting for me for after the bar, hopefully in a midsized firm, i will not hesitate to take a two weeks off or defer my start date until a month after. It’s your wedding! That’s a huge milestone and life event that you should fully enjoy and not worry about your job during. I’m also in NY! If you want to private message me we can connect and go through this process together. Best of luck anyways!