Getting married during vet school

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm engaged and will be starting vet school in the fall. My fiancé and I are thinking of getting married either summer 2023 (summer after 1st year) or summer 2024 (summer after 2nd year). I think he would prefer summer 2023 but I'm worried about planning a wedding during my first year of vet school.

Any advice or words of wisdom???

 

[JustPaws]

Planning a wedding seems easier during first year than second

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

Planning a wedding seems easier during first year than second

thank you! 🙂

 

[supershorty]

You can always plan it way ahead of time, too. Spread out the planning over a longer period of time so there's less you have to do all at once, makes your life easier. Plus, in my experience, you have more payment options with vendors the earlier you book things (I was able to break our photography cost up over 5 payments because we booked so early).

 

[EngrSC]

2 of my classmates had weddings in the summer between 1st and 2nd year 🙂

I had my wedding prior to vet school but was in a pretty busy stage of life. I had my mom plan probably 80% of it. If you have family that can or want to help, let them help!

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

All great advice, thank you so much! ❤️

It seems like a tossup at this point, I think it will mainly depend on venue availability. It's hard to set realistic expectations for myself and family as to how busy and stressed I'll be once school starts and what capacity I'll have for planning. Either way spreading the planning out as much as possible should make it much more manageable.

I'll definitely try to let family help, I just don't want to resent anyone for making choices I wouldn't have because I wasn't able to be as involved bc of school. I know realistically I'll have to make sacrifices for the wedding bc of school and vice versa. I'm just getting ahead of myself getting overwhelmed about moving, starting vet school, AND getting married all in the next couple years. It's a lot. All good things, but a lot. **Deep breaths**

 

[SnowJ]

I got married between 2nd and 3rd year (which ended up being the first summer of covid 🙃 ). I started planning during summer between 1st and 2nd so I had a lot of the big decisions made before the onslaught of second year. From there I just had to do the nitty gritty of details; mostly decor and dresses. If you are starting to plan now I think you'll have plenty of time as long as you pace yourself well

I had my mom plan probably 80% of it. If you have family that can or want to help, let them help!

Absolutely let family help as much as you are comfortable, and dont be afraid to ask friends for help! As much fun as it sounds to work on decor crafts as a study break, it can be a bit overwhelming at times too.

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

I got married between 2nd and 3rd year (which ended up being the first summer of covid 🙃 ). I started planning during summer between 1st and 2nd so I had a lot of the big decisions made before the onslaught of second year. From there I just had to do the nitty gritty of details; mostly decor and dresses. If you are starting to plan now I think you'll have plenty of time as long as you pace yourself well

Absolutely let family help as much as you are comfortable, and dont be afraid to ask friends for help! As much fun as it sounds to work on decor crafts as a study break, it can be a bit overwhelming at times too.

Thank you!! Omg, first summer of covid wedding, I do not envy you... I'm sure you had a huge weight off your back once that was over! Yes for sure, while it sounds fun now, I could see it becoming more of a chore in addition to studying rather than being relaxing or fun.

 

[that redhead]

I got married between 2nd and 3rd year and did all of my planning from another country. My husband and mom did pretty much all of the venue related visits. It was stressful and I wish we’d eloped but honestly I never really wanted much of a traditional wedding so that probably skewed my view on things

 

[britzen]

Some schools will allow you to change your residency status from OOS to IS if you get married during vet school.

Lots of ifs but..

If you're attending a public school, and...
If you're OOS, and...
If your fiance is moving with you to the state (or is from that state already)

You may be able to change from OOS to IS tuition once you get married. If that's the case, then getting married earlier is better from a cost of attendance stand point. (So romantic!)

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

Some schools will allow you to change your residency status from OOS to IS if you get married during vet school.

Lots of ifs but..

If you're attending a public school, and...
If you're OOS, and...
If your fiance is moving with you to the state (or is from that state already)

You may be able to change from OOS to IS tuition once you get married. If that's the case, then getting married earlier is better from a cost of attendance stand point. (So romantic!)

I’ll be attending UMN OOS, and yes my fiance is moving with me! From what I’ve read on their website it seems unlikely I’ll be able to switch to IS tuition since we’ll be moving there at the same time, but probably worth a shot to apply for it anyway. Good point!

 

[supershorty]

Some schools will allow you to change your residency status from OOS to IS if you get married during vet school.

Lots of ifs but..

If you're attending a public school, and...
If you're OOS, and...
If your fiance is moving with you to the state (or is from that state already)

You may be able to change from OOS to IS tuition once you get married. If that's the case, then getting married earlier is better from a cost of attendance stand point. (So romantic!)

Changing residency at UMN is extremely difficult at this point as it's not under the jurisdiction of the vet school itself, but the university as a whole. Unlikely to be a benefit in timing for OP in this case.

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

I got married between 2nd and 3rd year and did all of my planning from another country. My husband and mom did pretty much all of the venue related visits. It was stressful and I wish we’d eloped but honestly I never really wanted much of a traditional wedding so that probably skewed my view on things

Woof yes venue visits will be tough! I do want to get married vs eloping but I’ll prob have a different view on this when I’m knee deep in planning😝

 

[supershorty]

@BlackCatsRuleTheWorld if you want to PM me, I think I have a spreadsheet somewhere with all the vendor info of places/services I'd looked into (if you guys are getting married in MN), I'm happy to share it with you.

We had great experiences with all of the vendors we used and I'd happily recommend all of them.

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

@BlackCatsRuleTheWorld if you want to PM me, I think I have a spreadsheet somewhere with all the vendor info of places/services I'd looked into (if you guys are getting married in MN), I'm happy to share it with you.

We had great experiences with all of the vendors we used and I'd happily recommend all of them.

Thank you so much! Right now the plan is NY but if that changes I will def reach out 🙂 🙂

 

[Butterbb]

Hi!

Currently a first year chiming in! I am currently planning for a wedding for the coming June! I did most of my vendors booking and things done before actually starting vet school. I didn't really do much for the wedding in the first semester except getting my save the date and invitations. As for the next three months, I anticipate much more things to do for the wedding but I think it will be doable.

I also know one other classmate (fellow 1st year student) planning a wedding for July of this year!

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

Hi!

Currently a first year chiming in! I am currently planning for a wedding for the coming June! I did most of my vendors booking and things done before actually starting vet school. I didn't really do much for the wedding in the first semester except getting my save the date and invitations. As for the next three months, I anticipate much more things to do for the wedding but I think it will be doable.

I also know one other classmate (fellow 1st year student) planning a wedding for July of this year!

Hey, that's great to hear, thanks so much! For sure a good idea to nail down the most important things before school starts. I hope everything goes well! 🙂

 

[KCgophervet]

Got engaged in my 4th year of vet school and married right after graduation/before starting residency. Our venue was a park and we had Qdoba and Coldstone catering so my wedding was probably on the lower-key side of things but still, totally doable.

You have a life outside of school and you need to make time for it. Vet school is just your "job" for 4 years, you need to have a personal life outside of it to stay sane. Use your free time to do things you enjoy, especially outside of vet med, your hobbies or personal interests or family or whatever. And planning a wedding can be a fun hobby to take your mind off the grind that is vet school in your free time.

Congratulations 🙂 And also welcome to UMN

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

Got engaged in my 4th year of vet school and married right after graduation/before starting residency. Our venue was a park and we had Qdoba and Coldstone catering so my wedding was probably on the lower-key side of things but still, totally doable.

You have a life outside of school and you need to make time for it. Vet school is just your "job" for 4 years, you need to have a personal life outside of it to stay sane. Use your free time to do things you enjoy, especially outside of vet med, your hobbies or personal interests or family or whatever. And planning a wedding can be a fun hobby to take your mind off the grind that is vet school in your free time.

Congratulations 🙂 And also welcome to UMN

Awesome, thank you!! Very true, life doesn't stop.

I might have to look into coldstone catering, that sounds amazing😋

Super excited to be joining the UMN community!!

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

By the way.... we're doing it!!! June 2023 🙂 🙂