Planning a wedding can prove to be one of the most challenging things that you’ll do throughout your life. But much like many other things that require work, it can also be one of the most rewarding.
No matter if you’re planning a smaller wedding or a bigger wedding, you’ll soon find that it involves a lot of time and work. Throughout all of your efforts, you might start feeling pressure or stress, these feelings can cause you to temporarily lose sight of the real reasons you are doing all of this in the first place.
That’s the last thing that I want to see happen to any bride! So the ultimate goal of this article is to keep you so well informed that you don’t start to feel like you’re lost or unsure of what your next move should be. In my opinion, not having a clear plan on what you need to be thinking about or working on is one of the leading causes of stressed brides.
Let’s choose to avoid that and focus on everything you need to know to plan your wedding. This alone will be enough to keep you feeling calm and in control, which will lead to a much better experience overall.
So here’s the planning process starting 1 year out! There will also be a link to download our Free Planning PDF at the end.
12 Months Before Your Wedding
- Decide on the type of wedding you would like to have (Big, Small, Formal, Casual, Traditional, Non-Traditional)
- Contact your first choice venue to see what dates they have available.
- Choose your wedding date and time.
- Start a folder or system for keeping a record of payments made and due dates. (Google Docs & Google Sheets or Microsoft Word & Excel)
- Research typical costs for your main expenses and work out your budget.
- Book your top choice of vendor, Photographer & DJ/Band.
- Consider a wedding planner and decide how much involvement you want to have or appoint a Master & Mistress of the
ceremony . A maid of honor and the right family members can be a great help as well.
- Select the people you would like in your wedding party.
- Start your guest list.
Sort by the following
1. Must invite
2. Should invite
3. Not a must but would be nice
- Plan an engagement party & think of color schemes.
- Start Shopping for a wedding dress and tuxedos.
12 – 9 Months Before Your Wedding
- Hire a videographer & officiant, arrange pre-marital counseling.
- Meet caterers for a tasting and select favorite food and drink choices.
- Reserve hotel rooms for your guests.
- Create a wedding website if desired.
- Use an Itinerary template to lay out a timeline.
- Start a fitness plan if desired.
9 – 6 Months Before Your Wedding
- Purchase wedding invitations.
- Delegate responsibilities to wedding party members.
- Start planning the honeymoon and renew passports if needed.
- Shop for dresses for the bridal party, flower girl & mothers of the bride & groom.
- Shop for Wedding bands & determine the final guest list.
- Send save the date cards if desired.
- Book a florist and work on centerpieces & bouquets.
4 – 6 Months Before Your Wedding
- Book the rehearsal dinner venue and plan food that evening.
- Organize cleanup crew, ushers, parking assistance, prayer & babysitters if needed.
- Plan wedding favors & place card designs.
- Arrange rentals like tables, chairs, linens, etc.
- Purchase ceremony items like aisle runners, unity candle, flower girl basket, ring pillow or box, etc.
- Select & order the cake and topper.
- Purchase wedding shoes & start dress fittings.
- Schedule hair and makeup.
- Select your music & dances.
3 Months Before Your Wedding
- Send out invitations with favors if desired.
- Ask people you want to give a speech if they will prepare something to say.
- Purchase the garter & arrange the rehearsal dinner.
- Send your program and itinerary to your vendors & everyone else that would benefit from it.
- Purchase cake serving utensils, guest book & a card box.
- Touch base with all your vendors including photographer and DJ/Band to make sure you are all set. Reiterate date and arrival times.
- Book a hair & makeup trial.
- Finalize your honeymoon details.
- Purchase a wedding day gift for your fiance.
- Have your bachelorette and bachelor parties.
1 Month Before Your Wedding
- Enter your rsvp’s into your guestbook database & contact the ones that haven’t responded yet.
- Acquire your marriage license.
- Mail the rehearsal invitations, you can also start a Facebook event or use your wedding website.
- Meet with your dressmaker for your final fitting.
- Send out as many final payments as you can. Remember to log payments made & amounts remaining. (Google Sheets or Microsoft E
xcel )
- Create seating charts if desired & finish place cards.
- Purchase gifts for bridesmaids and groomsmen.
- Write vows and speeches if desired.
1 – 2 Weeks Before Your Wedding
- Get your hair cut & colored.
- Book facials, manicure, pedicure, waxing, and any other esthetics that are required.
- Break in your shoes, wear them around the house for half hour intervals a few times a week.
- Finalize guest numbers with the caterer and venue if necessary. Food costs could go down if you’re paying per plate which is customary in most cases.
- Pick up your wedding dress along with bridal party dresses.
- Get your airline tickets and or any documentation that you will need for your honeymoon.
- Write down all of the tasks that will be delegated and give those tasks in writing to those individuals.
- Meet with your dressmaker for your final fitting.
- Create a seating arrangement for dinner & a master guest list. Create seating charts if desired.
- Pick up your wedding bands.
Week Of Your Wedding
- Finalize your day of timeline.
- Contact all service providers to confirm their arrival times.
- Make sure everyone that needs a timeline has their copy.
- Set final payments and gratuities that are needed. A good method for cash is to use envelopes. Write the name of the vendor on the envelope and the amount that will be included.
- Time for the rehearsal dinner. Gifts are given to members of the wedding party.
- Remember that this is supposed to be a pleasant experience. Try not to overstress yourself, ask for help if needed and even using short periods of meditation can help greatly. (Simple Meditation Video)
Day Before Your Wedding
- Get a manicure and pedicure.
- Pick up the tuxes, remember to drink plenty of water.
- If you haven’t had your rehearsal yet it’s ok, many people have this the day before. But now is the time to do this so everyone has a clear understanding of his or her roles. This may also be an opportunity to have help in setting up your venue for the following day if need be.
- Layout everything you will need in the morning.
- Make sure everyone that needs a timeline has their copy.
- Take some time to relax and go to bed early.
The Day of Your Wedding
Wake up, feel amazing and enjoy one of the best days of your life. The time for stress is over, perhaps some butterflies but this is a day for happiness and joy. Let your appointed help do their jobs and take care of any worry or minor issues. Don’t sweat the small stuff! In my experience, nothing goes exactly perfect. The only thing that you do have absolute control over is your mental state and reaction to the things that happen around you.
After Your Wedding
- Enjoy your honeymoon!
- Send thank you cards to your guests and vendors.
- Dry clean & preserve the wedding dress.
- Complete address and name changes where necessary.
- Meet with your photographer and videographer to finalize your albums and recordings.
- Share all of the amazing wedding day moments with friends and family! Social media is a very easy way to do this for the masses.
Conclusion
We have just covered all of the aspects that you’ll need to consider when you’re learning how to plan a wedding. This doesn’t mean that everything we covered has to apply to your wedding. Come up with the vision you have for your wedding day and take whichever of the steps listed above apply to you. I hope that this article has helped shed some light on the wedding planning process and ultimately saved you some time and stress.
Don’t Forget to Get Our Free Wedding Survival Checklist!
Her Expertise Includes:
- Being a former bride
- Planning her own wedding
- Helping run her husband's wedding service USA DJ
As a former bride herself, she knows first hand what it takes to plan a successful wedding. She now offers her experience with wedding planning to other brides to be through smartestbrides.com.
Her mission is to help other brides wedding planning become as simple and stress-free as possible.
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