Wedding planning checklist
Organised entirely by lead time, because that is the only ordering that helps. The legal paperwork sits at the top: nothing else matters if the notice is late.
52 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- Twelve months out
- Agree a budget, and who is paying for what
- Rough guest number — it decides everything else
- Date, with a second choice
- Ceremony venue booked
- Reception venue booked
- Give notice at the register office, or speak to the officiantThere is a legal notice period. Check it now, not at six months.
- Save-the-dates for anyone travelling
- Six months out
- Photographer
- Caterer, with a tasting
- Music: band or DJ
- Outfits ordered, with fitting dates
- Rings
- Accommodation blocks for guests
- Cake
- Flowers
- Three months out
- Invitations sent with an RSVP date
- Menu confirmed, with dietary requirements collected
- Transport between the ceremony and the reception
- Order of the day written and shared with every supplier
- Readings, vows, speeches — who and how long
- Accessibility: step-free routes, seating, and ask your guests
- Hair and make-up trial
- One month out
- Final numbers to the caterer
- Seating plan
- Final payments and a list of what is still owed on the day
- Rehearsal, if you are having one
- Confirm arrival times with every supplier in writing
- Name somebody who holds the timings and the phone numbersNot you. On the day you will not have your phone.
- The week before
- Pack everything into labelled boxes, one per location
- Cash for tips, in named envelopes
- Rings, licence and any documents in one place
- Emergency kit: safety pins, plasters, painkillers, stain remover
- Food and water for the people setting up
- Confirm who takes the gifts and the cards home
- Charge everything
- The day
- Eat breakfast
- Documents handed to the person who holds them
- Shoes worn in, or plasters ready
- A quiet ten minutes together after the ceremony
- Someone assigned to your parents and to anyone alone
- Water on every table
- Afterwards
- Return hired items on time
- Marriage certificate collected
- Thank-you notes
- Names and documents updated, if you are changing them
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- How far in advance should we plan a wedding?
- Twelve months is comfortable, six is doable, three is intense but possible. The constraint is almost always the venue, followed by the legal notice period.
- What do people forget?
- The legal notice, transport between venues, food for the people setting up, and who takes the gifts home at midnight. All four cause real problems on the day.