Wedding Planning Checklist – Your Checklist for Planning a Wedding

Congratulations, you’re getting married!  While planning a wedding a big task, it can also be fun and let you express yourself in the most personal way to all your family and friends.  The key to a successfully planned wedding is to be organized and know what to expect in the year and months leading up to your dream wedding.

This article provides a detailed checklist to help you get started with planning your wedding.  If you recently got engaged, make sure that you’ve read our earlier post on the first steps to take after getting engaged.

While your wedding is special and unique, it’ll share some commonalities with most weddings.  Here, we’ve put together a checklist of things you’ll want to consider and the approximate time prior to your wedding that you’ll want to have them completed.  Armed with our wedding planning checklist and our ultimate wedding planning template, you’ll be off to a great start in planning one of the most anticipated days of your life. (You can download your copy of our wedding planning checklist here).

6-12 Months Before your Wedding

• Announce your engagement
• Pick your wedding date
• Decide whether to you’ll be using a professional wedding planner
• Book your wedding venue
• Determine your wedding budget and how expenses will be paid for
• Find your wedding dress
• Think about your color scheme

4 Months Before your Wedding

• Send out invitations (If you haven’t already, check out the AppilyWed wedding app!)
• Finalize the photographer and videographer arrangements
• Finalize wedding party
• Finalize attire for bridesmaids and flower girls
• Finalize attire for groomsmen
• Choose your florist
• Setup your wedding registry
• Start planning your honeymoon
• Start shopping for your wedding rings

2 Months Before your Wedding

• Create reception seating plan
• Schedule final dress fitting
• Schedule hair & makeup appointments
• Finalize wedding cake selection
• Take engagement pictures
• Finalize MC arrangements
• Finalize DJ arrangements and song selection

1 Month Before your Wedding

• Apply for marriage license
• Plan rehearsal dinner
• Start planning speeches

1 Week Before your Wedding

• Attend wedding rehearsal
• Make sure your wedding officiant has your marriage license
• Finalize wedding itinerary and divide responsibilities
• Finalize number of guests and notify reception/caterer
• Go over all wedding details and finalize any outstanding items
• Ensure groom, bride, groomsmen and bridesmaids all have their attire

Wedding Day!

• Relax and enjoy your wedding
• Something will not go exactly as planned.  But it doesn’t matter.  You’ll deal with it and nobody will notice.

Don’t worry if the planning a wedding seems a bit overwhelming at first.  Remember, not everything needs to be done at once.  Start with the wedding planning checklist items at the top, and slowly make your way down the list as your wedding day approaches.  No matter the size of your wedding, and whether you decide to plan the wedding on your own or hire a professional wedding planner, there will be people there to help you along the way.  In addition to your bridesmaids, family, and friends, your wedding officiant and venue point-of-contact deal with weddings on a daily basis!  They’ll be more than willing and able to offer you great advice and guide you along in the process.  In most cases, they’ll be able to refer you to local vendors catering to your specific needs.

Once again, congratulations on your engagement!  Happy wedding planning!

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