|
Wedding Planner
If you're planning to organise your wedding yourself, you'll find this checklist useful. It's a month by month countdown to your wedding.
You can see at a glance the tasks you'll need to complete:
6 months or more before the wedding
The big picture
- Set wedding budget
- Agree on style and theme of wedding
- Decide on ideal wedding date and time
- Decide between and religious or civil ceremony
- Agree on style and theme of reception
- Purchase wedding insurance
- Consider pre-nuptial agreement
- Consider hiring a wedding planner
The ceremony
- Choose your church or civil ceremony venue
- Arrange to book service with officiant
- Arrange for special licence if necessary
- Provisionally book civil ceremony with the registrar
- Choose witnesses
The reception
- Book the reception venue
- Make catering arrangements
- Book reception entertainment
The honeymoon
The suppliers
- Book transport for wedding day and going away
- Book dressmaker choose fabric and patterns
- Book florist
- Book photographer and/or videographer
The people
- Choose bridesmaids and page boys
- Choose best man and ushers
- Advise attendants of their duties
- Arrange attire for bride and groom and attendants
- Draft guest list for ceremony, reception and evening
top
3 – 6 months before the wedding
The big picture
- Finalise and register wedding list
The ceremony
- Discuss church ceremony and order of service
- Discuss music options with the organist etc
- Check dates for publishing banns, if you’re having a church wedding
- Notify appropriate register office of marriage
The reception
- Advise reception venue of guest numbers and food and drink requirements
- Book reception staff if required
- Order or make wedding cake
The honeymoon
- Confirm passports are up to date, change to married name if appropriate
- Obtain travel visas if required
The suppliers
- Book musicians and singers for ceremony
- Order wedding stationery
- Hire and purchase clothes for the groom and male wedding party
- Buy dresses and outfits if not being made
- Buy the wedding rings and arrange insurance cover
The people
- Plan a health and beauty regime
1 – 3 months before the wedding
The big picture
- Prepare map for invitations
The honeymoon
- Check honeymoon arrangements and tickets
- Arrange any necessary inoculations and medicines
The suppliers
- Book accommodation for your wedding night
- Choose and buy your shoes and accessories
The people
- Finalise your guest list
- Send out invitations and record acceptances/refusals
- Purchase gifts for groom, bridesmaids and pageboys
- Purchase gifts for bride, best man and ushers
- Agree with attendants where they will dress on your wedding day
- Arrange final fitting of wedding dress
- Arrange final fitting of bridesmaids’ and pageboys' outfits
- Book a practice session and appointment with your hairdresser
- Practise wedding day makeup
- Ensure all attendants know their duties, timing and venues
- Arrange hospitality and transport for out of town guests
- Confirm wedding rehearsal with all involved
- Arrange hen and stag nights
- Wear in and scuff soles of shoes
2 – 4 weeks before the wedding
The reception
- Inform the reception venue and caterers of final numbers
The suppliers
- Advise florist of the final number of buttonholes
The people
- Prepare speech for reception
- Check bride's father and best man have prepared their speeches
- Take engagement ring to jewellers to be cleaned
1 – 2 weeks before the wedding
The ceremony
- Collect banns certificate
- Deliver order of service sheets to church for officiants, choir and organist
The reception
- Check reception details, confirm final numbers and special dietary requirements
- Decorate wedding cake
The honeymoon
- Final check on all honeymoon plans
The suppliers
- Final check on arrangements for flowers, transportation, venue and entertainment
- Arrange for hired items to be returned after wedding
The people
- Ensure all attendants know their duties
- Enjoy Hen night!
- Enjoy Stag night!
- Final fitting with attendants
- Practice with hairdresser
- Final check on all clothing
- Wrap gifts for attendants, parents and groom
- Hold wedding rehearsal
- Advise chief usher of seating plan
The day before the wedding
The reception
- Deliver your cake to the venue and arrange to have it assembled
- Arrange for a safe place for gifts brought to the reception to be stored
The honeymoon
- Pack for honeymoon: clothes, tickets, passports. Leave luggage in convenient place
The people
- Check that the going away car will be in the right place, at the right time
- Give gifts to the best man and attendants
- Pack going away clothes and have suitcase taken to reception
- Lay out wedding dress, accessories and jewellery
On the wedding day
- Attendants arrive at bride's house
- Bride and attendants have hair and make-up done and get dressed
- Photographer and/or videographer arrives at bride's home
- Chief usher arrives to collect buttonholes and order of service sheets
- Best man collects honeymoon luggage, documents and any messages to be read out
- Groom goes to meet the best man
- Best man checks he has rings and fees
- Transport arrives to take bride and father to wedding venue
- Rest of wedding party arrives at venue 20 minutes before ceremony
- Wedding ceremony
- Photographs
- Reception receiving line
- Wedding breakfast
- Speeches
- Cake cutting
- Evening reception
- Couple change into going away outfits
- Couple leave for overnight stay or honeymoon
After the wedding
- Thank both sets of parents
- Write thank you letters
- View and order wedding photographs and/or video
- Take photocopies of your marriage certificate and advise changes of name/address
- Send pieces of cake to people who could not attend the wedding
top |
