If you are like me, then you probably know a bunch of people getting married, or you might be getting married yourself! When I was planning my wedding, I was pretty clueless as to where to even start. I didn't have much to go off of and had to learn some things the hard way. So I have decided to create a wedding checklist based on my experience as a bride. This by far doesn't cover everything, but it is a good general list of things that need to be done while planning the wedding of your dreams. Hopefully this will be a helpful guide and can make your life a little easier while on the crazy journey of wedding planning! Good luck!
Wedding Checklist
Basics (Start Here)
1. Pick a date and time of wedding.
2. Pick a venue and make sure it is available for that date.
3. Decide if you want the ceremony and reception at the same venue.
4. Figure out a budget (At least a vague budget, so you know about how much you are aiming to spend. This will affect every decision you make.)
5. Figure out how much the venue will cost and if there are any additional charges. (We had to pay the sound guy, the custodian, the wedding coordinator, etc.)
6. Make a wedding guest list/decide on a number and try to stick to it. (This was the hardest part for Josh and I. Good luck! Haha)
Wedding Day Attire
7. Get your dress (I went to a consignment wedding dress shop and it was much cheaper!)
8. Get your veil. (I had a lady that the shop recommended to do it, and again much cheaper than buying at a big wedding place such as David’s Bridal.)
9. I would look at cheaper wedding dress places before going to David’s Bridal just to see if you can find anything before spending the big bucks on a dress and veil.
10. Start on dress alterations ASAP because they take a while.
11. Decide on your wedding day accessories. (Jewelry, shoes, garter, veil, etc.) I got one garter to keep and one to toss. Decide if you are going to do the “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue” thing and gather everything you need for that. (I had to track down a few things from family members.)
12. Choose if you want to do your own hair and makeup OR if you want someone else to do it for you/your bridesmaids. (I did my own makeup, but had someone else do my hair.)
13. Research/Choose how you want your hair on your wedding day and MAKE SURE YOU DO A TEST RUN!
14. Get your nails, toes, etc. done a few days before.
15. Decide the length you want your hair now and don’t cut it if you can.
16. Get your ring cleaned the week before, so it will look good for your wedding pictures!
Bridal Party
17. Tell bridal party ASAP that you want them in your wedding, so that they have time to prepare financially and make sure they are in town.
18. Pick and order bridesmaids dresses. This also takes a while for them to come in. (I got mine at David’s Bridal just because it is really easy to get matching dresses and they come in pretty quickly.)
19. Choose bridesmaid’s accessories. (Jewelry, shoes, etc.) Decide if you want them all to wear the same thing or something different. Decide if you want to choose what they wear or let them make the choice.
20. Decide what you want groom and groomsmen to wear. (We used Savvi Formalwear for the guys and had a really good experience there.)
21. Get all groomsmen fitted.
22. Buy wedding party gifts for bridal party (I gave my girls a pair of earrings that they could wear on the day of and personalized hangers to hang their dresses on, just some ideas.)
Invitations/Thank You Notes
23. Get all addresses for all guests.
24. Decide who you want to address the invitations (someone with good handwriting).
25. Order and send out wedding invitations (Send them out 6-8 weeks ahead of time). I used an online company called Vista Print and they were awesome! My invitations were really good quality, they had a lot of selection, and they came in the mail really quickly.
26. Buy lots of stamps and thank you notes. You will be sending thank you notes for the next 6 months between wedding shower gifts and wedding gifts! So get used to writing them :)
27. They have really cute “wedding” and “love” stamps at the post office that cost the same amount as the generic stamps. Make sure to ask for them!
Marriage License
28. Get your marriage license a few weeks before the wedding day. You BOTH have to be present for this.
29. Make sure you know where your signed marriage license is on the day of your wedding and keep track of it. (We didn’t know where ours was until after the honeymoon…oops.)
Pictures
30. Get engagement pictures done (if you want).
31. Pick a wedding photographer and make sure they are available for your wedding date.
32. Pick out different wedding pictures/poses that you MUST HAVE on the day of and give them to the photographer.
33. Figure out when you want your bridesmaids/groomsmen there and ready for pictures. Decide when you want the photographer to come and start shooting. (Ours got there while I was getting ready so that she could capture it.) Decide if you want your family there for pictures before or after the ceremony.
Music
34. Pick a DJ or make a wedding playlist and find someone to be in charge of playing it during reception (that’s what we did and it’s a lot cheaper).
35. You also need to choose the special songs for the wedding like the Bride and Groom’s first dance, father/daughter dance, and mother/son dance, if you choose to have those.
Food
36. Pick a caterer and decide what type of food you want. (Just desserts, light food, a full sit down dinner, etc.)
37. Pick someone to do your cake. (Research cake ideas on Pinterest…There are SO many!)
38. Decide if you want a groom’s cake or not.
Decorations/Theme/Flowers
39. Decide on wedding colors. This will affect most of your choices from this point forward.
40. Pick a florist.
41. Decide where you want flowers (alter, ceremony, center pieces, reception, etc.) I did somewhat minimal flowers and it was cheaper.
42. Decide if you want to buy decorations or DIY. (Go to places like the Dollar Store or Wal-Mart before you go to Hobby Lobby. You can find much cheaper décor at those places.)
43. Start buying décor for ceremony and reception. (Again, I did all my décor research on Pinterest and found so many ideas!)
44. Decide on wedding favors and getaway items (bubbles, ribbons, bells, birdseed, etc.)
45. Figure out when you will decorate (the day before or the day of) and who will be helping you. I would suggest doing most of it the day before because the day of is way too chaotic.
Rehearsal Dinner
46. Figure out where the rehearsal dinner will be and who will cater the food or what restaurant you will go to (usually the groom’s family takes care of this, so you don’t have to worry about it).
47. Figure out WHO you want coming to the rehearsal dinner (Josh and I invited the bridal party, people who played the music during the ceremony, our immediate family, and out-of-town guests to the rehearsal dinner).
48. Let guests know the details of where and when it will be at least a month ahead of time. (Because again, they WILL bug you with all these questions).
Ceremony
49. Pick a wedding officiate.
50. Decide the order of the ceremony.
51. Meet with your officiate and discuss the ceremony details. Decide if you want to do communion, the sand thing, special prayer, etc. together during the ceremony.
52. Decide who you want to walk you down the aisle. Whoever does this will need to get fitted in a tux/suit as well.
53. Decide if you want special music during your ceremony and who you want to play. Make sure those people are available.
54. Decide who you want to carry your wedding rings on the day of and before you give them to each other. (We had our best man/maid of honor hold on to them for us.)
55. Choose your flower girls/ring bearer. Choose their outfits and make sure they are there for the rehearsal to practice.
56. Pick/design/order wedding programs (We used Word and Photoshop to create ours and again, it was a much cheaper option). You can also make a big board with the order of the ceremony instead of doing individual programs.
57. Make a schedule for the day of that everyone can try to follow.
Reception
58. Coordinate with the caterer, cake person and florist to figure out when they will get there on the day of to set everything up.
59. Decide order of reception (grand entrance, when you want guests to eat, special dances, cake cutting, bouquet toss, garter toss, getaway, etc.)
60. Figure out who will announce your “grand entrance” to the reception. (Usually the DJ or person running the music will do it.)
61. Make sure you figure out who will cut the cake at the reception and pass the slices out. (Josh and I didn’t do this and that time period was a little confusing. Haha.)
62. Figure out who will pay the caterer, cake person, florist, church, photographer, etc. on the day of…trust me, you won’t remember to do it! Make sure your mom or someone has that responsibility.
63. Decide who will hand out wedding favors and getaway items to guests.
The “Getaway”
64. Figure out what you are bringing with you on the honeymoon and make sure you pack a “getaway bag” for when you leave the wedding. Make sure your mom/maid of honor gets it to your “getaway car” when you leave. It usually has the things you used throughout your wedding day that haven’t yet made it to your main suitcase. Make sure someone does the same for your husband.
65. Decide which car you are leaving in.
66. Decide if you are changing before you leave the reception and if so; pick out your “getaway outfit”. I chose to change because I didn’t want to bring my dress on my honeymoon! Haha. Josh also changed because he had to get his tux back to the place he rented it the next day.
After the Wedding
67. Decide if you and your husband want to give each other wedding gifts. (Josh and I didn’t get each other anything extra.)
68. PICK A HONEYMOON!!!! YAY! This was a fun part! Start looking now and book any plane tickets, etc. within 2 months of when you are going. Figure out how you will get there, how you will get back, where you will stay along the way, etc.
69. Choose where you are staying the night of your wedding. Go ahead and book it ASAP.
70. Also, make sure you ASK if they do anything special for people who are on their honeymoon. I asked and they moved us from a regular hotel room to a top level suite at both of the hotels we stayed at. It pays to ask and it can’t hurt!
Miscellaneous
71. Choose/order wedding bands. (I got Josh’s wedding band at Helzburg Diamonds and it was a lot cheaper than most other places for men’s wedding bands. His was under $200).
72. Decide if you want to do marriage counseling. If you don’t have time, make sure you both read a book or marriage study together and discuss it. (That’s what Josh and I did because we were so pressed for time.)
73. Figure out places to recommend out-of-town family members to stay (your parent’s house, hotels, etc.) because they WILL bombard you with questions of where to stay.
74. Figure out who will be throwing you bridal showers and the bachelorette party. They will take care of most of the details, but you will need to decide who you want invited to these parties.
75. Pinterest will be your BEST FRIEND. Research different ideas on there. I even got ideas for the food at my wedding from Pinterest.
76. Really use your family/bridal party/maid of honor. They will help you out so much even if you just ask them to do a few small things! Also, ask your creative friends for ideas.
77. Try to be as organized as possible and keep all of your wedding stuff together. It will start to accumulate. Program all the important people’s number’s in your phone, so that you can easily call them.
78. Get as much done before the week of that you can. The week of is CRAZY no matter what and you do not want to be doing things last minute that can be avoided.
79. Save money where you can. There are a lot of ways to save money and if you do it with most things then you will be a lot happier with the end amount you spend.
I promise everything WILL get done! I know the list looks long, and it is, BUT it will all get done!
Have a blast and enjoy your wedding day! :)
