For many a bride and groom, weddings involve more than simply booking a banquet hall for the gala reception and ceremony. Coordinating by using a Wedding Checklist makes the most sense, allowing you to checklist your items and keep all of your Wedding Planning details in order.
You have found the perfect life partner. Now, plan your perfect wedding. Regardless of where you decide to have your wonderful day, the event will call for a significant amount of planning along with ideas and information.
Planning Your Wedding
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Depending on your personal preferences and the preferences of your husband or wife-to-be, a wedding can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 2 years to plan. If one step in the planning process is missed, the whole wedding could be ruined. To prevent this from happening, we have created a wedding checklist in order to ensure everything goes according to plan on your big day.
7-12 Months Prior
- Announce Engagement and have your engagement party
- Decide on the wedding style and create a guest list
- Choose who you both want in the wedding party
- Set the date and time of the wedding
- Book your wedding officiant
- Choose your wedding song
- Decide on “extras” (cake, flowers, dj, photographers etc)
- Purchase your Wedding Dress and bridal accessories
- Purchase bridesmaids dresses and accessories (maid of honor as well)
- Start planning your honeymoon
- Buy (or make) your Wedding Favors
- Purchase your Wedding Invitations
- Plan your rehearsal ceremony and dinner
2-6 Months Prior
- Arrange accommodations for out-of-town guests
- Finalize the dinner menu
- Book your limo (or other form of transportation)
- Book the rehearsal dinner site
- Book your honeymoon
- Purchase your wedding rings
- Purchase your gifts for the wedding party
- Rent the tuxedos for groom and grooms men (including best man)
- Schedule a dress fitting (bride)
- Book hair and makeup appointment (bride)
- Have your bridal shower
- Send out the invitations to your guests
- Plan the wedding program
1 Month Prior
- Get your marriage license (and blood tests if needed)
- Final dress fitting (bride)
- Arrange seating for your guests
- Have your stag and doe party
1-2 Weeks Prior
- Pick up the wedding dress
- Have your bachelor and bachelorette parties
The Day Before
- Give the wedding party their gifts
- Pick up the tuxedo(s)
- Decorate the wedding site
- Have your rehearsal dinner and greet out-of-town guests
Follow these steps in the first step towards a lifetime of marital bliss!
The Traditional Wedding Day Running Order
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If you are having a traditional wedding with all the customs and traditions included, then it is a good idea to draw up a wedding day schedule or running order of events so that each member of the wedding party knows what will be happening and when. Typically, a wedding schedule will include items such as the photographs, speeches, toasts and cake cutting, but you can also include any other elements that you are having within the running order. A wedding day schedule does not have to be strictly for a traditional wedding either, drawing one up for an informal wedding whether it is big or small will help to ensure everything goes to plan on the day.
A typical wedding day schedule will look something like this:
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Ceremony: Ask your celebrant/priest/officiant to give you an order of service so you know the order of events for the ceremony.
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Formal Photographs: If you are having formal posed photographs then these will likely be taken after the ceremony outside your venue or venues.
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Reception: The traditional receiving line is perhaps less observed these days and instead many couples are choosing informal welcome drinks or cocktail hour instead whilst more photographs are taken.
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Dinner: Traditionally known as the wedding breakfast as it is the first meal of your married life.
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Speeches: Within Wedding Etiquette there is no rule about when the speeches should take place but traditionally they would follow the dessert in the schedule in this order:
•Bride’s Father: Traditionally the bride’s father would introduce her to the groom’s family, give short stories of special memories of his daughter and finish with a toast to the couple.
•The Groom: The groom will mostly spend his time thanking people, beginning with the bride’s parents, thanking the bridesmaids and thanking the guests for coming. He may also say a few words about his new wife and then propose a toast to the bridesmaids.
•The Best Man: The best man will introduce the groom to the bride’s family and usually will make a funny speech about the groom (without being too risqué or causing offense). The best man will also be responsible for reading out messages and cards from absent guests. He ends with a toast to the happy couple.
Cake Cutting: The cutting of the wedding cake is announced by either the Master of Ceremonies or the best man and will usually take place after the wedding breakfast and speeches. The couple will cut the first slice and then the cake will be taken away, sliced and served to the guests.
First Dance: The first dance signifies the beginning of the evening celebrations and commences with the couple taking to the dance floor alone and dancing to a favorite song. It is then traditional for the bride to dance with her father, the groom with his mother and the best man with the chief bridesmaid. The bride and groom will then dance with their respective in-laws, at which point the guests are invited to join them on the dance floor.
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Use this checklist as a guideline for scheduling a time for many of
the day’s details. (Make sure you plan some time for yourself. Eat
a good breakfast, take a brisk walk or a long soak in the tub or
watch a favorite movie—anything that will calm you down and
fortify you for the day’s events.)
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TIME OF DAY BEFORE THE CEREMONY
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____ Hairdresser and makeup appointment with your attendants
____ Flowers arrive for you, your attendants, mother, father and other
appropriate family members
____ Flowers arrive at the groom’s residence for his mother, father, best man
and other appropriate family members
____ Begin getting dressed
____ Photography and videography sessions begin
____ Transportation to ceremony arrives
____ Leave for the ceremony site
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TIME OF DAY AT THE CEREMONY SITE
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____ Florist arrives to decorate
____ Ushers arrive
____ Musicians and/or vocalists arrive
____ Groom and best man arrive
____ Parents of the groom are seated, unless they are
part of the processional
____ Your mother and maid of honor arrive
____ Your attendants arrive
____ You and your father arrive
____ Prelude music begins
____ Your mother is seated after last guest is seated
____ Processional begins
____ Ceremony begins
____ Recessional begins
____ Post-ceremony photography session begins
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