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Wedding planning checklist, dated from your wedding day

Twelve months is a comfortable time to plan a wedding, and six is enough if the venue and caterer are booked straight away. Enter your date and all 40 steps get their real date, with invitations at four months and RSVPs closing at six weeks. Tick, print or download it.

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Wedding planning checklist

Pick it to see the real date for each step, and flag what’s already overdue.

12 to 9 months before: the big decisions

  • Set the overall budget and who contributes

    12 months before

  • Draft a first guest list, even a rough one

    12 months before

  • Choose the date, or two or three possible dates

    12 months before

  • View and book the reception venue

    12 months before

  • Contact the registrar or celebrant: available dates, paperwork, deadlines

    11 months before

  • Book the photographer (and videographer)

    11 months before

  • Book the caterer, if the venue doesn’t impose one

    11 months before

  • Choose your witnesses and wedding party

    11 months before

  • Book the DJ or band

    10 months before

  • Reserve rooms for guests coming from far away

    9 months before

  • Start looking for your outfits (dress, suit)

    9 months before

9 to 6 months before: suppliers

  • Choose the florist and the look of the décor

    8 months before

  • Book the honeymoon, if you’re leaving straight after

    7 months before

  • Create the wedding page: schedule, addresses, accommodation

    6 months before

6 to 3 months before: guests

  • Arrange the shuttle or guests’ transport

    6 months before

  • Send the save the dates

    5 months before

  • Choose the rings

    5 months before

  • Send the invitations with an RSVP deadline

    4 months before

  • Agree the menu with the caterer and do the tasting

    4 months before

  • Choose the day-of stationery: menus, place cards, seating chart

    3 months before

  • Gather the paperwork for the marriage

    3 months before

3 months to 1 month before: the details

  • File the marriage paperwork

    3 months before

  • First outfit fittings, alterations

    2 months before

  • Prepare the playlist and DJ instructions

    2 months before

  • Chase guests who haven’t replied

    8 weeks before

  • Close RSVPs and confirm numbers

    6 weeks before

  • Confirm every supplier: times, addresses, contacts

    5 weeks before

The last month

  • Write your vows and brief anyone giving a speech

    4 weeks before

  • Give the caterer the final guest numbers

    3 weeks before

  • Do the seating plan

    3 weeks before

  • Send the run sheet to every supplier

    2 weeks before

  • Publish the final schedule and last details to guests

    2 weeks before

  • Check the legal paperwork is in order

    10 days before

  • Final fitting, weather check and a rain plan

    7 days before

  • Pay the suppliers’ balances due before the wedding

    7 days before

  • Confirm the day’s timings with the venue and witnesses

    3 days before

  • Get the rings, envelopes and outfits ready

    The day before

The day itself

  • Name one person to deal with suppliers for you

    Wedding day

After the wedding

  • Thank your suppliers and leave a review

    7 days after

  • Send thank-you messages to your guests

    4 weeks after

Go further

And for your guests?

The timeline is for you. What your guests look for (schedule, addresses, shuttles, hotels, replies) fits on one page you can still correct the night before.

Create your page, it’s free

Did this help? Pass it on to a friend who’s getting married.

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The maths, plainly

Key takeaways

40 stepsfrom twelve months before to a month after. Six months is enough if the venue and caterer are booked in the first few weeks.

  • The timeline gives 40 steps, from twelve months before the wedding to the day after, and dates them as soon as you enter your wedding date.
  • The order that matters: budget, guest list and date first; then the venue and suppliers who only do one wedding a day; invitations at four months, RSVPs closing at six weeks, the caterer’s numbers at three weeks.
  • The list can be ticked off, printed and downloaded as a spreadsheet. Your ticks stay in your browser.

How it’s worked out

  1. 01Each step has a number of days before the wedding: the tool adds it to the date you choose.
  2. 02A step whose date has passed and isn’t ticked is flagged “overdue”.
  3. 03The timing follows our planning-timeline guide: invitations four months out, RSVPs closing six weeks out, final numbers to the caterer three weeks out, paperwork filed two to three months out.
  4. 04Nothing is sent: ticks are kept in your browser, for the date you entered.

Frequently asked questions

Before you start

When should you start planning a wedding?
Twelve months before is comfortable. Six is enough if the venue and caterer are booked in the first few weeks. Suppliers who only do one wedding a day (venue, photographer, DJ) go first.
What comes first?
Set the budget, draft a first guest list and choose the date: these three decisions drive everything else, including the venue.
When should invitations go out?
Around four months before, earlier if guests must travel, with an RSVP deadline six weeks before the wedding. Save the dates go out around five months before.
Can I tick things off and find the list later?
Yes. Your ticks are saved in your browser for that wedding date. Nothing is sent: if you change device, download the spreadsheet.

Another question? The team reads everything and replies personally. Write to us

The blog

Go further

The guides that go with this tool.

On the day, your guests won’t read your spreadsheet

What they look for is the time, the address, where to park and which table they’re on. Your wedding page tells them, and keeps itself up to date.

Create your pageSee an example

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