Wedding planning checklist and timeline: what to do 12 months out, right up to the thank-you cards
A month-by-month wedding planning timeline from 12 months out to after the day, plus how to squeeze it if your engagement is shorter.
Planning a wedding isn't hard because any one task is hard. It's hard because there are a lot of them, and some have to happen in the right order. You can't send invitations before you have a venue, and you can't do a seating plan before RSVPs are in.
A timeline fixes that. Here's one that runs from about a year out to the thank-you cards. Treat the timings as a guide: popular venues and vendors book up earlier, and smaller weddings can move faster.
The timeline at a glance
| When | Focus |
|---|---|
| 12 months out | Budget, guest count, date, venue |
| 10 to 11 months | Photographer, caterer, wedding party |
| 8 to 9 months | Attire, music, save the dates |
| 6 to 7 months | Florist, officiant, accommodation, honeymoon |
| 4 to 5 months | Invitations, cake, rings, rentals |
| 2 to 3 months | Send invitations, fittings, the day-of plan |
| 1 month | RSVPs, meal counts, licence, final payments |
| The last 2 weeks | Seating, confirmations, packing |
| After the day | Thank-you cards, name change, final bills |
12 months out: the big decisions
- Set your total budget and decide who's contributing. See our wedding budget breakdown for a way to split it.
- Draft a rough guest list. You need a ballpark number before you can choose a venue.
- Pick a date, or a few. Being flexible on the date gives you more venues to choose from.
- Book the venue. Almost everything else depends on it.
10 to 11 months: book the people in demand
- Photographer and videographer. Good ones book early, often for the same weekends you want.
- Caterer, if your venue doesn't include one.
- Ask your wedding party. Give them time to plan for travel and costs.
8 to 9 months: the look and the sound
- Start shopping for attire. Made-to-order dresses and suits can take months, then alterations come on top.
- Book the band or DJ.
- Send save the dates, especially if guests are travelling.
- Set up a wedding website, if you want one, with the date, location and hotel details.
6 to 7 months: the details
- Book the florist and decor.
- Book the officiant and talk through the kind of ceremony you want.
- Reserve a hotel room block for out-of-town guests.
- Plan the honeymoon, and check passports are valid for your travel dates.
4 to 5 months: order what takes time
- Order invitations.
- Order the cake, after a tasting.
- Buy wedding rings, leaving time for sizing or engraving.
- Book rentals and transport.
2 to 3 months: invitations go out
- Mail invitations with a clear RSVP deadline, about three to four weeks before you need final numbers.
- Book hair and makeup trials.
- Start fittings.
- Write a day-of itinerary: who's where, and when, from getting ready to the last dance.
- Make a photo shot list of the group photos you can't miss.
1 month out: lock it in
- Chase missing RSVPs and give the caterer final numbers and meal choices.
- Get your marriage licence. Rules and waiting periods vary by province and state, so check yours well ahead.
- Pay final balances as they fall due.
- Write your vows, if you're writing your own.
The last 2 weeks
- Finish the seating plan.
- Confirm every vendor: arrival times, addresses, contact on the day.
- Send the itinerary to the wedding party and vendors.
- Pack for the day and the honeymoon, and put the rings, licence and vendor envelopes in one place.
After the day
- Send thank-you cards. Aim to send them within a few months. Keep a list of who gave what as gifts arrive, so you're not reconstructing it afterwards.
- Return rentals and anything borrowed.
- Pay any last bills, like overtime or a final rental invoice.
- Change your name, if you're changing it, on ID, bank accounts and work records.
On a shorter engagement
If you have eight months instead of twelve, the order stays the same: you just compress it. A simple way to do that is to shrink each stage in proportion. Eight months is two thirds of twelve, so a task normally done 9 months out moves to 9 × 2/3 = 6 months out, and one normally done 6 months out moves to 6 × 2/3 = 4 months out.
The exceptions are anything with a fixed lead time. Made-to-order attire, invitation printing and your licence take as long as they take, so do those as early as you can, not proportionally later.
Date every task from your wedding day
A checklist that just says "6 months out" means you have to do the subtraction yourself every time, and redo it if the date changes. It's much easier when every task has a real due date worked out from the wedding day.
Our Wedding Checklist does this. It comes with 40 ready-made tasks from 12 months out to the thank-you cards, each dated from your wedding day: change the date and every task moves. Each task has a when, area, due date, who and notes, with late and soon tasks flagged and progress shown by stage and by area. The Calendar puts tasks, payments and your own appointments on their day, with this month's list. There's also a Payments tab for deposits and balances, a day-of itinerary, a photo shot list and a packing list. It works in Google Sheets (free) and Excel 365.
