Wedding Planning Timeline
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Would you like to get a perfect sample of the wedding timeline?
We have one for you! Let's take the opportunity and use our destination wedding timeline as a wedding timeline template. Adjust it based on the personal plans for your celebration. Here's a typical wedding timeline example:
12 months before the wedding
- Celebrate your engagement and let your loved ones know about your plans to get married
- Start planning your guest list
- Make an approximate budget
- Choose a wedding theme
- Decide on the format of the ceremony - visiting or painting in the registry office
- Look for wedding inspiration in the Ideas section
- Buy a fitness membership to be in great shape on your wedding day
10 months before the wedding
- Visit multiple venues and reserve your favorites
- Make a list of wedding contractors: organizers, photographers, videographers, hosts, musicians, etc.
- Go in search of your dream dress or order custom tailoring
- Think of what entertainment/performances/show program you would like to arrange
8 months before the wedding
- Think about how to spend a bachelorette party
- Approve the photographer you like
- Order a wedding cake, specify delivery details
- Choose bridesmaid outfits
- Prepare a playlist for all the highlights of the wedding
6 months before the wedding
- Send save-the-date cards to your invitees
- Buy wedding rings
- If you are planning a honeymoon, book a tour
- Decide on a wedding print design (text, font, and paper type for invitations, table numbers, seating cards, thank you cards, menus, etc.)
4 months before the wedding
- Decide on the image of the groom, buy a suit, shoes and cufflinks
- Purchase the necessary wedding decorations (petals, streamers or sparkly confetti, etc.)
- Create a menu for a banquet and buffet table
- Buy bridal accessories such as jewelry, lingerie, garter, etc.
3 months before the wedding
- Submit an official application to the registry office
- Plan out how to spend your second wedding day
- Book your hotel room for the wedding night or bride's morning gathering
- Meet with the bridal stylist, discuss hair and makeup details
- Take a photoshoot of a love story with the photographer who will be at the wedding. So you will get used to it and will behave more openly at the wedding photo session
2 months before the wedding
- Include invitations in the wedding timeline. Give invitations to the guest
- Rent transport for yourself and your guests
- Schedule your wedding day
- Prepare nice compliments for all invited guests
- Meet the host and tell us about the format of the wedding
- Hire musicians or DJ
- Practice your first wedding dance
1 month before the wedding
- Write your wedding vows
- Order the bridal bouquet and boutonniere
- Visit a beautician
- Confirm agreements with all contractors, agree on their arrival time on the wedding day
- Come up with a hashtag for your wedding photos
- Buy a gifts
1-2 weeks before the wedding day timeline
- Prepare sample shots that you wanted to repeat and show them to the photographer
- Have a bachelorette and bachelor party
- Decide on the music program
- Make a seating plan for guests
- Schedule a detailed timing of the wedding day by the hour
- Wear them at home for a few days to carry your wedding shoes
1-2 days before the wedding
- Take a relaxing bath
- Get a manicure and pedicure
- Collect a handbag with a list of essential items for the bride
- Make sure that you are fully prepared for the celebration
Day of wedding timeline
- Have a hearty breakfast
- Get together slowly, you have time for everything
- If you plan to shoot the bride's morning, give her enough time
- Don't forget to take rings and passports
- Enjoy your dream wedding!
After wedding: 2 days
- Disassemble gifts
- Send thanks to everyone attending the celebration
After honeymoon
- Have your wedding dress and veil dry cleaned
- If you've changed your last name after the wedding, replace all your documents
The Big day is soon?
Don't worry! With our wedding timeline generator, there is no reason for panicking! You can use it anytime and edit whenever you want! But first, look at our templates to know how to plan your wedding timeline.
Morning wedding timeline
The gathering of the bride and groom can take place at home or in a hotel room. At the same time, you can do the morning preparing for the wedding:
Together. In this case, the lovers will be able to take care of each other. The morning spent together before the celebration and common chores will give you even more confidence, warmth and give you pleasant emotions.
Separately. If you support the tradition that the groom does not want to see the bride before the wedding.
With girlfriends or friends. You can start the morning with a fun joint breakfast and then move on to packing up.
The bride and groom must complete all the necessary preparations on the eve of the wedding day. The duration of the wedding fees is determined individually, since it depends on the complexity of the makeup, hairstyle, and the qualifications of the master. But you must book at least two or even three hours for this.
Brunch wedding timeline
Meeting the groom with the bride.
Wedding ceremony. Registration of marriage is an important moment of a wedding, which should be bright, exciting, touching. The timing of marriage registration should be taken seriously as it will affect the planning of the entire day. After all, if you check in too early, you and your guests will have to get up very early, and if you check in late, you may not have time to walk. It would be best if you tried to find the "golden mean".
Walk and photo session
The wedding walk and photo session can take place with or without guests. If you decide that relatives and friends invited to the celebration should share every minute of this day with the newlyweds, then you should think about what the guests will be busy with during the walk. It is worth making a list of places you would like to visit, discuss these places, as well as the features of collective photography with a photographer. In case of bad weather, it is advisable to prepare an alternative plan for the walk.
A walk without guests is an opportunity for young people to be together, to take great photos without fuss and excitement, and guests at this time will not have to be bored on the sidelines. In this case, the guests will be invited directly to the registry office or restaurant. If you decide to take a walk after the registry office, you should come up with entertainment for the guests.
Evening wedding timeline
Traditional banquet. In this case, close people will gather to share this important event with the newlyweds. A standard wedding program is designed for an average of 5-6 hours. Therefore, you need to discuss with the toastmaster the start and end time of the banquet.
Buffet. If you decide to host a party for a small number of guests, it is worth considering the option of organizing a wedding reception.
No banquet. In this case, guests in honor of the newlyweds can launch balloons with wishes.
So, in brief!
Of course, the schedule we have presented should not be seen as a strict plan to be strictly followed. Rather, it is a rough guide from which you can schedule your own wedding day plan by the hour.
8:00 - 10:00 - Time for the morning getting up of the newlyweds, breakfast, taking a shower. Depending on the time of registration of marriage in the registry office or an exit ceremony, it may change. It is better to go to bed early on the eve of the wedding.
9:00 - 12:30 - Stage of creating hairstyles and makeup, trying on dresses and shoes. It is even better if you have at least another forty minutes in reserve in case any unforeseen circumstances arise.
The groom is also getting ready at this time.
12:30 - 13:00 - The bride and groom meet! Usually, a small festive buffet is held at this time.
13:00 - 15:00 - Wedding photo session. One crucial tip: prepare in advance and provide entertainment and buffet reception for guests. Waiting for the newlyweds for several hours is quite tiring.
15:00 - 15:30 - The photo session is over. The groom, the bride and some of the guests go to the place of the ceremony. If the photo session took place near registration and banquet, add at least 30 minutes to move to the wedding plan.
15:30 - 16:30 - Wedding ceremony.
16:30 - 17:00 - If the ceremony was held at the registry office, additional time is needed to get to the place where the banquet will occur. In this case, be sure to take into account possible traffic jams.
17:00 - 22:00 - Wedding banquet. The banquet has its own detailed "schedule", and it is called the script. Everything is scheduled there literally by the minute.
22:00 - 22:30 - The bride and groom say their thanks and leave. Sometimes the show program continues after that, this time only for guests.
Practical points
For the convenience of planning a wedding timeline, you can use our special wedding timeline planner for your wedding day, which we have on our website. You can add all the wedding timeline events to the schedule and easily share the wedding rsvp timeline with guests by simply sending them a link.
A detailed plan of the wedding reception timeline prepared in advance will help to avoid complications during your holiday. A responsible person, such as a witness, can be asked to follow up on the schedule. To do this, you must remember to download PDF or Excel file of your wedding timeline planning, print out the plan so you'll not accidentally miss or confuse anything. The main thing is not to panic and not worry because your wedding timeline checklist can always be corrected, and the most important thing is to maintain a positive attitude and good mood!
Make a schedule of wedding timeline events before the wedding, and your celebration will bring maximum pleasure to you and your guests!
We offer an international wedding planner service, open to all. Soon we hope to make our software available in all languages, so far, we have created versions for these languages:
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