Hints and advice to prepare for your great day
12-18 Months Before Your Wedding
- Announce your Engagement to family and friends
- Place an engagement announcement in the newspaper
- If you are having an engagement party book it and send out invitations
- Set wedding date, you may need a couple of options as the venues you choose may be booked on your date
- Determine wedding ceremony and reception style, casual or formal, reception centre, marquee, or garden
- Determine approximate number of guests, this has a lot of influence in choosing your venue
- Set a wedding budget, now is the time to decide who will be contributing and how much.
- Start thinking about your wedding gown, look at different styles and decide what you would like
- Look for a suitable ceremony location and make a tentative booking
- Look for a suitable reception location and make a tentative booking
- Confirm your ceremony location and pay a deposit
- Confirm your reception location and pay a deposit
- Choose a caterer and book them (if required)
- Choose and order your wedding dress
- Choose and book photographer
- Choose and book videographer
9 to 11 Months before your Wedding
- Start a display folder that you can gather all your wedding planning information together in, you don’t want to lose things like deposit receipts
- Begin your guest list, ask parents for a list and do your own wish list, this can be finalised closer to the date
- Select your bridal party and ask each of them if they will do the honours
- If you are planning to use a wedding planner, find one and hire them now
- Select the colour scheme for your wedding, you will need to think about the colours or your chosen ceremony and reception location and attire for your bridal party
- Select your reception quartet, band or DJ and start listening to demos
- If you are planning an outdoor ceremony, decide if you would like a wet weather option (chapel or marquee)
- If you are planning an outdoor reception book marquee and any other party hire
6 to 8 Months before your Wedding
- Book reception entertainment
- Choose and book ceremony entertainment
- Choose and order bridesmaids attire, involve all bridesmaids
- Choose and order junior attendants attire, allow for possible growth
- Choose formal wear for groom and groomsmen, organise fittings and book to hire
- Meet with and book florist, decide what flowers you require and what style you would like
- Choose a gift registry, if using one, and select a big range of gifts with a large price range
- Choose your wedding cake and order it
- Place a provisional booking on some hotel rooms for out of town guests
- Inform all out of town guests of the wedding date as they will need extra travel time
- Decide on your invitation wording and design, involve all parents
- Plan Honeymoon
- Organise passports, birth certificates and visa
4 to 5 Months before your Wedding
- Finalise guest list
- Finalise caterer and reception details
- Reserve bridal suite for wedding night
- Finalise wording for all wedding stationary and order it
- Finalise ceremony arrangements, including marriage licence
- Select gifts for each other
- Select gifts for bridal party
- Choose a hairdresser and book for your trial and the wedding day. You will need to book in for yourself, all female attendants including flower girls and possibly mothers. You should only need to have a trial yourself, but confirm this with your hair stylist
- Choose a makeup artist and book for your trial and the wedding day. You will need to book in for yourself, all female attendants and possibly mothers. You should only need to have a trial yourself, but confirm this with your makeup artist
- Hire wedding cars for the bridal party, you will need to decide what sort of transport you need and where the two parties are getting ready
2 to 3 Months before your Wedding
- Choose and purchase bridal accessories, veil, headpiece, jewellery, lingerie and shoes. You will need lingerie and shoes for fittings
- Choose and buy grooms accessories, shoes, cufflinks, etc
- Choose accessories and shoes for the bridal party and organise for your attendants to try shoes on, jewellery is an excellent gift for your bridal party
- Decide on any additional decorations that you would like for your ceremony or reception that are not included. Red carpet, seat covers, disposable cameras, butterflies to release, ideas are only limited by your imagination. Book these services
- Any new beauty routines or hair colours or styles should be experimented with now
- If you plan a diet and exercise regime to get in shape start it now
- Pick up your invitations and start addressing them
- Confirm fittings and delivery date of your dress
- Confirm with all bridesmaids that they have organised their dresses and shoes, and to try them on again before the wedding date
- Decide what bombonieres you would like and make or order them
- Ask special guests to do readings or take part in the ceremony in any other way that you would like
- Choose a MC, this could be a guest or a professional one
- Select ceremony and reception music. You will need to pick music for walking down the aisle, signing the register, the bridal waltz, cutting the cake and any other particular music you would like. A quartet is recommended for this
- Talk to the maid of honour and the best man about the hen/ stag parties and any bridal showers that you choose to have. They will need lists with names and addresses of those who you would like to invite
- Post wedding invitations out 6 to 8 weeks before the wedding
- Have your hair and makeup trials. Having them on the same day gives you an excellent excuse to go out for the night, ensure you take your headpiece and veil
- Purchase anything required for the honeymoon.
6 to 8 Weeks before your Wedding
- Decide on vows and readings for the ceremony
- Write your ceremony program
- Add more gifts to your registry if required
- Have your final gown fitting and confirm when the dress is to be picked up
- Order drinks if they are not included in the catering package
- If required, arrange a babysitter or something to entertain the kids at the reception
- Work out wedding day times before you need to confirm bookings
- Confirm your honeymoon booking
- Book in to have your nails professionally done 1 or 2 days before the wedding. You may wish to just get your own done or the bridesmaids as well
3 to 4 Weeks before your Wedding
- Organise your rehearsal and rehearsal dinner
- Contact everyone in the bridal party and ensure that they know what is required of them leading up to and on the day, ensure that they know all the times, check that their attire and shoes are organised
- If there are any beauty routines that you are still to do, do them now, facials or teeth whitening etc
- Have a meeting with your officiate to finalise your ceremony structure, you will need to let them know the vows are readings that you have chosen.
- Pick up wedding rings and check their size
- Pick up your wedding dress, and store it carefully where no harm can come to it and it won’t get creased
- Decide what you are using for something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue, also organise your garter if it is not one of these items
- Call all guests who haven’t rsvp’d, a few days before you need to confirm final numbers
- Confirm all reception details including menus and numbers
- Arrange seating for reception and let the reception centre or caterer see this asap
- Name your place cards and deliver them to the reception centre
- Check luggage condition
1 Week before your Wedding
- Have your rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, confirm your ceremony details and time with the officiate
- Confirm your ceremony location booking, including time
- Confirm flowers ordered and delivery locations and times with your florist
- Confirm cake order and delivery location and time with the baker
- Confirm photographer time and locations
- Confirm videographer time and locations
- Confirm your ceremony entertainment including music choices
- Confirm reception entertainment including choices
- Confirm any party hire including marquee (if required)
- Confirm any decorations or specialty items that you have booked
- Confirm bombonieres, number and delivery details
- Confirm transport, to ceremony, to photo locations, to reception location and leaving the reception, including times
- Confirm hairdresser booking, both time and number of people
- Confirm makeup artist, both time and number of people
- Confirm nail and beauty treatments
- Confirm formal wear hire
- Confirm wedding night accommodation
- Confirm MC
- Confirm with any guests who are doing readings or special favours for the ceremony
- Confirm with any guests who are doing speeches at the reception
- Confirm honeymoon arrangements
- Pack for your wedding night
- Pack for honeymoon
- Arrange refreshments for bridal party while dressing
- Check that you have all the accessories that you need, jewellery, shoes, veil, tiara, lingerie, extra pair of stockings, garter, something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
- Have your hen and stag nights
- The groom should have a have a hair cut now if required
- Plan the night before the wedding, who will be staying where
- Leave a copy of your honeymoon itinerary with someone
- Organise cash for anything that is to be paid on the day and give it to a trusted person to make the payment on the day
The Day before your Wedding
- Pack car for honeymoon
- Organise someone to transport wedding accessories
- Organise someone to return anything hired
- Pickup tuxedo’s the Friday before wedding
- Review schedule with wedding party
- Gather together everything that you need to get ready on the wedding day and take it with you to where you are getting ready
- Drop off anything required to the reception centre
- Check that all formal wear items are there and are the right size
After your Wedding
- Ensure that all formal wear is returned
- Take any photos to be developed
- Check that all wedding bills have been paid in full
- Take your gown and veil to be cleaned
- Freeze the top layer of your wedding cake
- If you wish to have your wedding bouquet preserved, take it to be done
- Within two months write thank you letters