The Perfect Wedding Planning Guide to Get You Started
Congrats on your engagement! After you take some time to celebrate and soak it all in, it’s time to dive into the world of wedding planning. While we know you’re over the moon about getting engaged, we also know that you’re probably starting to feel overwhelmed thinking about all the things you have to plan and prepare before your wedding day. There’s so many questions and details to think about… What color napkins should we have? Do we want an outdoor or indoor venue? Do we have to make a seating chart? And the list goes on.
We get it. And that’s why we’re here to guide you every step of the way with this starter wedding planning timeline that will keep you on track and let you know what to expect at every stage.
Getting Started
We recommend starting with setting your budget. This will help you determine, from the start, what’s possible. You’ll want to talk with any family members who may be helping with the financial side of things and figure out a solid number before booking your vendors. It will also be helpful for you to have an idea of your guest list so you can provide vendors with a rough number of how many guests might be at your wedding.
The next thing you’ll want to tackle is locking down your venue and your date. This is such an important part to start with as most vendors won’t sign a contract unless you have these two things solidified. Be sure to have a couple possible dates in mind when you’re touring venues, in case one of the dates you wanted isn’t available. Your date will depend on the venue’s availability, so if getting a specific date is a dealbreaker for you, we would suggest looking at venues as early as possible after getting engaged. Once you have your date and venue nailed down, you can start to book your other vendors (including booking your wedding planner or coordinator with Driftwood!)
You’ll want to decide whether you need full planning or a day-of coordinator, Driftwood does both! With a full planning package you’ll get start to finish guidance throughout the entire planning process and wedding day, so you can sit back and enjoy every part of the process and let us handle the details. With day-of coordination, we’ll take over in the final weeks before the wedding to finalize the details, communicate with vendors, create a smooth timeline and be there on your wedding day to flawlessly execute your vision.
10 Months Out
The first group of vendors you should book, about 10 months before your wedding, are your photographer, videographer and a DJ. With these vendors, you’re booking one person for their services as opposed to an entire business that may have multiple people available. So it’s important to lock them in early, especially because the best ones get booked up quickly.
You’ll also want to send out save the dates with your wedding date and location on them around this time as well so guests can plan ahead, especially for those who have to travel.
6 Months Out
Around the 6 month mark is when you’ll want to have your wedding website (we recommend theknot.com) fully updated, your gift registry complete and all your vendors booked. At this point, you should be able to transition from getting all of the big things set to focusing on the smaller details like the wedding day timeline, ordering decorations and other small design elements.
5 Months Out
Getting your invitations sent out at the right time is essential, we recommend sending them out about 5 months before your wedding to give guests enough time to RSVP, purchase gifts and finalize accommodations if they have to travel.
In addition to hosting your wedding website for free, The Knot also allows you to create a free registry and digital RSVP’s which make it so easy for your guests to let you know they’re coming and for you to keep track of your guest count.
1 Month Out
A month away from your wedding date is the perfect time to apply for your marriage license. Be sure to check the rules in the state you’re getting married in to make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get everything ready to go. Some states may have longer waiting periods, for example Idaho has no waiting period while Washington has a 3 day waiting period (meaning you can’t legally get married until three days after your license is issued). In both Idaho and Washington, you’re able to apply for your license online and pick it up in person.
2 Weeks Out
When your wedding is just two weeks away, you should begin to work on organizing and labeling all your decor so that your coordinator knows where each box is going and exactly how you want everything to look. We’ve seen some couples do this by organizing everything in clear, labelled bins with a list inside explaining each item and what it’s for. We’ve even had some couples include a picture or diagram of how they’d like everything to be set up which is super helpful! Be sure to think about how you want every part of your wedding to look, including your welcome table, head table, guest tables, dessert table and other decorations you might want.
We hope this brief wedding planning timeline gives you a good starting point and an idea of what to expect in the months leading up to your big day. We’re so excited for you and wish you the best throughout your entire wedding journey, happy planning!
