Wedding Planning Timeline

By Sophie Fleetwood

Wedding Planning Timeline

We hear you, wedding planning can make life very busy. If you’ve just recently gotten engaged, we’ll be honest with you, you’ve got a long road of planning ahead of you. For most brides-to-be, this can be really intimidating. If you’re trying to plan your wedding while balancing a job and who knows what else, it can be easy to get stressed out. Where do you even begin? What should you do first? What should you do last? Look no further brides, we’ve got a wedding planning timeline for you to use as your go-to guide from laurenconrad.com. Below you’ll find the full wedding planning timeline and IndyBride2B is here to add a little more depth to the items you’ll be checking off as you go along the list.

Pro tip: Buy a desktop calendar!!! I love calendars that you can keep out on your work-space 24/7 because it’s so easy to add in new things to your calendar all the time. I think staying organized is a key component to a successful planning process, so don’t forget to jot ideas, dates, and appointments down on paper! It’ll make your life easier, we promise!

12 Months Until Wedding Day

So you’re a year out from your wedding day, but it’s time to start nailing down the basics so that you can form a foundation for your planning.

Book Venue

You’ve picked a date for your wedding, so naturally, the next step is to find a venue with your date available. Keep in mind that some venues offer discounts for weddings on Sundays, so consider having your wedding during a holiday weekend as it might save you some cash! Make sure to do your research on venues too. When you have your appointment with each venue, be sure to ask the right questions. For a full list of crucial questions to ask your potential venues, click here.

Draft Guest List

Next, you’ll want to create your guest list. This is just kind of one of those preliminary tasks that you have to get out of the way before you can move on to other important steps like creating a seating chart and sending out save the dates.

Pro tip: Don’t invite your ex…

Engagement Party

Everybody loves a good party, and it’s even more fun when you’re the one being celebrated. If you’re planning a bridal shower, your maid of honor will most likely be doing most of the planning here, so that will take a little bit of the pressure off your shoulders.

Registry

This is crucial because as soon as invitations go out for your bridal shower, people will be wanting to check your registry for the items they can buy you for the shower.

10 Months Until Wedding Day

Pick an Officiant

If you’re getting married at a church, the church may already have a preferred officiant for you to use. But, if you’re not sure where to start, check out our Indy Wedding Vendors Tab!

Select Bridal Party

It’s important to have your tribe lines up because these ladies are going to have your back no matter what happens! They’ll be with you every step of the way and keep you smiling when things get hectic!

Choose Vendors

This is another big one. A huge part of planning your wedding is finding those people that are going to help make your dream wedding a reality, don’t forget to devote some major time and attention to this task.

Take Engagement Photos

There are so many talented photographers in the Indianapolis area. Find one under our Indy Wedding Vendors Tab, pick a location that represents you and your fiancé best, and strike a pose! Most photographers give you about three outfit changes so you’ll have lots of variety in your album.

8 Month Until Wedding Day

Order Your Dress

Get this done ASAP. This is an important task to do early on because as we all know, there will be alterations and fittings, so you need to give yourself enough time to have those appointments in a timely fashion before your wedding day. If you’ve found a dress you love, make sure you order it before its sold out or on back order!!

Block Hotel Room for Guests

Chances are, you’ll have guests coming in from out of town. It’s your job to choose the hotel that you will be reserving rooms for them to stay in. Get this task out of the way so that they can begin booking their rooms early on.

Cake Tastings & Order Cake

Who doesn’t love cake? This part will be fun for you and your fiancé! It’s good to do this early on because the key to a successful wedding day is planning ahead!!

Begin Hair and Makeup Trials

Start pinning your favorite hair and makeup looks on Pinterest. Then, when you book a consultation with you vendors/potential vendors, you can give them a clear idea of what you’re looking for.

6 Months Until Wedding Day

Send Save the Dates

Get these out quickly so that your guests can get your wedding day on their calendars! You’ll follow these up with formal invitations later.

Book Honeymoon

It’s always important to plan out vacations ahead of time, especially your honeymoon. Click here to check out some of the best honeymoon destinations.

Order Bridesmaids’ Dresses

It’s important to get these ordered quickly, just like your wedding dress. The reason for this is because of the same reason why you want to order your own wedding gown quickly. Alterations!!! The dresses your ladies try on might fit for the most part, but it is likely that a lot of the girls will need to have separate fittings and alterations.

Purchase Wedding Bands

Any big purchases that you can get out of the way should be made pretty early on in the planning process or in enough time so that if exchanges or changes need to be made, you can do that before the big day arrives.

4 Months Until Wedding Day

Select Groomsmen Attire

Always do this after you’ve picked our bridesmaids dresses, the men will match their suits and ties to the dresses that your ladies will wear, it’s just easier that way.

Plan Rehearsal Dinner

Find a venue where you can all eat dinner after rehearsing the ceremony in your chapel or ceremony venue. Enjoy this evening when it comes, if you choose to do this the day before the wedding, it’s your last night as an unmarried woman!

Confirm Vendors

This is a good precautionary measure, just to make sure everyone is onboard and capable of giving you what you need.

Decide on Hair & Makeup

You’ve had your trial runs, pick your favorite looks and create the finished look of your dreams!

2 Months Until Wedding Day

Mail Invitations

Your guests should already have your wedding day on their calendar from the save-the-dates you sent them, but now it’s time to send them a formal invitation.

Write or Decide on Vows/Ceremony

You can either write your own, or use the standard vows. There’s nor right or wrong answer!

Purchase Day of Accessories

Remember to accessorize with some bling! But, not too much bling, you’ll want to keep the dress at the center of attention!

Confirm Day of Transportation

This one is super important. Are you using a limousine service for your bridal party? A party bus? DO you have your getaway car?

6 Weeks Until Wedding Day

Apply for Marriage License

You know what to do, gotta make it legal!!

Get Everything Printed

By this, we mean menus, place cards, programs, etc.

1 Month Until Wedding Day

Bachelorette Party

Live it up with bridesmaids and have some fun!!! But don’t get too crazy.

Bridal Shower

Yay for free gifts from your loved ones that you and your future hubby can use as a married couple some day!

2 Weeks Until Wedding Day

Final Dress Fitting

You ordered your dress a while ago, and weight fluctuates. Have a final fitting just to be sure that everything is fitting properly so that your dress will fit as expected on your special day.

Give Shot List to Photographer

This step is actually pretty important because if you prepare a list for your photographer, then you’re never going to have that moment when you think of something that you wish your photographer would’ve taken a photo of.

1 Week Until Wedding Day

Final Headcount

Make sure you’ve got enough seats and dinner plates for the number of guests that you will have at your ceremony/rehearsal!

Finalize Seating Chart

Double check that everything looks right and make any last minute changes or adjustments now. After that, make it final.

Get Facials and Waxings

Time to primp, brides! You’ll want every inch of you looking perfect so relax with a spa day and make sure everything is in tip-top shape for that special day!

48 Hours Before Wedding Day

Get Tan

Maybe do a trial run of your tan a couple of months before, just so you make sure that you’re using something that looks natural, even, and glowing. Spray tans can be a wonderful thing, and who doesn’t love a warm and bronzed glow?

Have Nails Done

Do NOT do this more than 48 hours before. You won’t have time to get it done the day of, but if you do this more than two days before the wedding, you run the risk of chipping your nails and having an imperfect manicure on your perfect day.

Wrap Bridesmaids and Grooms Gifts

Of course, if you can get this done even more ahead of time, it might be nice to have it out of the way. But, just don’t save it till the day of or the last minute because you can and will run out of time.

Day Before Wedding Day

Rehearsal Dinner

This is a time for you to run through the whole process and make sure that everything will go smoothly. Invite your bridal party and close family and put on a pretty dress to enjoy some good food and a rehearsal of your perfect wedding that is about to happen. Ahh, the anticipation!

Day of Wedding

Tie that knot!!!