Wedding binder: what to put in your wedding day binder

A wedding binder is the whole wedding in one place: the timeline, who's coming, where they sit, who to call and what's still owed. While you plan, it's where every quote and contract lives. In the last weeks it becomes the Wedding Day Binder, the copy you hand to whoever is running the day, so neither of you has to answer questions in your wedding clothes.

This guide covers what to put in a wedding planning binder, what goes in the day-of version, how to put it together and who gets a copy.

Planning binder or day-of binder?

They do two different jobs.

| | Planning binder | Wedding Day Binder | |---|---|---| | When | From the engagement to the last month | The last week and the day itself | | Who reads it | The two of you | Your coordinator, the venue manager, a trusted friend | | What's in it | Quotes, contracts, inspiration, budget, guest list drafts | Only what someone needs on the day | | Size | Grows every month | As thin as it can be |

Most couples keep a planning binder (or a spreadsheet, or an app) for months, then pull the day-of pages out of it at the end. Keep the two apart: a coordinator doesn't need the three florist quotes you turned down.

What to put in a wedding planning binder

Tabbed dividers in this order suit most weddings:

1. Budget: your total, each category, the deposits paid and the balances due with their dates. Our guide to setting a wedding budget has the usual split.
2. Checklist: what's due this month and next.
3. Guest list: households, addresses and replies.
4. Venue: the contract, the floor plan and the rules (candles, confetti, the end time).
5. Vendors: a page for each one with the quote, the contract, what's included, the deposit and the balance.
6. Inspiration: colors, fabric swatches and the pictures you've saved.
7. Timeline: the draft of the day.
8. Notes: everything from vendor meetings, dated.

Keep each contract in a plastic sleeve at the back of its vendor's tab, and write the date the balance is due on the tab itself.

What goes in the Wedding Day Binder

The day-of binder holds only what someone needs to run the day. Linenfold's Wedding Day Binder prints these 15 sections, in this order:

1. Couple Profile: about each of you, your story, your favorites and your important people, so the coordinator knows who your grandmother is.
2. Rehearsal Dinner Timeline: every event of the evening before, with each person's part.
3. Wedding Day Timeline: the day hour by hour, with a column for each person. Our guide to making a wedding day timeline shows how to build one.
4. Wedding Party: name, role, side and a contact number.
5. Guest List: every guest, how many are coming and their table.
6. Seating Plan: each table with its guests and counts, plus the rehearsal dinner's tables if it has them.
7. Confirmed Vendors: name, contact person and contact number.
8. Food & Drinks: the food vendors, the final menu by course and the caterer report.
9. Logistics: guest stays and travel, and when each vendor arrives.
10. Emergency Contacts: name, role, vendor and contact number.
11. Final Payments & Tip Envelopes: what each envelope holds and who hands it over. Our guide to final wedding payments covers what to pay before the day and what to pay on it.
12. Decor: each item, where it goes, its category and how many.
13. Music Playlist: the ceremony songs, the reception songs and the Do Not Play list.
14. Photo & Video Shot List: each shot, who's in it, the time of day and who's taking it.
15. Packing Lists: both of your lists, by category, with the wedding day emergency kit.

Leave out what nobody needs that day: quotes you didn't take, the budget by category, the pictures you saved for inspiration.

How to put it together

• Start three weeks out. Vendors' final details, the seating plan and the caterer's numbers settle in the last month, so the binder can't be finished before then.
• Freeze it two or three days before. Print it then, and write any last change on the page in pen rather than printing it again at midnight.
• One section to a tab, with a contents page at the front. Whoever holds it should find the DJ's number in ten seconds.
• Phone numbers, not email addresses, for everyone who might be called on the day.
• Keep the envelopes with it. Balance and tip envelopes go in a zip pouch at the back, each labeled with the vendor and who hands it over.

Who gets a copy

• Your coordinator or point person: the whole binder. Without a coordinator, choose one calm friend or relative who isn't in the wedding party.
• The venue manager: the timeline, the seating plan, the vendor list and the floor plan.
• Each vendor: only their part. The photographer needs the timeline and the shot list; the caterer needs the menu and the final counts.
• The two of you: a copy of the timeline each, and nothing else. The point of the binder is that you don't carry it.

Keep one spare copy in the car or at the venue's office.

Make yours in Linenfold

In Linenfold the Wedding Day Binder builds itself from what you've already planned: the timeline, guests, seating, vendors, payments and packing lists. Each section has a switch and a line saying what it prints, with a live preview beside them. Add cover photos, choose Letter or A4, and download one PDF with a contents page. The Binder takes its colors and fonts from your Moodboard, so it looks like the rest of your wedding. You can also print parts on their own: a sheet for each vendor, the Couple Profile, the tip envelopes and the caterer report.

Turn on the online copy and the Binder gets a read-only page of its own, and the PDF's cover and contents page print a QR code that opens it. Whoever is holding the paper can scan it for the latest version on their phone. Emergency contacts show online only to people signed in to your wedding, and turning the online copy off stops the link working.

On the free plan the Binder prints with a "Made with Linenfold" watermark and a credit line at the foot of each page. The Rehearsal Dinner timeline, Food & Drinks, Logistics, Emergency Contacts, Decor, Music and the Shot list are part of Complete: on Free those sections show "Part of Complete" and don't print. Complete prints the whole Binder with no watermark. Pricing has the rest.

Start with the free wedding day timeline maker, the backbone of any binder, and when you're ready to build the rest, create a free account.