Wedding checklist: 12 months before
A year or more out is where the checklist starts. These are the decisions everything else hangs on: how much you can spend, roughly how many people are coming, the date and the venue. Once those are settled, book the vendors who only work one wedding a day.
The 12 tasks for 12+ months before
Set wedding budget
Agree on a total you can pay without debt, and who's contributing what, before you look at venues.
Draft guest list
A rough count is enough for now; the size of the list decides which venues fit.
Hire wedding planner
If you want one, book early: good planners take a limited number of weddings a year.
Choose wedding date
Pick a date or a short list, with a backup, so venues can check what's open.
Book ceremony & venue
Visit, compare and sign once the budget and the rough guest count are set.
Create wedding website
A simple page with the date and place gives save-the-dates somewhere to point.
Book photographer
Photographers work one wedding a day, so the good ones go first.
Book videographer
Like photographers, they book a year out for popular dates.
Schedule tastings & caterer
If the venue doesn't cater, line up tastings once the venue is booked.
Book entertainment
Band or DJ: book as soon as the date is set.
Confirm ceremony officiant
Check who can legally marry you where you're marrying, and that they're free on the date.
Decide theme & style
Settle the look early so the florist, venue and stationery all pull the same way.
These are the tasks in the “12+ months before” group of the free wedding checklist. Put in your wedding date there and each one gets its own due date, with anything already late marked overdue.
Questions
- What should I do 12 months before the wedding?
- The checklist has 12 tasks for this stage: set wedding budget, draft guest list, hire wedding planner, choose wedding date, book ceremony & venue, create wedding website, book photographer, book videographer, schedule tastings & caterer, book entertainment, confirm ceremony officiant and decide theme & style.
- What is the first thing to do when planning a wedding?
- Set the budget and draft the guest list together. The venue you can book depends on both, and the date usually depends on the venue, so those two come before everything else.
- Is it too late to start planning with less than a year to go?
- No. Do this group first, all at once, and the later groups still work. Enter your date in the free checklist and it dates every task back from it; anything already late shows as overdue so you can see what to catch up on.