Nearly every wedding checklist is sorted by month. That is not useless, but it hides the thing that actually causes stress, which is that a handful of decisions block dozens of others, and if you make them late everything downstream compresses.
The three that block everything
The date. Nothing can be booked without it. It also sets your season, your pricing and your light. Price two or three candidates before you commit to one.
The venue. It sets your guest ceiling, your catering options and frequently your bar arrangements. Every vendor you book after this is booked to fit it.
The guest count band. Not the list - the band. Eighty, one-fifty, two-fifty. It drives catering, bar, rentals, invitations and the room layout. You can refine the list for months; you need the band early.
Roughly when the rest lands
- Twelve to nine months. Date, venue, guest band. Photographer and caterer, who book earliest of the vendors.
- Nine to six. Attire, because alterations take longer than anybody plans for. Music. Florist. Save the dates, if you are sending them.
- Six to three. Invitations ordered. Menu tasting. Rentals, once the layout is settled. Hotel blocks if guests are travelling.
- Three to one. Invitations out. RSVP date set three to four weeks before the day. Timeline built with your coordinator.
- The last month. Final counts. Seating chart, after the RSVP date and not before. Rehearsal. Then stop.
What you can safely leave late
Favours, signage, the playlist, and most of the decor you are currently pinning. None of it blocks anything, and all of it is cheaper and better decided once you have stood in the actual room.
We keep a twelve-month timeline you can generate from your own date - it prints, which is the only format that survives a planning binder.