Your Complete Wedding Planning Timeline: From “Yes” to “I Do”

Newly engaged? Congratulations! If you’re not quite sure where to start your wedding planning journey, there’s no need to panic. We’re here to guide you every step of the way. Begin by reviewing this complete planning timeline. While there’s no one-size-fits-all timeline that will fit every event – especially modern weddings – we hope you’ll find this in-depth guide a helpful tool for planning your North Carolina wedding!

First Steps: What Should I Do After Getting Engaged?

If you’re ready to announce your engagement to friends and family, take a moment to enjoy sharing the joyful news. There’s no need to rush into planning without first enjoying being engaged!

Many couples choose to host an engagement party. Consider if this is something you’d like to do. There’s no pressure to throw a huge celebration if it’s not your style – do what makes you happy. You may decide you’d rather focus your energy, time and money planning the wedding itself and have a casual gathering to celebrate your engagement.

If you are itching to get a start on wedding planning, the first step is to clarify your budget. North Carolina weddings, along with events everywhere, have only increased in cost over the past few years. Make sure you talk over what you’re comfortable spending with your soon-to-be-spouse. The easiest way to embark on your planning journey is with a clearly defined budget.

You may want to choose a wedding date at this point. Or, if you’re comfortable waiting until later in the planning process, you may pick a date depending on the availability of your desired venue. Still, an idea of the general location and season you’d like to tie the knot is helpful at this point.

There are many free resources available to help you with your wedding planning journey. Start by signing up for our weekly newsletter.

18-10 Months Out: Define Your Budget and Guest List

Once you have a budget, you’ll be ready to make real progress on your wedding planning timeline! Now you can begin to seek out and hire the vendors who will bring your day to life. This may include a lot of leg work and research. Browse our blog for endless inspiration and tips, and use our digital vendor guide to get familiar with the best NC wedding pros.

Hiring key vendors is a surefire way to stay on track with your planning timeline. It’s key to seek out reviews, explore vendor’s social media accounts and attend open houses. If you’re going to hire a wedding planner (and we recommend that you do) finding the one that best fits your needs as early as possible during your planning timeline is a great way to minimize stress and save money in the long run. We recommend you browse our guide for choosing a wedding planner.

You’ll also need to define your guest count before you book a venue and additional vendors. This is an essential step before you can plan the rest of the details. You can even search our digital venue guide by guest count to find the NC venues that can accommodate your event.

10-8 Months Out: Complete Your Vendor Team

Once you’ve secured a venue, you’ll be able to hire many of your additional vendors, such as a caterer (if food isn’t included in your venue rental), photographer, florist, rental company, cake baker, stationer and more.

Schedule appointments to shop for your wedding attire. Wedding dresses can take months to arrive and will likely need alterations. Play it safe and order your dress and accessories with time to spare.

Now is also the time to send save-the-dates! You may decide to use engagement photos for these – if so, be sure to book your photographer early and inquire if you can add-on an engagement session. This is also a great way to get comfortable with your photographer and posing with your partner ahead of the wedding.

8-6 Months Out: Pick Your Wedding Party

Make sure that you’ve chosen the members of your wedding party if you have not already. They will need time to plan, purchase attire and make travel arrangements. Chose what dresses or formalwear you’d like them to wear.

Consider setting up a wedding website if you haven’t already. This is a popular step in planning for modern couples. There’s many free platforms out there that you can use to set up a basic website that includes travel and lodging info for your guests. You’ll also want to set up your registry.

6-4 Months Out: Time for a Trial Run

We recommend booking a trial run with your hair and makeup teams. This is the best way to ensure that you’ll be pleased with your wedding day look. There’s lots more to consider when it comes to prepping your skin and hair for the big day – like lash extensions, skin treatments, how many weeks out to get a haircut and more.

Work with your wedding band or DJ to craft a song list for your first dance, dances with parents and the rest of your reception.

4-2 Months Out: Stick to Your Timeline

By this point you may feel like you’ve completed most of the tasks on your wedding planning timeline, but there’s still more to be done! If you plan to have a bachelor or bachelorette party, you’ll want to do so a few months out from the wedding date.

This is the standard time to send out formal invitations and RSVPs to your guests. This will give them time to make travel arrangements if they need to.

Be sure to check your passport status before you tie the knot. You might leave this detail out of your wedding planning timeline, but if you’re planning an international honeymoon, this is not a step to skip!

If you plan to give gifts to your soon-to-be-spouse, parents, wedding party or other relatives, purchase these a couple of months in advance.

Month of: The Final Countdown!

If you plan to write personal vows, you may choose to do so a few weeks in advance of the wedding day. Make sure that you’ve discussed a plan for the ceremony with your officiant.

With your final guest count you can create a seating chart. Your wedding planner will likely help you with this and finalizing escort cards.

You may want to book a mani/pedi appointment during this time for yourself and your wedding party as well.

What to Remember the Week of Your Wedding

Consider steaming your wedding dress and/or bridesmaid dresses and attire a day or two before the wedding to save time the morning of. Pack an emergency kit that includes anything you might need while getting ready or in case of emergency on the day of.

Don’t forget to pick up your marriage license.

Make sure you’re prepared to give all of your service vendors a tip.

Get married and enjoy the moment! If you’ve carefully followed a detailed planning timeline, there’s no need to stress out on the big day. You’ve prepared and set yourself up for success! Be present and trust your vendor team to deal with any last-minute hiccups.

What do I need to do after the wedding?

With all of the planning and steps that go into your pre-wedding timeline, it might seem like the hard part is wrapped up as you tie the knot! That’s not entirely the case. There’s still a few things you’ll need to take care of after the wedding day. This includes leaving reviews for your vendors. It’s a great way to thank them for a job well done, and can help them connect with other couples who may be a good match for their services.

Lastly, submit your wedding to be featured on our blog!