Image by Henry Tieu Photography. See more of this real wedding here.

Planning a wedding can seem like a daunting task. With the help of top-notch wedding vendors and this 10-month wedding planning timeline, your wedding planning process is sure to be smooth and stress-free. From the early planning stages to the week-of, this wedding planning timeline is sure to keep you on track and make sure you won’t miss a beat. The more organized you get now, the more time you’ll have to soak up every memorable moment.  

10 Months Before The Wedding Day 

The key in this one-month timeframe is to align your values with your expectations. The first month is for building the foundation for all your wedding plans—ultimately setting yourself up for success. We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to start by curating your wedding day budget that is realistic and comfortable for both you and your significant other. 

Your budget will become the foundation of your planning process. It’ll help narrow down wedding day details like venues to consider, how large your guest list can be, and help you prioritize what’s most important. Once you hammer out those all-important numbers, you can move on to more fun things, like creating your wedding mood board, touring venues, and planning decor. 

Here’s what to do 10 months before the wedding:

• Create your wedding budget 
• Research wedding vendors and potential venues you want to tour 
• Start brainstorming your guest list 

Eight To Nine Months Before The Wedding

You’ve spent the last month solidifying your budget, now the fun planning begins—creating a vision for your day, deciding who will stand beside you, and booking your vendors and venue. Top-notch vendors like wedding planners, photographers, and videographers book up quickly. You’ll want to research and book your desired vendors as soon as you’ve decided on them. 

This eight to nine-month window is also when you’ll begin to focus on guest-specific tasks like finalizing the wedding guest list you’ve been working on, creating a wedding website, and registering for gifts. It’s also a good time to start creating a mood board. This will help organize your ideas and communicate your vision with your wedding vendors. 

With a seal-tight budget and a team of professional wedding vendors on your side, you’ll be starting out your wedding planning process on the right track. 

Here’s what to do eight to nine months before the wedding:

• Book your wedding vendors 
• Tour and book your wedding venue 
• Finalize your wedding guest list 
• Create a wedding mood board 
• Set up your wedding registry
• Create your wedding website 

Six To Seven Months Before

Now that you’ve sorted out the large wedding details and you’ve compiled your dream wedding team, it’s time to announce your wedding with Save The Dates. The next several months will be focused on diving deeper into the details—from wedding fashion to bringing your decor to life and even blocking hotel rooms for out-of-town guests. 

It’s time to find your dream wedding day outfit and, if you’ve decided to have a wedding party, start sorting out their wedding day fashion. If you’re looking for bridesmaid fashion ideas, check out these trends we’ve got our eyes on. It’s also crucial during this time to start meeting with wedding vendors and communicate your vision. This is where your finalized mood board will come in handy. 

Here’s what to do six to seven months before the wedding:

• Announce your wedding with Save The Dates
• Find your dream wedding outfits
• If you’re having a wedding party, start prepping their wedding day fashion  
• Start planning ceremony and reception decorations 

Four To Five Months Before

You’ve officially hit the half-way mark in the wedding planning process—congratulations! Now is the time when most of your details will start to fall into place, so be prepared for a whirlwind of decision-making. In this four to five-month timeframe, you’ll want to set everything up for the wedding rehearsal, including deciding who will be invited to the event so you can prepare invitations. You’ll also want to focus your attention on your wedding day look by setting up your first dress or suit fittings and, if you’re hiring hair and makeup artists, schedule your trial. 

Continue meeting with wedding vendors and get ready for cake testing. It’s also a good time to start thinking and planning wedding showers and the bachelorette or bachelor parties. Decide who you want to invite to each occasion and then start putting together inspiration. 

Here’s what to do four to five months before the wedding:

• Finalize wedding rehearsal details
• Schedule your final wedding day fashion fittings 
• Meet with wedding vendors and complete your cake tasting 
• Plan a wedding shower
• Plan bachelorette or bachelor parties
• Schedule hair and makeup trial appointments 

Image by ItsAllAbout. See more of this real wedding here.

Three Months Before

With just three months to go, it’s time to cross off some of those tiny details that are easily overlooked. Buying your wedding rings, finalizing your food and printing menus, and ordering guest favors. Trust us, you’ll be glad you got these little things out of the way early—allowing you to focus on bigger details and reduce wedding planning stress in the coming months. 

Since the majority of the big-ticket items have been taken care of, this is also the perfect time to plan out your wedding ceremony. Will you be including a unity ceremony? Will you be writing and reading your own vows? When you and your significant other make these decisions, meet with your officiant to plan the rest of the ceremony—discuss other ways you want to make your ceremony personal and ask them for advice if you’re feeling stuck. 

Here’s what to do three months before the wedding:

• Buy your wedding rings
• Order party favors
• Finalize food details with your catering team
• Order menu cards 
• Finalize wedding ceremony details 
• Meet with your officiant to personalize your ceremony 

Two Months Before

With just two months left, use this month to meet with all of your vendors to ensure everyone is still on the same page and send your final payments. We recommend you meet with your photographer in person or on a video call to discuss day-of plans and ask any final questions you might have. 

We also recommend meeting with your DJ and other musicians to create and finalize the playlist. This is your chance to provide them with songs you do and don’t want to be played at the reception. After that, it’s time to celebrate. You’ve earned every bit of relaxation and fun your wedding day has in store, so live it up at those bachelorette and bachelor parties. Let the stress of wedding planning melt away for the night (or the entire weekend). Next month is crunch time.

Here’s what to do two months before the wedding:

• Touch base with your wedding vendors 
• Curate a wedding day itinerary with your photographer 
• Finalize your wedding playlist 
• Celebrate with your bachelorette and bachelor parties

One Month Before 

It’s officially crunch time. You’re only one month away from the day you’ve spent months preparing for. It’s the month that all of those details still on your to-do list will be checked off. Most importantly—get your marriage license. Laws vary from state to state and country to country on how far out you need to get your license, so make sure you know the ins and outs of making your union legal.

In addition to getting your license, you’ll want to schedule your final fittings and buy all the accessories you need, decide if you want to change into reception outfits (and buy them if you do), create your day-of timeline, and create your seating chart. You should also have received lots of RSVPs by now. Update your guest spreadsheet, call anyone you haven’t heard from, and prepare a final list for the caterer.

Here’s what to do one month before the wedding:

• Get your marriage license 
• Schedule your final fittings 
• Buy all accessories and reception outfits, if you’re planning an epic outfit change 
• Create your day-of timeline
• Finalize your seating chart based on RSVPs 

Image by Nikk Nguyen Photo. See more of this real wedding here.

One Week Before 

You’ve made it to the home stretch and your big day is right around the corner. As you’re prepping for your wedding day, there are just a few last-minute things to cross off your list. This week, spend your time checking in with vendors, the wedding party, and any other family or friends who need to be in the loop to ensure everyone is on the same page. You’ll need to get the final guest count to the caterers, as well as plan for any day-of payments. We recommend filling out checks and tips and putting them in marked envelopes that can be easily handed off to your coordinator. 

Finally, it’s time to indulge in some last-minute relaxation, packing for the honeymoon, and getting everything together so you’re feeling your absolute best on your wedding day.  

Here’s what to do one week before the wedding:

• Touch base with vendors one last time 
• Finalize day-of wedding itinerary and send to all parties 
• Send the updated guest list to the caterers 
• Ensure you have checks ready for day-of payments

The Wedding Day

It’s officially your big day—you’ve made it. Your only responsibility on the day of your wedding is to be fully present and soak up every soon-to-be memory. With all details set, trust your wedding planner and wedding team to take care of everything. 

After The Wedding 

You’re officially married, now what? There are just a few loose ends to tie up before you settle into newlywed life. Don’t worry, there aren’t many things left to do. The most important is circling back with all your vendors to ensure all the balances were paid before or on the day of the wedding. If you do have any outstanding balances, be sure to pay them. While you’re doing this, you can also help your vendors by adding reviews to their websites or vendor pages—like the ones we host here at Junebug Weddings.

Then you can move on to more important things, like opening gifts you received on the wedding day and sending “Thank You” notes to your wedding guests. To make that process easier (and to ensure nobody is forgotten), we recommend using your guest list spreadsheet to note all the gifts you received. That way, all the information—name, gift, address—is in one place for when you start writing notes. 

Whether you’re planning an over-the-top traditional wedding or dreaming of an adventurous elopement, this 10-month wedding planning timeline is a great resource to keep you organized—giving you time to focus on personalized details that will make your wedding unique.