Your wedding planning timeline
Set your wedding date and get a month-by-month plan — exactly what to do in each calendar month, right-sized to your guest count and style. Free and printable.
Prefer a tick-off checklist? Use the planning checklist instead.
When’s the big day?
A typical 12-month wedding timeline
Not sure of your date yet? Here’s the standard shape of a year-long plan. Set a date above to turn it into your own calendar months.
12+ months out
- Set your overall budget
- Draft your guest list
- Pick a date (or a 2–3 month target window)
- Settle on your overall style and colors
- Decide if you want a planner or day-of coordinator
- Research and tour venues
- Book your venue and lock the date
9–11 months out
- Book your photographer
- Line up catering and tastings
- Book your band or DJ
- Choose and book your officiant
- Book a videographer
- Start shopping for your wedding dress
- Plan the suit or tux
- Send save-the-dates
- Reserve a hotel room block for guests
- Build a simple wedding website
6–8 months out
- Order your invitations and stationery
- Book your florist and finalise decor
- Choose and order your cake or dessert
- Reserve rentals (tent, tables, chairs, linens)
- Book hair & makeup and schedule a trial
- Plan your ceremony and start writing vows
- Set up your gift registry
- Book your honeymoon
- Choose attire for your wedding party
4–5 months out
- Arrange transportation
- Shop for your wedding bands
- Order favors and welcome gifts
- Finalise your menu and bar selections
- Schedule your first dress fitting
2–3 months out
- Mail your invitations
- Check your marriage-license rules and timing
- Set up a system to track RSVPs
- Start your seating chart
- Confirm details and timing with every vendor
- Write thank-you notes as early gifts arrive
- Buy and break in your wedding shoes
1 month out
- Give your final headcount to the caterer and venue
- Build a day-of timeline and share it with your vendors and party
- Prepare final payments and tip envelopes
- Finalise your vows and any toasts
- Pick up your attire and do a final fitting
- Assign a trusted day-of point person
Final 2 weeks
- Chase any missing RSVPs
- Finalise the seating chart and print place cards
- Pack a day-of emergency kit
- Pack for the honeymoon and the wedding night
- Delegate day-of jobs (rings, gifts, payments, returns)
The week of
- Hold your rehearsal and rehearsal dinner
- Get the marriage license to your officiant
- Hand tip envelopes to your point person
After the wedding
- Send your thank-you cards
- Return rentals and any hired attire
- Pay any final balances and review your vendors
- Start your name-change paperwork
- Choose photos and order your album
- Preserve your dress and bouquet
Wedding timeline questions, answered
How far in advance should I start planning my wedding?
Twelve to fourteen months is the comfortable norm — enough runway to book popular venues and vendors before they fill and to spread costs out. But it’s not a rule. This generator works backwards from whatever date you set, so if you’re six or even three months out it simply compresses the early tasks into a “start now” block and shows you exactly what to prioritise.
What does a typical wedding planning timeline look like?
Roughly: 12+ months out you set the budget and book the venue; 9–11 months you lock photography, catering, music and attire; 6–8 months you handle invitations, florals, cake and the ceremony; 4–5 months you mail invitations and finalise the menu; 2–3 months you track RSVPs and build the seating chart; the final month is headcounts, payments and the day-of timeline. The tool above maps all of that onto your actual calendar months.
Can I plan a wedding in 3 or 6 months?
Yes — plenty of couples do, especially for smaller or less formal weddings. Set your real date and the timeline collapses anything whose ideal window has passed into a single “start now — already due” group, and trims the optional nice-to-haves, so the plan stays realistic and achievable rather than pretending you have a year.
How is this different from the checklist tool?
Same right-sized task set, two views. The checklist groups tasks into relative stages (“12+ months out”) and lets you tick them off and track progress. The timeline maps each task onto a real calendar month based on your wedding date — so you see “in March, do these three things” — and prints as a dated schedule. Many couples use both.
Is the timeline generator free?
Completely free, no sign-up, and nothing is saved to our servers — your date and choices stay in your browser. Print it or save it as a PDF to keep, and pair it with the free Budget Builder to put numbers behind each stage.