Countdown Calendar

9 Month to 1 Year:

• Share news of your engagement with family and close friends.
• Announce your engagement in the local newspapers.
• Set a budget. Establish who will be able to contribute and how much.
• Set the date.
• Meet with personal wedding planners or event designers if you anticipate using one.
• Choose ceremony and reception sites.
• Interview/call officiants.
• Establish the number of guests you'd like to invite, and compile a list with input from both sets of parents.
• Choose your maid of honor, best man and other attendants.
• Start shopping for your gown.
• Make a list of all of your vendors and their phone numbers and keep it so you can refer to it as needed through all of your wedding planning.

6 to 9 Months:

• Book the caterer, if it is not supplied by the reception site.
• Register for wedding gifts.
• Order your gown and schedule fittings.
• Purchase your shoes, headpiece, jewelry and lingerie for the wedding day.
• Choose bridesmaids' dresses.
• Choose your photographer and videographer and schedule engagement pictures.
• Select your floral designer and schedule a meeting.
• Select musician for the ceremony and reception.
• Contact travel agent to begin your honeymoon planning.
• Send out save-the-date cards, if desired.
• Schedule any beauty treatments (facials, brow-shaping, teeth whitening, bonding) that you would like to have over the next few months.

4 to 6 Months:

• Place orders for all wedding stationary: invitations, envelopes, thank-you notes.  (Negotiate a price for programs, menus, escort and place cards, which will be printed closer to the date).
• Book a calligrapher if you are using one.
• Meet with cake bakers and schedule taste testing.
• Book wedding-day transportation.
• Research accommodations and group rates for out-of-town guests.
• Finalize the guest list.
• Contact Travel Agent to plan the honeymoon and reserve flights, hotel rooms and a rental car.
• Plan the rehearsal dinner.
• Choose attire for your groom and his groomsmen and place orders.

2 to 4 Months:

• Contact town/city clerk's office to inquire about marriage-license requirements.
• Choose and order wedding favors.
• Order the wedding cake.
• Meet with the officiant to discuss options for the ceremony and choose readings;
• Invite loved ones to perform readings, if appropriate.
• Select the ceremony and reception music.
• Shop for attendants' gifts.
• Choose and order items for welcome baskets if you are giving them.
• Shop for and order wedding bands.
• Reserve party rentals - linens, tables, chairs and tents - if necessary.
• Reserve your accommodations for the wedding night.
• Confirm group hotel rates for out-of-town guests.
• Send invitations to calligrapher if you are using one or start addressing them yourself.

4 to 8 weeks before:

• Mail out your invitations six to eight weeks prior to the wedding date.
• Meet with the caterer to decide on the details of your menu.
• Send ceremony programs, menus, escort and place cards to the stationer to be printed.
• Do hair and makeup run-through with headpiece and veil.
• Discuss and decide on any insurance-policy changes that might be necessary for you and your groom.
• Gather information from the town or city clerk's office to change your surname, if desired.
• Send your wedding announcement to the local newspapers, if desired.

2 to 4 weeks before:

• Create a seating chart for the reception.
• Contact all vendors to confirm all details and set a timeline for the wedding day.
• Have your final dress fitting with shoes, headpiece, veil, jewelry and lingerie.
• Compose your vows.
• Write a toast to give at the rehearsal dinner or during the reception.
• Visit the salon for one last color and cut.
• Send escort and place cards and the seating chart to calligrapher to fill in guests' names and table numbers.

1 week before:

• Pick up your dress from bridal salon or make arrangements for it to be picked up or delivered for you.
• Organize all wedding-day payments and gratuities in clearly labeled envelopes and choose who will distribute them to your vendors.
• Decide who will collect and transport family heirlooms (unity candle, toasting glasses, cake knife and server) to and from the ceremony and reception.
• Confirm and deliver a final guest head count to the caterer.
• Take care of any last-minute beauty treatments, including waxing, facial, manicure and pedicure.
• Pack for the honeymoon.