Wedding Tips: The Planning Timeline

photo by lauren cardwell

I planned weddings for 6 years - and am still planning a few, my own included <insert that emoji with the heart eyes>.  I probably won't ever really stop planning.  I have a sister and a few besties with weddings still to be planned that I will force myself into helping with.  My love for weddings runs deep in my bones, y'all.

The VERY first thing my old biz partner and I would do with a client after the initial consult and booking, is create a planning timeline. You can download versions of these on different websites such as Wedding Wire or The Knot - but we had a pretty standard one we always used that kept it super simple.

This timeline was our planning LIFESOURCE. We rarely strayed.  It kept us all on task.  If you are planning your own wedding and this is the first real event you've planned, it can be quite overwhelming.  There seems to be so much to do that it's hard to figure out where to start.  And there is just SO MUCH stuff on Etsy and Amazon and at Hobby Lobby!  WEDDING OVERLOAD!

We often would meet with a bride or groom who had realized they were in over their head - hence wanting a wedding planner. So ALWAYS we started with a customized timeline.  It helped couples breathe.  They could easily see what was to be done in each month so it broke the big task down to smaller, manageable things to check-off.  We firmly believed the wedding was a party - and parties are supposed to be fun!  Not stressful!

We liked to spread things out so there was SOMETHING to do each month.  It helped keep them from getting bored and buying every single thing they could find in their wedding colors, just to have a wedding task that month =).

If you are planning your own wedding, or are starting out as a Wedding Planner, take a peek at a sample of a standard 12 month timeline.  If the engagement is shorter or longer, just spread it out, or condense it up.  Don't do ONE SINGLE WEDDING PLANNING THING until you make a timeline.  Get organized, y'all  And ENJOY.  Planning a wedding should be the happiest period of your life.  Relish in every second and take it all in.

xo-Ava