Wedding checklist pro: 12 to 9 months before

Although every couple has its own pace and different priorities, our wedding planning experience taught us when is the perfect time to decide on certain segments of the wedding. As we already covered the hardest decisions, it’s time to deal with fun stuff.

If you want to become a wedding checklist professional, here’s what you have to think about in the period between 12 and 9 months before the wedding:

RESERVATIONS

Unless you haven’t done this already, make sure you book:

• The venue
• Photographer and cinematographer
• Band and/or DJ

Booking your favorite venue or hiring the most popular band or photographer must be done as soon as possible since the best ones tend to be booked more than a year in advance. Remember that last minute arrangements often lead to complete frustration.

WEDDING THEME

In this time period, you should choose your wedding theme. Is it going to be luxury all-white formal event, colorful beach ceremony or intimate backyard party? Are you going to stick to classics or insist on themed wedding? Is it better to choose your favorite colors or the ones that will enchant your guests? In any case, it’s time for some heavy brainstorming. PINTEREST can be a good start.

WEDDING DRESS

Although it’s probably the first thing you think about, now would be the right time to start looking for your wedding dress. Some brides know the exact type of wedding gown they want while the others feel overwhelmed by the amount of available choices out there. If you forget about color and style for a moment, there’s still a lot of choosing to do. Are you going to have your wedding dress custom made or are you eager to acquire a designer piece? What kind of material do you prefer; lace, chiffon, silk or satin? And what about the veil and shoulder covering? It’s better to start thinking about that.

Also, start looking for matching shoes.

BRIDESMAIDS

After you’ve decided on your style for that special day, it’s time to take care of your bridesmaids. Of course, you can let them choose the outfit by themselves… but just think about the photos of you and your perfectly toned bridesmaids, posing for everlasting memories. So, let your bridesmaids know the ideas you had in mind and start making arrangements for their apparel.

We already covered this topic on our blog a couple of weeks ago; tips on styling bridesmaids can be found HERE.

VACATION AND HONEYMOON

Since last couple of months before the wedding can be pretty hectic, it’s better to deal with some minor yet important details in this period. One of those things is determining the dates for your vacation. The other is to find and book your honeymoon trip. Not only that you’ll save yourself some additional stress, but you’ll have plenty of time to get totally excited about your vacation.

WEDDING PLANNER

And last but not least: in case you’re planning to have professional help with your dream day, don’t forget to hire a wedding planner. In case you’re still weighing the pros and cons, TEN SIGNS YOU NEED A WEDDING PLANNER post will help you make up your mind about this big decision.

Although your wedding day is still far away, in this wedding planning period the contours of your dream day finally starts to appear and your excitement about the whole thing starts to grow. But, there’s a lot of hard work ahead of you in the following months.

In our next blog covering Wedding Checklist Pro topic, we’ll write about the period between nine and six months before the wedding.