Get Your Wedding Plans in Order: Wedding Planning Checklist

Recently engaged? Don’t know where to start? Planning a wedding is a whirlwind and no matter how organised you are, there’s bound to be little things that you miss. Rushing to add things to your wedding at the last minute is never fun. At the Goldsmithy, we promise every couple will leave with smiles on their faces and wedding bands of their dreams, but we’ve met many who have left their rings a bit last minute… so take a look below for an idea of what to do when.


12 Months Before…

The Budget
First things first – without a clear idea of what you can afford for your wedding, you’ll find yourself dreaming up ideas that aren’t feasible. There’s nothing worse than having your expectations too high, only to be faced with the reality of how much it actually costs.

The Date
Now you can’t get married without a date, can you? It sounds overly obvious, we know. But if you go excitedly scrolling through venues too early you may find end up falling in love with one, only to find out their available dates don’t work for you.

The Wedding Party
What’s a wedding without a wedding party? It’s time to select your Bridesmaids, Groomsmen, Best Man, Maid of Honour, and any others you wish to include!

The Venue
Next, you should get your venue fully booked. Many couples find that their venue sets the tone for the wedding. You may be indoors, in a marquee, or even entirely outdoors. You may also find the venue influences your colour scheme, theme if you have one, flowers or even the dress!

The Save The Dates
Save-the-dates are an odd concept… it’s essentially a more basic ‘pre-invitation’ before the actual invitation. But in all seriousness, they are important. Your final invites can take a while to design, create and send out. So if you want everyone to be free for your wedding day, get your save-the-dates out as soon as your venue is secured.

The Dress pt. 1
We’re under no illusion that the first thing on a brides mind is anything but her dress. And now is a great time to start looking, but ordering isn’t absolutely essential yet. You may fall completely in love with one early on and decide to order straight away – how perfect!
But if you don’t find your dream dress at first, don’t worry. There’s still time, there are more shops to visit, and there may be new collections coming out in a couple of months that you want to wait for.


10 Months Before…

The Dress pt. 2 (yay!)
Who cares what the groom’s wearing, right? It’s time to get that dress ordered! Hopefully, you’ve chosen one now, but if not now is definitely the time to do it. 10 months sounds like a long time, but bridal shops will need to order your size after you’ve tried on. And you’ll then need to allow time for it to arrive, and for alterations to be made before the big day.

The Wedding Bands (from The Goldsmithy…)
Again, this may seem early, but trust us! We’re the ones making them after all… The time it takes to have your bespoke wedding bands made can vary so much – it could be just a couple months or it could be several. It all depends on the design, but many are going with more elaborate designs for wedding bands these days, so it’s best to get them ordered early on, just in case.

Your wedding bands are a token of your marriage and at The Goldsmithy, we want you to have the wedding rings of your dreams. Allowing time for your dream rings to be created is essential, so we recommend getting your rings ordered as early as possible to avoid being disappointed. Many leave the rings until much later, sometimes because they don’t realise the time it can take, or sometimes because they’re wrapped up in other aspects of planning a wedding. But it’s important to remember the meaning behind these rings and that you’ll be wearing them for life, so you have to love them! Read more about wedding bands at The Goldsmithy.

The Bridesmaids
You’re not the only one in need of a dress remember… it can take a while to get a group of women all in the same dress, not to mention choosing a colour for them. So it’s best to get this done as soon as possible.

The ‘Staff’
Photographers, videographers, caterers or chefs, DJ, drivers or vehicle hire, florists and cake makers! You get the picture. These people can get booked up fast, especially during wedding season!

6 Months Before…

The Invitations
You may wish to send these out earlier, and that’s fine too. But don’t worry if you don’t have time, 6 months is plenty of notice. After all, everyone should have received a save-the-date and has most likely kept the day free for your special day.

The Men’s Outfits
Men don’t take as long as women to choose their outfits, fact. It’s a good time to get shopping for suits, top hats, tails, kilts, whatever takes your fancy. You’ll also need to decide if you’re buying or hiring the menswear.

The Boring Bits
Itineraries, seating plans, transport, etc.. it’s not as fun as dresses and cake, but it needs to be done.

And The Rest…

You’re not quite done, but the big bits are out of the way and you’re still left with some nice little tasks at this stage. There are final meetings and fittings to organise, shoes and accessories to buy, beauty treatments to book, wedding favours to arrange, and don’t forget to make room for your hen and stag do plans!

We can’t promise the smooth running of every aspect of your wedding plans, but a plan as organised as the above will surely make your life a bit easier, and what we can promise is a pair of beautiful bespoke wedding bands for you both to wear as lifelong tokens of your special day.