The Wedding Timetable - First Steps
The first thing you will plan for your wedding is the budget. Talk between yourselves and your respective parents about the kind of service you would like. You will find that your parents will be of enormous help to you in discussing the budget. On your very special day you will want the best of everything, do plan carefully the style and tone of the day.
When you have decided, visit your Vicar/Priest or Registrar and make arrangement for your marriage ceremony. They will be of great help to you both, and explain everything you need to know about walking up the aisle and saying 'I do'. If you wish, a rehearsal can be arranged to set your minds at ease and ensure you that things will be perfect on your wedding day. Take this opportunity to apply for a marriage license if necessary.
Now might be a good time to decide on who you will ask to be ‘Chief Bridesmaid’ and ‘Best Man’
The Wedding Countdown 12 Months
Once you have decided the date and place of your wedding, its important to remember the following points. In descending order your family and friends will generally remember the following
1. How beautiful the bride looked
2. How wonderful the ceremony was
3. The reception
Think about it. Now is certainly the time to be choosing carefully both your wedding dress and your reception venue
Other important things to be arranged now are as follows:
1. Book the photographer and videographer
2. Book the transport
3. Book the toastmaster if required
4. Decide on the number of guests and make a list
5. Order the invitations
6. Book the honeymoon and apply for passports
7. Decide on the bridesmaids and ushers
8. Order the wedding cake
You have now put in place an excellent framework for the build up to your big day. Hopefully, you now have a team of professionals all working towards making sure it is a day to remember, and for all the right reasons.
6 Months
Time for some fun! Lets organize a wedding present list. (Don’t forget that a lot of stores will now help you with this.) Having already organized your dress you will probably have a colour scheme in mind for the bridesmaids’ dresses. Now is the time to be co-ordinating these aswell.
Once the colour scheme is decided it is probably time to start ordering the flowers for bouquets, church and the reception, if required
Other items to arrange now are:
1. Hire of the suits for the bridegroom, best man, fathers and ushers
2. Initial fitting of the dress
3. Choosing the wedding rings
While you’re on the phone, now might be the ideal time to organize appointments with your hairdresser and beauty salon, to make sure you look at your most beautiful on the big day
3 Months
Now is the time to be sending out the wedding invitations, This would also be the ideal time to be escorting the ‘mums’ into town to organize their outfits (Don’t forget the hats!)
1. Choose the hymns and choice of music
2. Arrange for the ‘Order of Service’ sheets to be printed
6 Weeks
You should now be fairly well organized and in the envious position of sitting back and relaxing for a couple of weeks in the full knowledge that there are a whole host of people out there worrying on behalf. However, on your weekends off between now and the big day , it might be a excellent idea to nip out and choose some presents for the bridesmaids, and perhaps some flowers for the mums.
4 weeks
The pace is starting to hot up now.
It’s time to see whether everyone else has been as organized as you
1. Confirm the reception venue booking, and numbers attending.
2. Confirm details with the photographer
3. Confirm wedding cars.
4. Confirm details with the florist and give final numbers for buttonholes
5. Confirm travel and hotel booking for the honeymoon. N.B. Check passports!
10 to 7 days
If you haven’t organized a rehearsal of the ceremony now might be a good time to meet with the best man, bridesmaids and ushers to finalize arrangements and responsibilities
1. Practice your make-up.
2. Take the headdress to your hairdressers
3. Give the ‘Order of Service’ sheets to the vicar
And ,perhaps most importantly of all... START PACKING FOR THE HONEYMOON
One day to go
Try and delegate as much work as possible, Have your beauty treatment , finish off any packing that still remains to be done for the honeymoon, lay out your wedding and going away ensemble, relax and put your feet up.
The Wedding Day
Assuming a 2pm Wedding, the bride’s timetable will run smoothly like this :-
8:00 Have a shower or relaxing bath
8:30 Have a good breakfast
9:00 Polish your nails
9:30 Hairdressers
11:00 Best man arrives to collect the luggage/greetings cards /telegrams
11:30 The bridesmaids / pageboys arrive
12:00 Make-up
12:30 The brides and bridesmaids dress
1:00 The photographer arrives
1:30 The first car takes the mother and the bridesmaids to the church. The bridesmaids then wait for church entrance.
1:45 The second car takes the bride and her father to the church
1:58 Wait in church entrance and line bridesmaids up behind you. The verger will greet you
2:00 Get married GOOD LUCK
Brides of
