Wedding Planning: My Planning Timeline
Let's talk wedding planning... It can be stressful and one of my key ways of managing stress is to stay organized! When I first started wedding planning, one of the first things I did was create a Planning Timeline.
Photo by Jess Castellano (Instagram @JessCaste).
When creating a planning timeline for any sort of event it's important to start with the event date and work backwards to ensure you're giving yourself enough time to complete each task. Outside of that, there are a few other key things to factor in:
Talk to your Vendors - Some vendors need certain information with a specific lead time. For example, the caterer may need a final headcount 2 weeks before the event date. If that's the case, you might consider asking for RSVP's 3 weeks before the event. That will give you 1 week to follow up with people that haven't RSVP'd.
Consider other Events and Holidays - When planning out your timeline, consider existing family events, holidays, big company meetings and other similar obligations that may keep you otherwise occupied. For example, CES is a large tech convention that takes up a lot of planning with work in November and December, as such, I knew I wouldn't get a lot of wedding-related tasks done during those months, so I planned around it.
Factor in Help from Others - Some people may have a lot of help, while others, not as much. This might seem straight forward, but factoring in how much help you'll have could drastically change how much time you give yourself for particular tasks. For things like menu tastings, this may not make a difference, but if you are hand-making 100+ wedding favors, it'll definitely make a difference.
I've gone ahead and modified my Wedding Planning Timeline and made it a bit more general. After all, mine is well over 150 items and very specific. The version attached below is a bit more general and meant to be something you can add onto where needed.