Planning for your client’s wedding, whether you have two years or three months to do it, can be stressful. You sit down with your clients as they make endless lists in their heads (or on a scrap of paper) and expect you to be their genie-in-the-bottle who works magic into their big day.
It can get worse if your clients end up coming to you 3 months before their big day. Chances are, they tried planning everything all by themselves and realized that their wedding planning checklist was a mess. Their big day is not gonna happen without professional help.
2-Month Wedding Planning Checklist
Rather than throwing a tantrum fit at them for not coming sooner, as a professional, you smile and assure them that everything will be just as they expected. After all, you’re their genie-in-the-bottle, and you will do wonders!
But can you? Of course, you can! Because, at this moment, you’re in the right place on the world wide web to get everything under control and pull off a dream wedding in just 2 months! Read on for the ultimate wedding planning checklist for time-constrained weddings.
Be clear with what was already planned
Clients who come to you for an SOS call to save their wedding day most likely have a wedding-themed Pinterest board to show for it. You might discover that they’ve already made some important decisions!
This certainly helps with your quick planning timeline, as all you need to do is get things in motion.
Establish your client’s clear vision and make sure they will stick with it.
Planning a wedding in 2 months does not give your clients the freedom to fiddle around with fancy ideas. They got engaged and picked you 2 months away from the big day. Now what?
During your first initial table talk, make sure they are ready to stick with the wedding planning checklist they’ve discussed with you. When you have a short window of time to pull everything together, you simply don’t have the luxury of changing your mind.
It is important to set things clear before anything else to help your bride avoid overthinking decisions.
Bring out your list of emergency wedding vendors.
As a wedding professional, you must have a list of trustworthy shotgun wedding vendors. This is the time to pull off your list now. Of course, this means you need to prepare this list before you ever need them for action.
When choosing a vendor, make sure it’s one with a trustworthy reputation. You’re going to invest money into them in hopes they follow through with the role you ask them to play in your wedding, so spend some time making sure they are a business you feel confident transacting with.
The Knot directory offers a great list of wedding vendors. This is a perfect place to start looking for reputable businesses for your big day to go off without a hitch.
Dig in the ultimate 2-month wedding planning checklist
Once you’ve already managed your client’s expectations and got all your vendors a heads up, start working on your checklist.
Week 8: Lay the groundwork.
This is where you need to set the foundations and make sure everything will have its place on your couple’s big day. This part of the wedding planning checklist will give you and your couple a visual gist of how everything will look like.
- Establish a budget and stick to it.
- Draft your initial guest list with the set budget in mind.
- Finalize your couple’s wedding style.
- Find a venue.
Week 7: Start minor preparations.
Week 7 of your wedding planning checklist mostly consists of establishing and solidifying whatever you agreed upon in week 8. In this stage, expect that your couple will likely want to change some elements.
While you remain accommodating, they need to understand that every change they request moving forward will put the big day at risk.
- Start prepping the wedding attire.
- Order the wedding invitation.
- Discuss your clients’ honeymoon plans.
Week 6-5: Intensify the preparations.
This is where all the major collaborations with other wedding vendors start. Things can get more intense in this phase of your wedding planning checklist. Since you are under a time constraint, always see to it that your directions do not leave any room for vagueness or misunderstanding.
- Finalize all your participating vendors and other wedding service providers.
- Prepare and update your couple’s wedding website.
- Book the rehearsal dinner location.
- Mail the invitations!
Week 4: Legalities and favors.
Four weeks before the wedding, expect to be doing so much of the legwork on your own. Some couples and their families can start getting overwhelmed by all the actions going around, and it’s you who has to remain calm. In this phase of your wedding planning checklist, you need to:
- Help your couple obtain their marriage license.
- Make sure your couple has chosen their wedding rings by now.
- Order the DIY wedding favors for the guests.
Week 3: Coordinate with your vendors accordingly.
As the day draws closer, the more collaboration you’ll need with your team and other service providers. As the wedding planner, it is your job to stay updated on everything, making sure everyone does his job as expected.
- Finalize and confirm the wedding officiant, caterer, photographers, wedding day song list, and whoever will be giving the toast.
- Plan the wedding ceremony and reception layouts
- Send out the on-the-day wedding timeline
- Follow up on the RSVPs and hunt down as many guests who haven’t responded yet.
Week 2: Finalize everything.
If you’re able to follow everything to a tee in this wedding planning checklist so far, you can take a week-long breather 2 weeks before the big day. Pretty much everything you have to do is keep yourself afloat and prepare for the grand action to come.
- Finalize the guest count with the caterer.
- Pick the bride’s gown and groom’s suit.
- Remind the couple to pack for the wedding night and honeymoon.
Week 1: Stabilize your couple’s emotions. (And yours too!)
Were you able to take a breather the week before this? Should have because this week is the showtime! If you are able to keep up with the wedding planning checklist by far, there’s little to worry about.
Just get everyone positioned in their place as planned. This week, your biggest task is to assure the couple and their families that everything is under control.
- Arrange the final payments and tips for all the vendors.
- Assign a volunteer to pack up gifts and wedding cake.
- Remind the couple to get the wedding emergency kit ready.
- Confirm with the couple that all the wedding day items are packed.
- Assure your couple that everything will turn out great. Assure yourself too.
1 week after the wedding: End with an after-wedding service.
By now, you have a happy newlywed couple thanking the heavens for your great service. But nothing says great service like a grand after-sales service.
So start preparing thank you notes for your couple’s guests. Going the extra mile for them will almost always ensure you a 5-star review on your business page. Below are other after-wedding services you can do for your couple:
Write and send thank-you cards to all the guests.
- Send the wedding dress and suits to the dry cleaning.
- Return all the rented materials.
- Keep in touch with the photographer and videographers.
Conclusion
Honestly, there’s no hard and fast rule for your wedding planning checklist. You can always mold the steps above to your own timeline — slowing down or speeding up where it works.
The most important thing in this planning process is trust. A relationship between a couple and a wedding planner should be founded on mutual respect and trust. Since you are preparing for the most important day in their lives yet, they need to trust you and your decisions.
However, if your couple seems to still be having problems with finalizing their preference despite the looming wedding date, our best advice is to be firm with what you can realistically give them. To protect your peace, clearly state your limitation to help, given their timeline and budget. Show them your suggested wedding planning checklist and help them understand that as long as everything is ticked in time, their big day will be perfect.
