Wedding Checklist; 6 months to go!

Wedding Checklist; 6 months to go!

Event Planning - Weddings

By now you should have booked your venue, set your budget and started drawing up your guest list. With the groundwork for your wedding already laid, now it's time for the fun part of planning your wedding…

1. ORDER YOUR DRESS

We've included this in our six-month checklist, but in actual fact, six months before the big day is probably the latest you'll want to leave the ordering of your dress. Most wedding dresses are custom-made, and this can take weeks of preparation. Once your dress arrives, you'll then need to attend further fittings to make sure it fits perfectly - and the last thing you want is a last-minute panic with an ill-fitting dress or, worse still, one that hasn't even arrived yet.

Luckily, choosing your wedding dress is more of a joy than a chore. Take your mum and your chief bridesmaid with you and make a day of it. You're only going to do it once, after all!

2. ORDER YOUR BRIDESMAID DRESSES

The dress shopping isn't quite over yet, as you still have to find outfits for your bridesmaids. If your husband-to-be is hiring a suit, it's worth checking this out too at this stage, to make sure there are no last-minute panics.

By now you should have decided on the colour scheme for your wedding. This will normally be reflected in the bridesmaid's dresses, in the bride's flowers and on the invitations and place cards. If you haven't picked your colours yet, this is the time to do it!

3. BOOK YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

Now you know that you (and the rest of the wedding party!) are going to be looking fabulous, you'll want to make sure that you get to remember it forever. Wedding photographers are busy people, so start to "interview" yours at least six months before the wedding, particularly if you're getting married at a busy time of year. The process of selecting your photographer will involve browsing portfolios, obtaining quotes and speaking to your short listed selection to make sure they know exactly what you're looking for from your wedding pictures.

If you're having a professional video of your wedding, now is the time to think about booking your vidoegrapher, too.

4. HIRE A CATERER

With so many venues offering catering as part of the wedding package, this point may not apply to you as your catering will have been booked as part of your wedding package. If not, however, you'll need to make arrangements for your wedding breakfast, and order drinks for toasts and reception.

5. BOOK YOUR HONEYMOON

Another of the more "fun" parts of your wedding preparations, it's recommended that you book your honeymoon at least six months before: particularly if you're hoping to use the honeymoon suite of your chosen hotel!

If you're going to be changing your name and want your passport and other documents to be in your new name, you should also make sure that your passport is sent off in plenty of time for it to come back to you before you travel!

6. CHOOSE YOUR GIFT REGISTRY

There's a growing trend for couples to register a wedding list rather than just leave gifts up to the guests, and if you choose to take this option, you'll need to start shopping around to decide where you'd like your registry to be held. Then comes the truly fun part as you get to choose the gifts to put on it!