First of all, Happy Valentine’s Day! We hope you get everything you wanted from your Valentine this year…including that engagement ring! Second, enjoy these photos from one of our favorite weddings this summer.
Last, but certainly not least, let’s dive into how to plan a wedding in fewer than six months. While the typical wedding is planned out over 12-18 months, a 6-month timeline is doable! Hitch Studio’s owner, Renee Bauman planned hers in five months! See details and how she did it here. At Hitch, we have the experience and the resources — the Wedding Day Designer — to help you accomplish this feat. It’s our 148-page guide and checklist to making your big wedding dream turn into big wedding success. To help with planning, we are going to provide you with a 6-month step by step guide to include as many details as possible to help you be best prepared for your wedding day. For a FULL list, buy our Wedding Day Designer, but for now, a condensed list highlighting the biggest details in six months:
6 Months Out
- Before anything else you will want to set your budget. Your budget is going to affect every other part of planning, so it is key to attack from the start. Use a tool like Excel to categorize the types of expenses: venue, food, gown, photographer, flowers, decorating, and so on. The categories and their corresponding amounts are completely up to you. Don’t know how much to budget for each? Hire and ask a wedding planner like Hitch Studio to help! We can help with questions you don’t even know to ask yet.
- After creating your budget, you are going to want to tackle your ceremony and reception venues right away to help determine your wedding date. Venues can fill up their schedules fast. This means you may have to look at multiple options. One of the best ways to get around the over-booked venues is to select a non-traditional venue. The second way is to check weekday availability or Sundays. Saturdays generally fill up faster and are more expensive, so choosing a non-traditional day of the week is a valuable option.
- Another important detail is making sure you have an officiant. They book up about as fast and venues, so speaking with the person you would like to speak at your wedding is a crucial step.
- Next, book your vendors. How do you know which vendors to book first? Read this helpful blog. You will want to make sure your vendors are available for your date as soon as possible. Sticking to the budget you set up right away and working with your venue will be important in this step. Book the vendors that are your highest priority FIRST. Also, do your research. Visit their social media sites, attend bridal shows and check their reviews. One of the perks of working with Hitch is a list of our different vendors. We work with them and work with you to make your wedding come together as beautifully as we can.
- This next step is most likely a bridal favorite: picking out the gown. Many dress shops sell off the rack or do specific size order that will not require large alterations. Make sure to plan who you want to come with you to this appointment as well and to schedule dress fittings a few months after.
- If you plan on taking engagement photos, you will want to do that right away. However, it is becoming increasingly more common to have professional or semiprofessional photos taken at the time of the proposal. Either of these options are normally sent out on save the dates or invitations.
- If you’re having a destination wedding, let guests know if your travel plans and hotel room reservations. This may not be important for your guests if they do not have to travel, but it is something to consider doing if you have long distance attendants.
The first group of steps should be completed in no more than a month’s time, for the least amount of stress. Again, with the Wedding Day Planner book and the assistance of Hitch Studio, we can get you there.
5 Months Out
- Next, choose your bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girl, ring bearer, and any other people with specific roles in the wedding. Not only is it important because they need to make sure they get your event schedules, but also because of the extra purchases they must make.
- Around the same time, you will want to specify your guest list. When you decided on your budget, you most likely had an idea about how many people would be in attendance, but you will want to make a concrete list so that you can send out your save the dates and do some of the later steps.
- Create a wedding website for your most important details, including the date, venue, dress, registry, and even RSVP information.
- Order Save the Dates. Hitch can help with those! It may take some time to design and print, so do not put it off for too long or your invites and save the dates may end up being much closer together in the timeline that what you originally planned. Make sure to include the wedding website link on the save the dates in order to help your guests out.
4 Months Out
- Check in with all your vendors and book any other appointments: hair, makeup, limo busses, rentals, cake, catering, DJ, and any other smaller scale vendors. Ask for help when booking all these vendors!
- Choose and order the groom’s ring.
- Book a honeymoon destination.
- Talk to your decorator about wedding decor.
3 Months Out
- One tip that found from the Brides.com article that I found very helpful is to look into Airbnb’s wherever you decide to travel. Even if it is not far, it may be cheaper to stay in an Airbnb than a hotel.
- Send out wedding invitations. Most people that are invited will have your date written down already, but with just three months to go, you will want to send them out soon.
2 Months Out
- Go to the country clerk or Register of Deeds and order a marriage license. It is an essential for your big day, but an easy thing to forget in the hustle and bustle of preparing for a wedding in six months.
- Schedule your bridal shower(s) and bachelorette party!
1 Month Out
- You will want to double-check your vendors and appointments and perhaps travel logistics as they are coming up quickly.
- If you have not done your seating chart and you plan on having one, now would be a great time to figure out this detail. Doing this with someone else is always a good idea verses doing it alone. They can be there to remind who of who should be by who and other details.
- Speaking of details, if you are going to have a personal attendant and helpful bridesmaids, it would be a great idea to put together a list of the things you would like them to do. Give them a checklist the week of or month of with a list of small jobs that you need to be done (everything from the making the playlist on the party bus to having breakfast ready the morning of the wedding. Other duties could include finding people for photos, picking up flowers, packing away the gifts at the end of the evening, etc). If you don’t want to ask friends and family for help on these things, ask a wedding coordinator like Hitch Studio! It’s what we specialize in!
- Start packing for your honeymoon. If you plan on traveling, anywhere think about the clothes and items you have and what you have left to purchase. This may include a shopping trip or an online order. Either way, you may want a couple weeks to prepare.
- It is never a bad idea to do a quick try-on of your wedding gown. You will want to make sure it fits perfectly the way you want before it is too late to get it fixed. Maybe even practice walking in it with your shoes on a couple times.
- Get your hair and nails done before the wedding. And if the groom is planning on getting a haircut before the wedding, try to schedule it in the week before the wedding.
- Be thinking about your vows. You may want to write them out or at least have an idea in your head before the day of. Remind your future spouse to do this would not be a bad idea as well.
- Lastly, go out on one final date as an engaged couple. You will be husband and wife soon!
This is the REALLY condensed list of planning your wedding in six months. Again, Hitch is here to help you get your wedding planned with any timeline. We love to take our time and go through the planning process with you, answering any questions you may have and doing everything we can to help you make your wedding day the perfect day.
If you don’t want to miss a detail, like THIS wedding, hire Hitch Studio! Congratulations, Taylor and Alex!
Written by Kerstyn Fast