Complete Wedding Day Checklist to Not Miss a Thing
Photo Credit: Tyler Rebekah Wright
You’ve probably spent months–even years–planning and dreaming about your wedding. But with all the excitement, it can be easy to forget some critical details on the big day. To help make sure everything goes smoothly, we’ve compiled a complete wedding day checklist so you don’t miss a thing.
Your Complete Wedding Day Checklist with Details
The best part about hiring a full-service, partial, or day-of wedding planner is that you don’t have to handle many of the checklist items on your own! As you go through the checklist to prepare for your wedding day, take note of the things a wedding planner can help you with and the ones you’ll need to take care of yourself.
Logistical Wedding Day Checklist Items
Although your wedding day is a time of celebration, there are some logistical things to take care of. Don’t forget to gather these wedding day checklist items for the day of your wedding.
Wedding Day Timeline
A detailed day-of itinerary ensures your wedding day goes smoothly from setup to tear-down. Your timeline should include pre-wedding duties, such as:
Vendor arrival and setup
Hair and makeup
Guest arrival
Ceremony start time
And the reception, cocktail hour, and ceremony event details, including:
Ceremony procession start time
Wedding photo shot list (so you don’t miss a picture with anyone)
List of dances in order
List of toasts in order
Cake cutting
Other wedding traditions
Send-off celebration
Everything in between
Your day-of timeline is an essential wedding day checklist item. You should draft and distribute it in advance to ensure everyone knows exactly where to be and when to be there. Fortunately, a day-of timeline is one of the items a wedding planner can help you develop and manage leading up to and on your wedding.
Final Payments and Vendor Tips
Another logistical thing you’ll need to take care of on your wedding day is final vendor payments and tips. Whether you handle this yourself or designate someone to manage the financials, you don’t want to leave your vendors hanging. Decide each vendor’s tip amount ahead of time and place the tips in individually labeled envelopes, so you or someone else can pass them out quickly.
Hiring a wedding planner can make this wedding day checklist item and all budget-related tasks much more manageable. At Mountainside Events, we help you manage your wedding budget and payments throughout the planning process, assist with tip amount recommendations, and ensure your vendors are paid on time.
Contact Sheet
Having a contact sheet makes it easier to get a hold of your vendors on your wedding day. There are many reasons you might need to get someone on the phone–they got lost on their way, they’re late, you need to share specific parking or unloading information, etc. When everyone’s information is in one place, you or someone else can quickly call a vendor and relay information as needed. When you hire a wedding planner, they are your main point of contact and can communicate all details with your vendors to ensure no missed information.
Marriage License
What’s a marriage without a marriage license? Not legal. Don’t let that happen. Make sure you bring your marriage license with you and create space in your itinerary to sign it for your officiant to submit to make your marriage legal.
Name Pronunciation Sheet
Whether you have a band, DJ, or MC doing your wedding party introductions at the start of your reception, they need to know how to pronounce everyone’s names. Provide a list of names with pronunciation notes to ensure they know what to say and how to say it.
Wedding Stationery for Photos
Wedding stationery photos are some of the most beautiful because they highlight the intricate details of your wedding style. So, make sure to bring elements of your stationery with you and get them to the photographer early in the day, so they can snap some pictures.
Wedding Party and VIP Gifts
If you’ve planned special gifts for your wedding party or VIP guests, make sure you have them with you on your wedding day.
Photo Credit: Tyler Rebekah Wright
Personal Wedding Day Checklist Items
Your wedding day can feel a bit hectic and overwhelming, making it easy to forget some essential wedding day checklist items. Here are some things you don’t want to forget to bring with you and do for your wedding day.
Playlist for Getting Ready
When you’re getting ready for your big day surrounded by your friends and family, it’s never a bad idea to have some of your favorite tunes in the background. You can choose all the songs yourself or ask your wedding party to suggest songs for the list too. Either way, make sure you have the playlist ready and don’t forget speakers so everyone can hear the music while getting ready.
Emergency Kit
You never know what you’ll need on your wedding day, which makes an emergency kit an essential wedding day checklist item. Fill your kit with things like:
Bobby pins
Hair ties
Hairspray
Your favorite lipstick
Sewing kit
Fashion tape
Umbrella
Tissues
Advil
Band-Aids
Nail polish
Lotion
Q-tips
Deodorant
Lint roller
Extra contacts
Drinks and Snacks
You should definitely have a nutritious breakfast on the morning of your wedding. It’s also a good idea to have drinks and snacks in the getting ready room for yourself and your friends and family. Staying hydrated and well-fed is essential for keeping your energy levels up and feeling great on your wedding day.
Reception Outfit and Dancing Shoes
Some couples stay in their ceremony attire for the reception, while others plan a more casual option for after the ceremony. If you’re opting for the latter, be sure to bring your dancing shoes and outfit to the reception venue.
Vows
You spent all that time writing your wedding vows; the last thing you want is to leave them at home! To avoid a wedding vow disaster, have them written down in multiple places–printed in a booklet or on a piece of paper you can read from at the altar, as well as digitally on your phone or in someone else’s possession in case your copy gets lost or damaged.
Toast or Thank You Speech
Similar to your wedding vows, you’ll want to write down and keep multiple copies of any toast or speech you plan to give at your reception.
Photo Credit: Tyler Rebekah Wright
Wedding Day Checklist Responsibilities
Whether you hire a wedding planner to help manage all these essential tasks or designate trustworthy friends and family, you need someone to take care of these wedding day responsibilities.
Wedding Gifts
Someone needs to manage your gift table, from directing guests to packing up all the gifts at the end of the night.
Vendor Meals
You should plan vendor meals with your caterer well in advance. Then, on the day of your wedding, someone needs to make sure the on-site vendors know where to enjoy their meals.
Rings
Even if you have one of your littlest guests carry your rings down the aisle, you need someone to hold the rings until then. Often the best man/women or maid/matron of honor handle the rings.
Setup Team
Who is directing the vendors, setting up all the tables and decorations, and ensuring everything is in the perfect place for your wedding design? If you hire a wedding planner, they take care of all the logistics of wedding day setup. If not, you need a team of people who know where everything goes to put your dream wedding together early on your wedding day.
Tear Down Team
Even if your wedding venue has a clean-up team, it’s important to designate someone to gather all your personal belongings after your wedding. After the big send-off, your friends, family, and/or wedding planner can make sure nothing is left behind at the venue.
Hire a Planner to Manage Your Wedding Day Checklist
Managing a wedding day checklist can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. By creating a detailed list and assigning responsibilities, you can ensure that everything goes smoothly on your big day. However, if you don’t want to worry about a thing, consider hiring a professional wedding planner who will take care of all the details for you, ensuring your big day goes off without a hitch. At Mountainside Events, we help you handle all of these wedding day checklist items, so you can focus on what matters most: preparing to marry your forever person. Contact us today to learn more about our various wedding planning packages, including full-service, partial, and day-of planning.