Wedding Planning Tips: 12-Months Before the Wedding

Welcome to Say I do’s first-ever wedding planning blog series. In this series, we’ll be guiding you through some hints and tips to help you plan your wedding at key milestones along your wedding planning journey. We’ll be sharing everything from essential must-do tasks to simple suggestions and helpful reminders, focusing on what needs to be done at the 12-month, 6-month, 3-month and 1-month mark leading up to your wedding day.

Whilst the average wedding planning timeline is 12-18 months, weddings can also be planned in as little as a few weeks. But if you have your heart set on a specific venue, or you have a large guest list and want all the bells and whistles that come with a beautiful big wedding bash, then you will definitely need at least 12 months to plan. Keep reading for a wedding planning checklist including all the most important things you need to be doing, booking, and researching at this initial stage of the wedding planning process.

If you missed or need the other instalments of this wedding planning series, catch up here…

Wedding Planning Tips: 6 Months Before the Wedding Wedding Planning Tips: 3 Months Before the Wedding Wedding Planning Tips: 1 Month Before the Wedding

Work out your wedding budget

Let’s kick things off with one of the biggest, if not the biggest, driving factors behind your wedding day – the financials. You won’t be able to get very far into the planning if you haven’t worked out your wedding budget. This is an incredibly important task which needs to be organised as soon as possible. With your partner, consider how much you have in savings, how much you might be gifted from relatives, and how much money you can save between now and the big day to put towards your wedding fund. Once calculated, this is your wedding budget!

Top wedding planning tip: Remember to include a contingency pot, too. We suggest 10-15% of your overall budget to cover any mounting or unexpected expenses that may crop up along the way.

Draft up your guest list

Another integral task to complete at the 12-month mark, even if it’s simply just a ballpark figure, is to tot up your guest list. It’s important you do this ASAP because your number of wedding guests will have a direct impact on many elements of your big day, from how you allocate your budget to your wedding venue size and location. Go ahead and get your numbers sorted early on so you can ensure your wedding venue can accommodate you. Guest list planning can be more complex than first thought so make sure you and your partner are on the same page and give yourselves time and the right amount of energy to nail that guest list!

Start looking at wedding venues and checking availability

Wedding vendors, especially venues, are renowned for booking up far in advance. Therefore, if you have always dreamt of hosting your special day on a popular weekend date, this is even more reason to start researching venues in your desired area ASAP. This is when the planning starts to get really exciting, so go ahead and request brochures, check availability, and start booking some viewings in! It's really hard not to get carried away at this stage of wedding planning, but only book venues that are within budget and fit your key requirements so you don't end up falling in love with a venue that's not really fit for purpose.

Start gathering wedding inspiration using a tool such as Pinterest

Maybe you have already decided on your colour palette, or maybe you don’t know where to start. Either way, kicking off your wedding research with a visual platform such as Pinterest or Instagram will help to get the wedding inspiration flowing! This is the place to gather your ideas and experiment – think about your wedding ‘theme’/colours/venue décor/wedding outfits, etc. Whilst Pinterest is an incredible resource for wedding planning couples it can also be quite overwhelming. Our top tip is to search with intention and always be as specific as possible with your search terms.

Set a date and book your celebrant/church/wedding licence

Once you’ve settled on your venue, you can officially set a date! Woah, now it starts getting real! Don’t forget to look into public holidays, local events, big sporting events and any other significant occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries that your chosen date might coincide with. Once you’re happy, it’s time to confirm your wedding ceremony location and time. Whether that’s with a celebrant at your venue, or at the local church – make sure you book this in good time so that you secure the time slot that works best for your day.

Arrange appointments at bridal boutiques

It might seem a long way off a whole year before the big day, but if you’re having a wedding dress designed and created from scratch, having it flown over from abroad, or you need a lot of alternations, the sooner you start this process, the better!

Gather your bridal party and go have some fun trying on dresses. A dream scenario will be that you fall for the first dress you try on. However, a few visits to various boutiques may take more time than anticipated, so start early. You also need to factor time in for bridesmaid dress shopping, and finding time in all your bridal party's busy diaries is harder than you think!

Hire a planner

Hiring a wedding planner will make your life so much easier (they’re the experts, after all), but understandably, not everyone’s budget can stretch to cover this. Therefore you may wish to plan the day yourself, along with the help of your venue. If this is the case, tech is your best friend. Create a personalised wedding website with Say I do, utilise our planning tools such as digital wedding invitations and RSVP organisation, and keep on top of your personalised checklist to keep you on track day to day.

Research and start booking vendors

As with venues, top wedding vendors can also get booked up to 18 months in advance, so it’s best to get cracking by researching some of your key wedding suppliers now, requesting their brochures and checking out their availability. We would suggest starting with your photographer, caterer, celebrant, wedding band and florist. Don’t forget to read their reviews, speak to other couples for advice, and go for recommended vendors that you not only like the work of but that you ultimately get on well with, as you'll be working closely with them in the lead-up to the big day. You want them to understand your vision from the off, right?

Get wedding insurance

Finally, prioritise getting wedding insurance. Organising and hosting a wedding is an expensive process and a big investment, so it’s best to err on the side of caution and get insured as soon as you can. This could be as soon as you start planning or once you have a couple of key elements confirmed and booked, such as your wedding date and venue.

Whilst the tasks listed are a good starting point, they certainly aren’t exhaustive. You might find some tasks that you prefer to tick off your wedding checklist early or ones that you want or need to deal with a little further down the line, such as wedding rings, wedding night accommodation, wedding shoes, and transport for the wedding party. But remember, every wedding is unique, so when it comes to your essential tasks during wedding planning, pick and choose what feels right for you.