How to Plan a Wedding in 6 Months (Australia)

Can you plan a wedding in six months?

Yes. What decides it is availability, not the planning itself. A popular venue on a Saturday in spring or autumn may already be booked, and so may the photographer you love. If that happens, look at a Friday or a Sunday in the same weeks, or at a venue you had not thought of, and move quickly. Start with who is free on your date, and leave the design until later.

Six months to go: the venue, the budget and the first bookings

This month is about five decisions. Nothing else matters until they are made.

1. The venue and the date. Book the venue first, and the date follows from it. Saturdays in March, April, October and November go first, and the Fridays and Sundays in the same weeks are often still free.
2. The budget. Set a total before you book anything else, and keep 10 to 15 percent aside for the unexpected. Our budget tracker keeps every quote and payment against the vendor it belongs to.
3. A rough guest count. "Around 100" is enough for now. You will firm it up as the replies come in.
4. The photographer. Along with the venue, this is the booking most likely to be gone on a short timeline, so book now.
5. The celebrant. Book them now too. Your Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) has to be lodged with your celebrant at least one month and no more than 18 months before the wedding, so lodging it at your first meeting means it is done.

As soon as the venue and the date are locked, send your save the dates. You can design them in invitations and save the dates on any plan, and sending them by email and SMS from the platform is part of Manage ($149, paid once).

Leave for later: flowers, stationery, the cake, music, welcome bags and what the wedding party wears. None of it matters until the venue is booked.

Five months to go: the rest of the big vendors

Book these next:

• Catering, if your venue does not do its own.
• The florist. Get three or four quotes and choose one by the end of the month.
• Music, whether that is a DJ, a band or both.
• Hair and makeup. Good artists are booked early for Saturdays too.

Also start on:

• Your wedding website. Our wedding website is free on every plan. It gives your guests one place for the details, and every RSVP lands straight in your guest list.
• Your guest list, with everyone's contact details, ready for the invitations.
• Your outfits. A made-to-order dress can take months, and alterations take time after that, so ask about timing before you fall in love with one.

If your venue is dry hire, book the marquee, furniture, tableware and linen together from one hire company if you can. One brief and one invoice is far easier to keep track of than three.

Four months to go: invitations and the wedding party

Send your invitations this month. On a six-month plan, about four months is the notice your guests will get, so ask for replies six to eight weeks before the wedding. Start from a template in invitations and save the dates rather than designing from scratch, and the design becomes an afternoon's work. You can send them by email and SMS with Manage, or order them printed.

Also this month:

• Ask your bridesmaids and groomsmen, if you have not already.
• Settle the styling. A rough direction and a mood board are enough for now.
• Book somewhere for welcome drinks or a welcome dinner, if you are having one.
• Start on your ceremony and your vows with your celebrant.

Three months to go: the details and the logistics

• Watch the replies come in. Every RSVP lands in your guest list as it arrives.
• Finalise the menu and the drinks with your caterer.
• Order your rings. Custom rings take weeks, so ask the jeweller how long they need.
• Book your coordinator, if you have not already. Our on-the-day coordination starts four to six weeks before the wedding, when we brief every vendor and build the run sheet with you, so three months out leaves plenty of time.
• Accommodation for guests coming from out of town. Hold a block of rooms now.
• Transport: cars for the wedding party, and a bus if your guests need one.
• Hair and makeup trials.
• Start your run sheet. Our run sheet builder, part of Manage, writes the first draft from your answers about the day.

Two months to go: getting ready for the day

• Chase anyone who has not replied. Your RSVP date should be around now.
• The seating plan. Our seating and floor plan works from your guest list, so you are seating names you already have rather than typing them in again.
• Finish your run sheet in draft, so your coordinator and your vendors can check it.
• Confirm with your vendors: arrival times, payment dates and who to call on the day.
• A last pass over your website: accommodation, directions and answers to the questions guests keep asking.
• Final fittings, and collect your rings.

The last month: final numbers and payments

The last month is about logistics and rest, not design.

• Four weeks out: give your final numbers to your caterer and your venue, and pay the balances that are due, because most of them fall around now. Check that your NOIM is with your celebrant: it must be there at least one month before the wedding.
• Three weeks out: finalise the seating plan, and order your printed pieces, such as the welcome sign, seating chart, menus and place cards. You see the delivery time before you order, so you know they will arrive in time. If you have not had your hens and bucks yet, this is a good week for them.
• Two weeks out: download the final run sheet and send it to every vendor. Try on everything one last time: the outfits, the shoes, the hair and the makeup.
• The last week: pack, put together an emergency kit, and rest.

The week of the wedding

• Early in the week: send the latest run sheet to anyone whose times have changed.
• Midweek: put together the welcome bags and the printed pieces, labelled by where each one goes.
• A night or two before: welcome drinks or a welcome dinner, if you are having one.
• The day before: pack your decor and personal items in labelled boxes, ready for your coordinator on the morning, and set up anything the venue lets you set up early. Then stop.
• The wedding day: enjoy it. Everyone else knows what they are doing.

What to skip

Six-month weddings stay manageable because couples let some things go. These are the usual ones:

1. DIY projects. Welcome bags, hand-lettered signs and homemade favours are lovely, and they are all optional.
2. Invitations designed from scratch. Start from a template in the design studio and change the words, the colours and the type.
3. More than one outfit. A second look for the reception is often the first thing to go on a tight timeline.
4. A custom cake. Choose from your baker's existing range. It tastes just as good, with far less back and forth.
5. Handwritten place cards. Print them instead. Your guests will not mind, and each card prints with the guest's name from your list.
6. A full day of video. Choose photography only, or photos plus a video of the ceremony.

Why a coordinator matters more on a short plan

On a short timeline, the things you did not have time to learn still have to happen on the day. A vendor runs late. The celebrant is not sure where to stand. The DJ does not know the first dance song has changed. Somebody has to sort it out, and it should not be you.

With twelve months, some couples learn enough to run their own day. With six, there usually is not the time. Our on-the-day coordination is $1,800 inc. GST for six hours, $2,200 for eight, $2,640 for ten and $3,080 for twelve, and six hours is enough if your venue can look after the reception. If your venue's coordinator runs the whole day, your vendors included, you may not need us at all.

Our checklist, on a six-month plan

Our wedding checklist has more than 200 tasks in eleven stages, written by our coordinators, and each task's due date is counted back from your wedding date. If you start six months out, the tasks from the earlier stages are already behind, and they wait for you marked "Catch up" or "Ready when you are", never "Overdue". It is on every plan, including Free.

Six months is enough. Book the venue, the photographer and the celebrant first, keep the rest simple, and it will all come together.