With six months left until your Wedding Day, many of the plans that you put in place over the past few months will start requiring a little more of your attention. It’s time to get specific about what you want – finalising details with some of your wedding vendors, and starting to communicate more with others.

All of our wedding planning guides are based around a 12 month timeline, so if you are planning a wedding in 6 months, just make sure to start with our 12 month and 9 month wedding checklist and work your way back here. If you’ve been using our wedding planner the little white book, and haven’t yet started the countdown diary, now is a great time to start, as things to organise really do start requiring more attention in the last 6 months. 

Keeping track of your budget

Before you begin the 6 month wedding planning checklist, go and check your wedding budget. Are you feeling on track? Do you need a budget template to help for the last few months? Make sure you’re really staying on track with your spending (and saving)

Make your final Wedding Vendor selections

If you have followed a 12 month wedding planning timeline, most of your wedding vendors will have been booked, but it’s a great time to confirm with them, and ask them what they need from you over the next few months. Vendors like caterers will want to finalise menus sooner rather than later, especially if they have a busy season approaching. With 6 months to go, you definitely want to be making your final wedding vendor bookings, or risk missing out on the ones you really want to assist with your wedding.

Finalise Couple’s attire, start choosing Wedding Party attire

As most wedding dresses take around 6 months to be made, and many custom suits will require a few months too, with 6 months to go before your wedding, you need to finalise any custom couple’s attire.

• Make sure you have confirmed with the bridal or tailor stores the final dates for fittings and any other appointments. Add these to your calendar.
• Once you’ve chosen what you both will be wearing, it’s also a great time to start shopping for your bridal party/wedding party. If you are organising the attire for them, ensure you have their measurements, and discuss any style ideas with them if you’re not sure. If ordering dresses for bridesmaids, consider shapes that will be flattering and comfortable, and make sure they will be able to wear supportive underwear underneath if necessary.
• If you are asking your bridal party or wedding party to choose their own attire, it’s time to get clear with them about your expectations. You may also wish to help the Mother of the Bride(s)/or Mother of the Groom(s) choose their outfits.

Get Organised to send Formal Wedding Invitations soon

Most couples will have sent ‘Save the Date’s’ if they have already been engaged for a while, but with 6 months to go before your Big Day, you need to be getting organised to send formal wedding invitations, even if paperless. To be able to organise your final wedding invitations you need to:

• Choose your wedding gift and/or set up a wedding registry
• Research wedding accommodations for out-of-town guests, or if planning a destination wedding
• Organise wedding transport options, and ask for guests to RSVP with their requirements (for instance, if they need a seat on a bus to or from the venue)
• Consider a wedding website to host all of the information
• Know your wedding guests’ postal or email addresses
• Work on your wedding invitation wording and design with your stationery designer

Wedding Vendor Details to Begin Organising

With six months to go, you don’t need to have finalised any of these things, but it’s good to start thinking about your choices for:

• Hair and make up for both yourself and the bridal party. Consider if you wish to make any changes to your hair style, whether you’d like to have some facial or other beauty treatments in the lead up to the wedding, and what style of hair and make-up you desire for the Big Day.
• Floral styling choices for decor and also bridal bouquets/buttonholes. Choose your flower arrangements a few months in advance if possible, to be able to finalise your flower/decor budget, and think about any other decor, lighting and hireage required.
• Discuss general catering choices and requirements with your caterer, and your partner. Consider hors-d’œuvre or a grazing table for the afternoon. Confirm & order catering equipment rental needs for all items not covered by caterer.
• Consider also drink options both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Book bartending service or confirm bar menu and bar supplies with caterer. 
• Have a couple of cake tastings if you haven’t already organised them, and research cake ideas and alternatives to wedding cake if you’re not sure,
• Consider your own wedding transportation and accommodation for the night before, and night of your wedding day.
• Discuss room layout: seating, dance-floor, dessert table and more.
• Design place settings and determine additional rental needs (charger, dishes, glassware, utensils, napkin fold, etc.).
• Start researching honeymoon options.
• Choosing the music is an important decision as it really sets the vibe for the wedding day. Whether or not to have live music at all (cover band, singers, string quartet) or whether to opt for a DJ (or iPod playlist), will really set the party in motion. It comes down to budget, atmosphere, and your priorities, but now’s the time to book the professionals if you’re going that route.

Revisit your Wedding Priorities – what really is most important to you?

The next few months will not only be busy, they will also start to get quite expensive.

• Revisit what you decided was important to you both when you got engaged – your purpose for getting married, what you really wanted out of planning your big day together. It’s very easy to be swept up in a bit of a daze of ‘wedding planning’ and get carried away with vendors and expenses that aren’t really all that important to you.
• Don’t worry about your wedding looking like it’s out of a wedding magazine or a styled shoot, think about the way you want to feel on your wedding day, and how you want your guests to feel too.

The little white book wedding planner has an introductory section called ‘our love story’ which encourages you to reflect on your journey so far, and what you want out of a wedding, marriage and your future. Visit it, or revisit it together, and be mindful of these as you go forward. 

That’s all for your 6 month wedding planning checklist, but if you want, to look ahead to your 3 month wedding planning checklist too.