If you’re planning your wedding in around one year, then 9 months until your wedding is a great time to plan, and even get ahead of where you need to be. This is a time when there’s not a huge amount to organise, but is a great opportunity to organise some of the timing, details and nitty-gritty of your Wedding Day. If you can give these checklists a little attention now, you will save yourself time and stress later down the track.

Planning a wedding can be a very simple task, so long as it’s broken into small, manageable, bite-sized pieces. Though all of our timelines and guides are designed around the 12 month countdown in our wedding planner, the little white book, you can easily adapt them to your own timeline, just be sure to go through the 12 month wedding planning checklist before you move onto this one and the next.

The next 9 months will also be broken down into tasks to complete from around 6 months til your wedding and 3 months, but you really can make life easier on your future self by putting in a little more legwork now.

Finalise your Guest List and Wedding Party

I’m sure your wedding guest list hasn’t been far from your mind since you got engaged, but so that you can properly budget and finalise everything else, make sure you get this squared away. Collect guests’ postal and/or email addresses too as you will need those to send save the dates. You may even wish to send your save the dates within the next month or so, to make sure your guests have ample time to set aside time off and/or accommodation for your wedding – especially if a destination wedding. If you haven’t planned an engagement party yet, make sure you get onto this very shortly too.

Confirm your wedding party, including MC, and potentially flower girls/boys, so that you can start thinking about their attire, as well as plan transport and seating arrangements. If having bridesmaids, consider bridesmaids gift boxes which include a robe for your bridesmaids.

Make your Wedding Gift Choice and or Set up a Gift Registry

Start thinking about what wedding gifts you would like, whether a wedding registry, or asking for money towards your honeymoon or other big purchase. If you’re having a gift registry, you’ll probably need a few months to decide who to register with, and what to put on your list.

Research your Stationery needs

Stationery is a great example of something for your wedding that can cost almost nothing, or be very expensive – depending on how extravagant you wish to go for your invitations, and the amount of signage and stationery you require on the day. You can DIY some stationery such as on-the-day wedding signage, and get cheaper options for seating cards and menus, so think about how important the stationery is to your Big Day, and plan accordingly. If you’re planning for custom design for save the dates and/or wedding invitations, research stationery designer options now.

Choose your Wedding Dressmaker (if having)

If you are planning to have a wedding dress made, you need to find and choose your dressmaker as soon as possible, to give you enough time to make design choices, and wait for construction and fittings. It can take around 6 months for the dress to be made, so to avoid being in a rush to choose, do start your research now.

If you are having a custom suit or any other custom attire made, also begin searching for the tailors or seamstresses you require for those – to allow ample time for choice, fittings and alterations.

Think about any Wedding Traditions, or Family/Religious Customs to include in your Ceremony

Create a list of any traditions or wedding customs that you want to incorporate into the wedding. You may wish to include cultural traditions, religious customs, or something that’s been passed through your families. This is a great way to personalise your wedding ceremony and make your wedding feel really special and unique. Find your wedding celebrant in accordance with the type of ceremony you wish to have – religious or otherwise.

Confirm your Wedding Caterer, if not in-house at your Wedding Venue

Review catering options and schedule tastings. Add them to your calendar and think about all the questions to ask your potential caterer – see example menus they have prepared before, and think about any particular needs you might have for catering. Confirm with the wedding venue availability of cooking space, refrigeration and/or other storage, to know if you need to hire a commercial freezer.

Research your Ceremony and Reception Entertainment

Consider your ceremony & reception music and entertainment preferences – whether you’d like to welcome guests with a musician and have live music post-ceremony, and what kind of music or other entertainment (think about lawn games, selfie stations, etc) you wish to have for the evening ahead.

Book your Wedding Florist, Decor, and other Hireage

9 months out from your wedding is a good time to confirm some of the smaller vendors such as your florist, lighting and decor, and any other hireage and equipment rental to organise. Meet with designers to discuss floral options for your event, request preliminary floral quotes, view previous weddings hosted at your wedding venue, and discuss with the coordinator (if possible) how they have organised the floor plan, tables, speakers, microphones etc – so that you can think about how to decorate.

Look ahead to the next few months

If possible, and you don’t already feel like you have too much on, consider reviewing the 6 month wedding planning checklist, as it’s good to know what’s coming up, even if you don’t have the capacity to do it right now.