How can you plan a flawless wedding? By using a detailed and complete wedding checklist.
This goes for any event because proper event planning requires a high level of detail and organization.
There are plenty of small details that can slip through the cracks and before you know it, one tiny seemingly inconsequential issue ruins everything.
In this article, we’ll show you how to create a complete wedding checklist to ensure you have a fantastic and memorable wedding.
What is a wedding checklist?
It’s a list with everything you need to prepare and have ready for your wedding. The proper complete wedding checklist has columns for the specific item or action, the person overseeing it, due date and current status.
How to create a complete wedding checklist
We advice that you start preparing your complete wedding checklist at least six to eight months to the event date.
- Create an outline of the essentials, which are the absolute must-haves for the wedding to happen. These are the marriage licenses, wedding rings, minister, guest list and invitations. Add to that the bridal party wear, venue selection and hire, cake, transport selection and booking and catering services. Then, label this items under tier one.
- Next, are the support services for tier one elements. These are vendor selection, quotes sourcing and approvals, honeymoon selection and bookings all which should be under tier two.
- Finally, there’s tier three for your wellness and personal care and anything that needs to be wrapped up three months to the nuptials date.
If you consider something to be complex, include it in the tier one section.
Then tackle these complex items gradually and monitor constantly until they’re completed on the due date.
Your guest list will shape your entire event so this should be the first thing to draw up as early as possible.
Traditionally, the guest list is a high voltage pressure point for a couple and their loved ones.
It’s a given that your guest list should prioritize close family, extended family, close friends and associates.
As a couple discuss who needs be at the wedding by weighing in on your budget.
If all these is a bit much for you and you need help managing this process, hire a skilled event planner to guide you and keep tabs on the essentials.
Hiring a planner may seem expensive but the convenience, consistency and peace of mind it guarantees is worth every shilling.
One more thing: Give your bridal team creative license. Everything doesn’t have to be matchy match or exactly as you’ve seen it at another wedding.
Instead, create a distinct style that everyone can plug into and transform in their own way.
How to plan the best wedding in Kenya
1. Have a vision board
Create a vision board to articulate your plan and help you visualize it.
The vision board visually encompasses every detail and even captures your desire for the wedding’s look and feel.
Everything on your vision board should also be listed on the checklist, have an actionable timeline and correspond to the overall budget.
The budget captures all the expected costs and keeps tabs on them to ensure you don’t exceed the planned costs.
2. Have a well reasoned action plan to guide your complete wedding checklist
Remember the wedding checklist is just a guide, you need a well reasoned action plan to guide the execution of everything that’s been laid out.
For instance, on venue hire and selection, do you need one venue for everything or do you need to split up the activities? What’s the justification for whatever action you take for each option?
You may decide to have the entire ceremony in one venue to save on logistics. Or, split up the venues for some reason, all these need to be rationalized in your action plan.
3. Setup quality control standards
One of the most frequently asked questions is how to ensure quality for all the elements listed in the complete wedding checklist.
The easy way is to make your expectations known to the event planner and vendors from the start.
It’s their duty to ensure you achieve your desires (within reason).
More importantly, you or the event planner will vet all elements personally, taking photos and ensuring the same is captured in vendor contracts.
Additionally, there’s no harm requesting for a sample of the playlist from the DJ, mock setups from the decorator (share the vision board with them too), tastings from the caterer and if you’re using grounds, keep a constant check nearer to the wedding to ensure the grass is well watered and maintained.
If it rains, (especially) heavily, schedule a quick visit to ensure it doesn’t flood.
As much as you have an event planner it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t recheck stuff.
The rule of thumb here is, to trust but verify.
4. Consider an elopement weddings
There’s a burgeoning concept that’s actively taking root –elopement weddings.
Traditionally, this type of wedding was construed to mean that the couple had taken off to marry in a bid to defy a certain tradition or expectation.
Not so today because an elopement wedding is essentially opting to have an unconventional intimate wedding with just yourselves or a very small circle.
You can opt to have it anywhere you please as long as it’s legal and you have the means.
With an elopement wedding, you can ditch the headache of intricate planning because most times the only people present are you, your spouse, the minister, photographer or videographer.
But you’ll still need a complete wedding checklist to ensure you don’t miss out a thing.
Not surprisingly, this format widely appeals to couples that don’t want to incur outrageous debt.
They would instead prefer to spend on memorable experiences at the honeymoon phase traveling to exciting destinations.
Frequently asked questions
1. What is the checklist for a wedding?
A wedding checklist is a detailed breakdown of each task to be accomplished. It captures all details from venue sourcing, decor, entertainment, catering to every minute detail you can imagine. An effective checklist is detailed, precise and clear to everyone at each stage of the planning process. It serves as a tracker to ensure everything is being attended and nothing falls off.
2. How do you plan a wedding step by step?
If it falls on you to plan your wedding, the first thing to do is sketch a wedding budget. Base your budget on critical elements like your gown, groom’s and wedding party attire. Then settle on a guest list to determine key expenses like the venue, decor, catering, photography, entertainment. Next, book the church minister and licenses. Don’t forget to include grooming for yourself, groom and the wedding party.
3. What is the shortest time you can plan a wedding?
It all depends on how much time you need to issue and confirm invitations. Usually they’re sent about a month to a wedding. This also depends on how fast you can whip up a conclusive guests list. Often it can take about three weeks, at most four depending on the number guests. So bearing all this factors in mind, it’s best to give yourself about two to three months.
Contact us
If you want to plan the best wedding in Kenya, the secret is out. All you need is a detailed complete wedding checklist.
This document will ease the pressure, make the planning process and the actual wedding event all the more pleasurable.
Remember: Your complete wedding checklist is a live document that needs to be updated at least once or twice every week.
If you need help creating a complete wedding checklist or an event planner call, us on 0721 771185 or email: joan@lucidityafrica.com
