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Ideally, the planning of a wedding requires at least 12 months in advance. The more time given, the less stress on the planner or most importantly...the bride!

Important Note: A good wedding planner ALWAYS consults the bride and her party before making any decisions, regardless of how big or small the detail/change is. This is her day after all, and she wants it to be perfect!

This timeline will start a countdown from the 12th month to the wedding day.

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Determining the Budget

The budget is the key ingredient for any planner of a wedding. The average budget can vary, but it must be finalized before any other decisions are made.

Budget for the Reception: $18,000

Make Guest List

The reception guest list and ceremony guest list can vary because not everyone will have time to stay for the reception.

Making of the guest list is different than finalizing. When the initial wedding invitations are sent out, there will also be a extra slip for those saying they will attend the reception as well. Guests MUST respond within a certain time frame if they will be attending so that way there is a place setting for them.

Guest List for the ceremony and reception combined should reach of a max of 100 people.

Wedding Theme

The theme of the ceremony will match the theme of the reception. The level of the formality will be black tie elegant, and guests should dress accordingly.

The theme colors will be black, white, and silver. These will be used through the reception location.

Selecting the Venue

The venue must be selected wisely and within budget.

To stay on par with the theme, the venue will be a ballroom style venue. There will be a place for an open bar, DJ, dance floor, dining tables, and catering tables.

Selecting the Caterer

The theme will impact what food will be served and by whom. As the planner, I would select a caterer that will offer a full-dining service including serving staffs that would be waiting at each different food/drink/dessert station to service each guest that will form a line at each different buffet-style station.

Appetizer: Garlic Bread

Main Dish: Herb-roasted chicken with a honey glaze.

Side Dish: Smoked squash and zucchini.

Dessert: Wedding Cake(Flavor: Marble)

Drinks: Water, Champagne, Old Fashioned, Whiskey Sour, and Manhattan.

While there is an open bar, to reduce the need for extra materials, the reception will be serving a limited menu.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The bartender or any other server that is handling alcoholic drinks must be watchful and cut off those who have had over 3 drinks which is the reception limit. This is for the guests safety.

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Hire Photographer

The photographer must be able to take photos of both the ceremony and the reception. As the planner, I will leave it to the bride to decide her creative vision of what she would like to see with how the photos are taken.

This is the time for the finalizing of the hire, as well as having the bride, photographer, and myself meet together to come up with how many photos he/she will be able to take, and what his/her creative vision is, see if we all can come to an agreement, and finalize the flat rate of his/her service.

Hire Videographer

The videographer must be able to take full videos of both the ceremony and the reception. As the planner, I will need to be more hands on with this process because I want to be sure that the videographer does not need extra assistance with camera set up, microphones, sound catchers, etc.

The reception venue will be able to assist with plug outlets for his/her equipment.

This is the time for the finalizing of the hire, as well as having the bride, videographer, and myself meet together to come up with what moments should be shot, how they will be captured, and finalize the costs.

Hire DJ

Hiring one person to run the music is far cheaper than hiring a small band to play classical music for the reception.

Although live classical music would be more on par with the theme, for budget reasons, I will hire a DJ.

This is the time for the finalizing of the hire, as well as having the bride, myself, and the DJ meet together to discuss the theme of the reception, a list of preselected songs for the DJ to play, and discuss and finalize his flat rate for his services.

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Decide on Wedding Invitations

The bride and I will go out together and browse different stores or stay in and look through websites of different styles and types of cards, envelopes, styles, themes, and fonts for the perfect wedding invitation.

To make things less stressful and complicated for the bride, I will make sure to keep us focused on things that are on track with the theme. It should be black, white, and silver.

Once the bride and I finalize a decision, we will go through the process of having all the cards printed off and made, while the envelopes are personally made for each guest(their full name with full mailing address).

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Decide on Florist

First the Bride and I must decide on what flowers she would like for her reception. Most likely they will be the same concept as her main bouquet used in the ceremony.

The reception flowers should be kept simple since flowers can be costly and we want to stay within budget.

Plan Date for Flowers

After choosing a florist, we will be in contact and finalize the date to when we will place the order for the flowers, pay the invoice, and the date to which they will be delivered which will most likely be either the night before/day of the wedding.

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Gift Registry

The Bride and I will plan out how she would like to plan her gift registry. If guests choose to bring their gifts to the wedding, there will be a place for the gifts once they arrive.

If they choose to have them shipped to the brides house, the bride will have a place of shipment or P.O. box set for the packages.

Picking Bride's Party Dress(Optional)

Entirely optional, but a recent trend is that a bride has an additional or 'party' dress for the reception. If I am requested to come, I will be there to help her decide.

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Reception Venue Walkthrough

I will do a walkthrough of the entire venue, make sure I am double checking on the convenience of location, space, atmosphere, etc.

Brainstorm Giftbag/Party Favor Ideas

Giftbags are a fun send off for all guests in attendance. Doing some independent research, I will find ideas that are on par with the theme of the wedding then email them to the bride to see what she thinks.

Some ideas would be small bubble bottles, Mr.&Mrs. personalized mints, candies, keychain, etc.

Hire Clean-Up Crew

At the end of the reception, there will be an entire ballroom that needs to be cleaned up and brought back to its original state.

By outsourcing a clear-up crew, I will go over the plans with the leader, what needs to be cleaned, how many hours I am hiring his team for, and when they can except payment.

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Food Taste Testing

Final stage of finalizing the food is tasting it. The hired food caterer will bring out the freshly cooked dishes and the couple will taste each one to make sure it is what they want.

After the thumbs up, the food is good to go.

Cake Taste Testing

Final stage of finalizing the cake is tasting it. /The bakery of choice will be called in advance for a taste test before the couple visits.

Once they come to taste the cake and finalize the flavor they want, the cake is good to go.

Finalize Cake Look/Decorations

At the bakery during their appointment, the couple must choose what icing, frosting, and any added decorations to put on their cake. Decorations could mean anything from fondant wedding rings on the cake to a small bride and groom figurine on top of the cake.

Also, the couple most choose and finalize what the cake should look like. It could range from a full sheet cake to a layered cake.

All decisions about the cake must stay on theme for the wedding.

After all decisions are made, I must be notified to keep it in the files.

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Look Into Getting a Lighting Technician

IF the venue calls for it, I will need a lighting technician to see if there is anything that needs to be adjusted or changed to set the mood for the whole space.

If the ballroom is covered by the building, most likely this will not be needed.

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Finalize the Menu Look

The bride and I will have a few templates selected of how the menu will look when handed out onto the dining tables.

The theme of the menus will match the overall wedding theme.

Finalize Gift Bag Ideas with Bride

After a bit of discussion, this is the time for finalizing all decisions regarding the gift bags and placing orders for all party favors for the bags.

Send the Reception Invites

It is a good idea to have the invites sent out 4 months before the wedding! As the planner, I want all guests to have enough notice in advance to make sure that they can come to the wedding reception.

This will help me with reception attendance and gather a tally of how many place settings, tables, and other things I will need to accommodate.

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Finalize Table Setting Look

The bride and I will make final decisions on the table setting which will include table cloth, napkins, placemats, plates, bowls, centerpieces, etc.

Once everything is finalized, I will place orders or go out and buy all things required.

Finalize Floral Designs

The bride and I will have an already scheduled appointment with the florist and show our concept designs to the florist to see if they can match it.

If they can, I need their quote for the flowers that day and finalize the order.

Collect Reception Invitations

Responses for the invites should be mostly all in by now, but I have left room for any last calls.

At this point, I will start getting a head count of who will be coming to the reception.

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Last Call for Reception Invitations

With 2 months left, this is the LAST call for the reception invitations and will now be turned into the venue for the final headcount.

No responses will be accepted after this time.

Make Sure all Vendors are Paid in Full

It is important to stay within budget, but also to make sure everything is paid and has given confirmation through email that they have been paid for their agreed upon hours of service.

It is highly unlikely, but should the reception go over the amount of time the hired help was paid to serve for, then I will consult the bride but then pay with the budget money what they are owed.

Final Venue Walkthrough

This is the FINAL walkthrough of the building to make sure that all lights, power outlets, and everything that would be needed is fully functioning and ready for the reception.

This would also be the time for all heads of the hired-help to visit the venue as well to scope it out for themselves and to reach out to me if they have any questions.

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Order Name Place Cards

Seating charts have been finalized, so I will place an order for the name place cards for each attending guest and those in the bridal party. (The bride and groom will have special place cards that do not spell out their name, it will just say 'Bride' and 'Groom')

Have All Basic & General Decorations Set Up

All approved decorations that are the basic setting for the venue will be hung up with the assistance of the bridal party.

This includes banners, ribbons, tinsel, etc.

Reach Out To All Hires To Confirm Obligations

I will contact all leads of my on-hires and make sure they are aware of the time and date they must show up.

If there are ANY scheduling conflicts that should arise till then, I need to be notified immediately so I can handle the conflict accordingly.

Create Seating Chart For Guests

I will sit down with the bride to go over how she would like the attending guests to sit.

Most likely the groom's side will all stick to their own tables while the bride's side will do the same with theirs.

Create Seating Chart For Bridal Party

The order of seating is entirely up to the bride, although this is rather standard.

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The Whole Venue Is Fully Decorated

With help of the bride's vision and assistance of bridal party, the venue will be fully decorated with all bride-approved decor.

Tables Are Fully Set

Tablecloths, centerpieces, name cards, placemats, napkins, plates, bowls, etc, will all be set on all tables.

Silverware will be provided by the caterer and will not be set.

Set Table For Wedding Gifts

Tablecloth will be placed on designated table, along with a special sign to indicate its purpose.

Set Table For Party Favors

This table will be kept away from the ballroom, most likely by the servers to keep track of the bags.

As guests leave, they will be handed one bag each by the servers.

As the planner, I will be walking around to make sure that all guests are able to get to their seating easily with no overcrowding.

All guests should be fed in an efficient and smooth manner with the servers being able to keep the line moving.

During moments like the couples first dance, the father of the brides final dance, and toasts given by the best man and maid of honor will be captured by the videographer. I will be helping with giving them a clear pathway so they are able to capture the moments clear and focused with their camera.

The photographer will take photos within their permitted range in the venue, by giving the guests and bridal party space and room to have a good time.

The DJ is allowed two breaks during the event, but must confirm with me before he takes them.

He must also help with bringing the microphone around during the toasts and speeches so that all guests can hear them.

The bartender(s) are allowed to be tipped, so a tip jar is added to his/her counter.

While each guest is leaving, the servers will help by passing out one gift bag per guest.

Once the couple and the last of the guests have left, everything must be quickly taken down, thrown out, or salvaged and saved(must be approved by the bride).

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This meeting is entirely up to the bride if she wishes for a whole recap of the reception and if there are follow up questions she has regarding my services. 

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After some time has passed, the bride and I will meet together to recap the whole event and I will break down all the aspects(as shown in this timeline) or anything that she would like to discuss.

As a planner, it is my job to take any criticism or praise and apply that to any future events I am hired for.