---
title: "Wedding checklist: your wedding planning checklist"
description: "A wedding checklist and wedding planning checklist for the UK: 87 tasks from the budget a year out to giving notice, the day itself and the name change."
canonical: https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-checklist-uk
last_updated: 2026-10-11
---

# Wedding checklist: your wedding planning checklist

> A wedding checklist and wedding planning checklist for the UK: 87 tasks from the budget a year out to giving notice, the day itself and the name change.

Published 28 September 2026, updated 11 October 2026, by Dominika, Co-founder of Aisley. Canonical: https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-checklist-uk

This wedding checklist is a UK wedding planning checklist of 87 tasks in nine phases, from agreeing the budget a year or more out to changing your name on your passport afterwards. Only one of them has a legal deadline. In England and Wales you give notice at the register office at least 29 days before a civil ceremony, and everything else runs on how fast suppliers sell out.

Every line below is one task you can tick, in the order we would do them. The reasons behind that order live in two other guides: [the wedding planning timeline](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-planning-timeline) explains what books out when, and [how to plan a wedding in the UK](https://getaisley.com/guides/how-to-plan-a-wedding-uk) covers how to make each decision well. Copy the list, or keep the money in [the wedding planning spreadsheet](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-planning-spreadsheet). Or tell Aisley about the day: she drafts the to-do list in the first conversation, and you decide what stays on it.

## Wedding checklist: 12 months or more out

- Agree the total budget and write down who is contributing what, in pounds.
- Set a first guest count by dividing the budget by £180 to £280 a head.
- Draft the day list and the evening list before you view a single venue.
- Pick a region and a window of dates rather than one fixed Saturday.
- Decide between a civil ceremony, a church wedding and a celebrant-led one.
- Shortlist venues on capacity, all-in price with VAT, curfew and catering rules, using [the shortlist method](https://getaisley.com/guides/how-to-choose-a-wedding-venue).
- Send enquiries to four to eight venues and log every reply in one place.
- View your top three with [the 25 questions that surface the real price](https://getaisley.com/guides/questions-to-ask-wedding-venue).
- Check the contract against [the venue contract checklist](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-venue-contract-checklist) before you sign.
- Book the venue and pay the deposit.
- Take out [wedding insurance](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-insurance-uk) the same week, before any other deposit goes out.
- Book the registrar for your venue and date, or meet the vicar if you are marrying in church.
- Book the photographer.
- Book the band or DJ.
- Start one spreadsheet for every quote, deposit and balance date, or copy [the wedding planning spreadsheet](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-planning-spreadsheet).

The enquiries are the slow line on this list. The average UK venue takes around 47 hours to answer, according to [VenueBot's State of UK Wedding Venue Enquiries 2026](https://venuebot.io/blog/2026-state-of-uk-wedding-venue-enquiries), and some never answer at all. Aisley [writes to the venues on your shortlist, reads the replies and chases the ones that go quiet](https://getaisley.com/how-it-works), so that line arrives as a set of prices to compare. The choosing stays with you.

## Wedding planning checklist: 9 to 12 months before

- Book the caterer if the venue does not feed you, with [the questions to ask a caterer](https://getaisley.com/guides/questions-to-ask-wedding-caterer) to hand.
- Order the dress or suits. Made-to-order takes six to nine months before alterations.
- Book the florist.
- Book the videographer, if you want one.
- Book hair and makeup.
- Ask the people you want in the wedding party.
- Put up a simple wedding website with the date, venue, travel and accommodation.
- Send save-the-dates, earlier for a peak Saturday or guests travelling far.
- Hold accommodation blocks near the venue at two price points.

## Wedding checklist: 6 to 9 months before

- Book the cake maker after a tasting.
- Book transport for the two of you, and coaches if the venue is rural.
- Choose and order the rings.
- Book an on-the-day coordinator if the venue does not include one.
- Order the stationery: invitations, order of service, menus and place cards.
- Set up the gift list or honeymoon fund.
- Ask the registrar or vicar what readings and music the ceremony allows.
- Book the honeymoon in the name on the passport you will travel with. GOV.UK is plain that [the two must match](https://www.gov.uk/changing-passport-information/name-marriage-and-civil-partnership).

## Wedding planning checklist: 3 to 6 months before

- Send the invitations with an RSVP deadline six weeks before the day.
- Ask for dietary requirements on the RSVP, not by text the week before.
- Gather the original documents [GOV.UK lists for giving notice](https://www.gov.uk/marriages-civil-partnerships/documents-youll-need-to-give-notice): a passport or UK birth certificate, proof of address, and proof of any name change.
- [Give notice](https://getaisley.com/guides/giving-notice-wedding-uk) at your local register office, at least [29 days before the ceremony and within 12 months of it](https://www.gov.uk/marriages-civil-partnerships/give-notice).
- Have the menu tasting and settle the wine order.
- Book the hair and makeup trials.
- Ask two or three people to give speeches, with ten minutes each as the limit.
- Buy outfits and accessories for the wedding party.

Notice is the one date on this list you cannot move. You must have lived in your registration district for the past seven days, you each give notice in your own district if you live apart, and the notice is tied to the venue you name. Church of England weddings usually run on banns instead. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the forms go to the registrar where the wedding happens rather than where you live, and [the giving notice guide](https://getaisley.com/guides/giving-notice-wedding-uk) has the deadlines and fees for each.

## Wedding checklist: 1 to 3 months before

- Chase the RSVPs that have not come back.
- Confirm every supplier's booking, arrival time and balance date in writing.
- Draft the running order with [the wedding day timeline](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-day-timeline) as the template.
- Write the group photo list for the photographer, eight to ten groups at most.
- Write your vows, if the ceremony allows your own words.
- Apply for a passport in your new name if you want it for the honeymoon. GOV.UK lets you [apply up to 3 months before the ceremony](https://www.gov.uk/changing-passport-information/name-marriage-and-civil-partnership), with a form the registrar or minister signs.
- Order the favours, signage and a table plan board.
- Buy thank-you gifts for the wedding party and parents.
- Book the final dress or suit fitting.

## Wedding checklist: the final month

- Give final numbers to the venue and caterer.
- Make the seating plan once the numbers are real.
- Pay the balances. Most fall due two to six weeks out.
- Send the running order, with phone numbers, to every supplier and the venue.
- Confirm the registrar's arrival time for the interviews before the ceremony.
- Brief the ushers on the seating plan and the group photo list.
- Collect the rings.
- Have the final fittings and break in the shoes.
- Hand the day to a coordinator or a friend who will hold the phone.
- Put cash in labelled envelopes for any supplier you plan to tip.

## Wedding planning checklist: the final week

- Drop decorations, favours, signage and the guest book at the venue.
- Confirm pick-up times and addresses with the transport.
- Give the rings, the running order and the cash envelopes to the person holding them.
- Collect the outfits and have them steamed.
- Rehearse the ceremony if the church or venue offers a rehearsal.
- Pack for the honeymoon and check passports, visas and travel insurance.
- Pack the day bag from the list below.
- Keep the evening before quiet, and go to bed.

## Wedding checklist: the day itself

The morning should be about people, not paperwork. Pack this the night before and give it to one named person who is not either of you. The timings themselves belong in [the running order](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-day-timeline).

- The rings, with whoever hands them over in the ceremony.
- Two printed copies of the running order and the supplier phone numbers.
- Vows, readings and speeches, printed.
- Outfits, shoes, cufflinks and a spare pair of flat shoes.
- Plasters, safety pins, a sewing kit, painkillers, tissues and a phone charger.
- Touch-up makeup and blotting paper.
- The cash envelopes.
- Water and something to eat for the morning.
- Umbrellas. It is a British summer.

## Wedding planning checklist: after the wedding

Most of this is paperwork, and most of it needs the marriage certificate. Keep the original somewhere safe and send copies wherever an organisation accepts one.

- Return hired outfits and anything borrowed from the venue by the agreed date.
- Ask the venue to return any damage deposit.
- Order extra copies of the marriage certificate, [£12.50 each from the General Register Office](https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate).
- Change the name on your passport, sending the marriage certificate with [the application](https://www.gov.uk/changing-passport-information/name-marriage-and-civil-partnership).
- Change the name on your driving licence, which [costs nothing at DVLA](https://www.gov.uk/change-name-driving-licence).
- Tell [HMRC about the new name](https://www.gov.uk/tell-hmrc-change-of-details).
- Update your bank, employer, pension, GP, council tax and utilities.
- Make a new will. GOV.UK notes that [getting married cancels any will you made before](https://www.gov.uk/make-will/updating-your-will).
- Check whether you can claim [Marriage Allowance](https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance), which moves £1,260 of personal allowance to your partner and cuts their tax by up to £252 a year.
- Write the thank-you cards within three months.
- Leave reviews for the suppliers you would recommend.

## Or let Aisley draft the wedding checklist

This wedding planning checklist is yours to copy, into a notes app or the spreadsheet, and tick off together. Or skip the blank page. Aisley drafts your whole-wedding to-do list in the first conversation: the venue, the suppliers, giving notice, the outfits, the invitations and the last month. You move things, drop things, and ask her to fill whatever is missing. The choosing stays with you. [Start without a credit card](https://getaisley.com/signup).

## Quick answers

### What should be on a wedding checklist?

The budget and guest count, the venue, the registrar or church, wedding insurance, the suppliers in the order they sell out, invitations and RSVPs, giving notice, final numbers and balances, the running order, a bag for the day, and the name change admin afterwards. In England and Wales the only legal deadline is giving notice at least 29 days before a civil ceremony.

### When should you start planning a wedding in the UK?

Twelve to eighteen months out is comfortable. Popular venues sell peak Saturdays 12 to 24 months ahead, and photographers and bands go on the same timeline because each can only do one wedding a day. Six months is workable if you are flexible on the date and the venue.

### What is the first thing to do on a wedding checklist?

Agree the budget and a first guest count before you look at a venue. Guest numbers filter venues by capacity and every per-head cost multiplies through them, so a venue booked first can force the list to shrink to fit it.

### How do I use this checklist for a shorter engagement?

Work every phase in the same order, just faster. With six months to go, do the first two phases in the first month, then book the rest as quickly as suppliers confirm. Giving notice still needs 29 days in England and Wales, so book that appointment early.

### Is this wedding planning checklist free?

Yes. Copy it into a notes app, a spreadsheet or a shared document and tick it off together. There is nothing to sign up for. If you would rather start from your own wedding than from a blank list, Aisley drafts your whole-wedding to-do list in the first conversation.

### What goes on a wedding day-of checklist?

The rings, printed copies of the running order and supplier phone numbers, vows and speeches, spare shoes, an emergency kit with plasters, safety pins and painkillers, touch-up makeup, cash for tips, water and food for the morning, and umbrellas. Give the bag to one named person so neither of you carries it.