Getting Started

The Real Timeline: What Happens in the Six Months Before Your Wedding

Engaged couples often ask me what the last stretch before the wedding actually looks like behind the scenes. Here’s the real timeline I work from.

6 Months Out

Final headcount estimates, catering tastings, and locking your must-have vendors if you haven’t already. This is also when I build your first full production timeline draft.

4 Months Out

Invitations go out. We confirm rental orders, finalize the ceremony structure, and I start coordinating logistics between vendors — load-in times, power needs, floor plans.

2 Months Out

Final fittings, final headcount, seating chart begins. This is when small details — menu cards, signage, timeline handouts for your wedding party — get built out.

1 Month Out

Final walkthrough at the venue. Final payments confirmed. I send every vendor a finalized run-of-show so there are zero surprises on the day.

Week Of

This is where a production lead earns their keep — final headcount to caterer, rehearsal, day-of timeline distributed to your wedding party, and me handling every vendor call so you don’t have to think about logistics at all.

The goal of every one of these milestones is the same: by the time your wedding day arrives, there’s nothing left for you to manage. That’s the whole job.

Written by Ruaraidh

Owner and lead producer at Justice Event Design & Production, bringing 28 years of planning and production experience to every event.

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