Eighteen months, mostly in ten minute gaps
Wedding planning is a long, low-intensity project done in fragments: twenty minutes on a train, ten minutes before a meeting, an hour on a Sunday. That shape suits a phone very well and suits the big planning apps less well than they claim, because their strength is the generic checklist and the part that consumes the year is chasing suppliers and keeping two families informed. Use the planner for structure, and something duller for the things that must not be lost.
What the year actually looks like
| When | The real work | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Twelve months out | Date, venue, the guest number | A shared spreadsheet, not an app |
| Nine months out | Suppliers booked and deposits paid | Contracts, in cloud storage |
| Six months out | Invitations, replies, dietary requirements | The guest list, one source of truth |
| Three months out | Timings, seating, the order of the day | A document two of you can edit |
| The last month | Phone numbers and a running order | Printed as well as on a phone |
| The day itself | Somebody other than you holding the list | A shared album and one contact sheet |
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What to actually install
The Knot. The strongest of the dedicated planners for structure: a checklist by date, a guest list, a supplier directory and a seating tool. Its directory is strongest in the United States, which is worth knowing before relying on it elsewhere.
WeddingWire. The same shape with better coverage in several other countries, and useful supplier reviews. Worth installing both for a week and keeping whichever has your region properly populated.
Wedding Planner by MyWed. Lighter and less directory-driven, which suits couples who have already chosen their suppliers and want the checklist without the marketplace.
Sheets. The guest list belongs here: names, addresses, replies, dietary requirements, table number, one row each. Unglamorous, editable by both of you, and it exports anywhere.
Keep. For the running list of small decisions and the photographs of things you saw in a shop. Shared with one other person, it stops the same question being asked twice.
Trello. If either of you already works this way, a board per supplier with the deposit date on the card is better than any wedding-specific tool. If neither of you does, skip it.
Google Calendar. Every appointment, every payment deadline and every supplier's cut-off date, in one shared calendar with reminders a week ahead rather than on the day.
Pinterest. Genuinely useful for showing a florist or a stylist what you mean, and genuinely dangerous for expectations. Keep one board per supplier rather than one board of everything.
Canva. Invitations, order of service, table cards and signs, in matching templates, printed at a local shop. This is where most couples save real money without it looking saved.
Genius Scan. Every contract, receipt and deposit confirmation photographed the day it is signed, into one folder. The most boring recommendation here and the one you will be glad of.
Dropbox. Where that folder should live, shared with the other person, so neither of you is the single point of failure for a supplier's terms.
Google Photos. A shared album for the day, with the link on the tables. It collects what guests took without asking anybody to send anything anywhere.
Spotify. The playlist for the parts with no band, built collaboratively and then checked end to end. Also the do-not-play list, which a DJ will genuinely want.
Booking. Holding a block of rooms for guests, and keeping the confirmations where you can find them at eleven at night.
Airbnb. The same for a house for the night before, which is often the arrangement that makes the morning calm.
AccuWeather. Useful from about ten days out, for the decision about a marquee side, umbrellas or moving the drinks indoors. Not before then, whatever it says.
The week before, and the day
- Write one contact sheet Every supplier, arrival time, mobile number, one page. Give it to two other people. This is the document that saves the day when something is late.
- Print the things that must not fail The order of the day, the contact sheet, the seating plan. A phone with a flat battery at four in the afternoon is not an unusual event.
- Hand the phone over Somebody else chases the florist. Put their number on the sheet as the contact, not yours, and tell the suppliers.
- Set up the shared album and put the link on the tables A short link or a code. Ask for photographs there rather than in six separate messages.
- Turn your own notifications off Do not be reachable by a supplier on the day. That is what the other person and the contact sheet are for.
- Charge everything the night before Two battery packs. The people running the day will be on their phones for eight hours.
What not to trust an app with
Contracts, deposits and cancellation terms should exist as files in storage you control, not only inside a planner app's account. Wedding apps come and go, accounts get locked, and a supplier dispute six months later is settled by the document rather than by a tick in a checklist.
Be careful with what a planning app publishes. Several build a public page for the couple by default, and a wedding website with a date, a home address and a gift list is a specific kind of information to leave lying about. Check what is public before you fill in anything.
- The checklist and the timeline
- Supplier shortlists and quotes
- Inspiration and mood boards
- The shared calendar
- Playlists
- Signed contracts
- Deposit receipts
- The final guest list and addresses
- The running order for the day
- Supplier phone numbers
A planner app for the checklist, a spreadsheet for the guests, a storage folder for the contracts, and a printed contact sheet in somebody else's hand on the day.
Frequently asked questions
Are the dedicated wedding apps worth installing at all?
For the checklist and the sense of what happens when, yes, particularly for a first wedding. For the supplier directory, it depends entirely on how well your region is covered, which you can judge in ten minutes.
How do we keep both families informed without a hundred messages?
One source of information that everyone is pointed at, whether that is a simple page or a shared document, and one person other than the couple who answers questions in the last fortnight.
What is the most common thing to forget?
Dietary requirements collected at reply time and then never reaching the caterer, and supplier arrival times not matching the venue's access hours. Both are solved by the guest list and the contact sheet being one document each.
Should we build a wedding website?
It saves a great deal of repetition for travel and accommodation questions. Check the privacy settings, and do not put your home address on it.
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