The Ultimate Wedding Checklist - What To Start Planning 3 Months Out

3 Month Wedding Checklist - Download it here!

Send out invitations and record RSVPs as they come in

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Work on vows and select readings

 

Finalize your wedding timeline

• Contact info for important people
• Items to include on your schedule

Wake up	When guests arrive at reception
Breakfast	Cocktail hour
Hair, makeup, and getting dressed	Dinner
When vendors arrive and who will show them in	Toasts
First look	First dance
Photos	Other dances
Ceremony	Cut the cake

 

Assemble favors for guests

 

Favor Boxes Filled With Truffles: Style Me Pretty, Bride Getting Zipped Into Her Dress: Marissa Merrill Photography, Hand Addressed Envelopes: Bridal Musings

THE ULTIMATE WEDDING CHECKLIST - 3 Months Out

With our wedding planner, you have been able to tackle a ton of wedding-related tasks! Hopefully, you have been able to keep up and you’re now ready to tackle the next items on our agenda. They include:

• Sending out invitations and recording RSVPs
• Working on your vows and selecting readings
• Finalizing your wedding timeline
• Assembling favors for guests

Send Out Invitations and Record RSVPs as They Come In

Last month you spent plenty of time choosing what kind of invitations to order, how many to order, and exactly how you want them to look. If you placed your order, you should be receiving them in the mail, and when you do, it’s time to get to work so you can send them out to your guests.

Before you stuff the first envelope, double check to make sure that every piece of information is accurate on your invitations. It will be frustrating to discover that something was misprinted, but it’s better to discover it before you send out your invitations than after you have sent them out and all your guests think your ceremony starts an hour earlier than you planned.

Remember in month 11 when you finalized your guest list and you were tasked with hunting down the right addresses? It’s time to get out your address book and get to work. Double check each address to make sure you don’t accidentally write the wrong address. It could take weeks, or even months, for it to be returned, leaving you with very little time to resend your invite.

Have a large guest list and feeling overwhelmed at addressing all those envelopes? Enlist the help of a friend, family member, or a member of your bridal party who has good handwriting. If you want your invitations to look fancy, consider hiring a calligrapher.

This is also a good time to set up a system for recording RSVPs. Write down the names of every single person who received an invitation and mark off exactly who has RSVPed and who hasn’t. Keep all of your RSVP cards in the same box so you can double check if you need to. In the weeks leading up to your wedding, you can check this list and reach out to friends and family members who haven’t RSVPed to see if they plan on attending your wedding.

Key takeaways:

• Double check the information on your invites to make sure everything is accurate.
• Double check each address as you’re writing on envelopes to make sure everything is written correctly.
• Consider hiring a calligrapher to address envelopes, or ask a friend or a family member to help.
• Set up a system for recording RSVPs as they come in.

Work on Vows and Select Readings

It’s amazing how many people wait to write their vows until right before the wedding! If you’re the kind of person who does your best work under pressure, go for it! If you get stressed easily, if you want to make sure you convey your feelings perfectly, or you simply want to mark one more thing off of your to-do list, you should start working on your vows right now.

When writing your own, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, you want your vows to be meaningful, but that doesn’t mean they should be long. Not only do guests not want to listen to you read three pages of vows, you are going to wish you shortened things as soon as you’re in front of all your guests. Keep things as short and sweet as possible.

Write two or three versions of your vows and read them aloud. You may discover that your vows sound very different when read aloud than they look on paper. You may also realize one version resonates more with your emotions than the others when you speak it out loud.

Even if you decide not to write your own vows, you still have to decide exactly what you want your officiant to say, or not to say. For example, many women choose to forgo the part in traditional vows where they promise to obey their new husband. Work with your officiant to decide on vows that work for both of you.

That’s not all! Consider selecting one, two, or three readings. This is the perfect opportunity to include other important people in your wedding day, like parents, cousins, or siblings. The longer the readings are, the less you should have.

Key takeaways:

• Keep your vows short and sweet.
• Write two or three versions of your vows.
• Read your vows aloud.
• Start working on your vows—don’t wait until the last minute.
• Work with your officiant to decide on what you do and don’t want them to say during the ceremony.
• Consider selecting at least one reading.

Finalize Your Wedding Timeline

Every wedding follows a general timeline. You know you’re going to get up in the morning, you’re going to get ready, you’re going to get married, and then you’re going to celebrate with family and friends. However, a ton of things go into choreographing the perfect wedding. Not to mention, getting behind by a few minutes here and there can throw off your entire day!

If you have a wedding planner, they can work with you to create a schedule that includes every detail. If you don’t, you’ll have to create a schedule yourself. It should include the time every single thing should occur. It should list everything from when the hair stylist and makeup artist are going to arrive in the morning to when the DJ will arrive to set up at the reception and when you will take photos with your family.

Make sure you don’t plan items on your list too closely together. It’s a good idea to plan five and ten minute buffers between events within your day so you have the ability to make up lost time if you get behind.

It's also a good idea to list who is in charge of items that require help from someone else. For example, you've got better things to do than to let the DJ into your reception space and show them where to set up. Designate this job to your coordinator, if you have one. If you don't, ask a parent or another trusted person to do it on your behalf.

It’s also handy to put contact information for others somewhere on the sheet. That way, if someone has a question about where the cake goes or who is going to let the bartender into the venue, they can look at the list, see who is in charge of what, and give that person a call directly so you aren’t fielding phone calls all day.

Once you have created your wedding timeline, print way more copies than you think you will need. Copies should be handed out to your bridal party, as well as other important guests who may be helping you throughout the day.

Key takeaways:

• Include every single event that takes place during your day, and exactly what time it should occur.
• Plan five and ten minute buffers between activities so you have time to catch up if you fall behind.
• List who is in charge of items that can't be completed by the bride or groom.
• Put contact information for important family members and bridal party members on the timeline.
• Print more copies than you think you will need, and hand them out to your bridal party and other important guests the day-of.

Assemble Favors for Guests

Favors should be a fun way to thank guests for coming. Grand gestures aren’t necessary. Small gifts are just fine. After all, you have a lot of other things to stress about. Gifts for people attending your wedding shouldn’t be one of those things!

Start assembling favors for guests during month four so you have plenty of time to get everything ready to go. Consider purchasing useful items that guests will appreciate. For example, hand fans are great for summer weddings, while scarves are perfect for winter fêtes.

Food is always a big hit. Especially if it’s something that can be enjoyed later. For example, macarons have been a popular wedding favor in recent years, while local honey and maple syrup can be used weeks or even months after your big day.

The presentation is just as important as the gift itself. Choose favor boxes carefully, and consider tying a ribbon on top to make it extra special.

Make sure that you have extras on-hand just in case. You don’t want to find out that you miscounted and you’re short on the day of, and you don’t want to find out some of your favors were destroyed during transport and can’t be replaced.

Key takeaways:

• Small gifts can have just as much of an impact as large gifts.
• Consider useful items that guests will use during your wedding and after.
• If you’re feeling uninspired, edible favors are always a big hit with guests.
• Choose beautiful packaging.
• Make sure you have extra favors on-hand just in case something goes wrong.