Free tool

Wedding timeline, counted backwards: one date, 28 deadlines

A wedding date is not one date, it is twenty-eight. Enter your day and this calculator turns the planning around: instead of telling you what comes next, it tells you the latest each decision can be made — with no sign-up, and without your date leaving this browser.

No sign-up Runs in your browser Instant result
The calculator

Your date

Enter your wedding date. Every line below shows when that step falls due, and every lead time can be overwritten the moment you know what your printer or your venue actually needs.

The day of the celebration. If it is not fixed yet, use the month you have in mind.
Days until the wedding 365
Deadlines already passed 2
Measured against your date and today. Passed does not mean lost — it means this step is now at the top of the list.
  1. Set the budget frame Before the first viewing you need a figure to measure quotes against — and an answer to who is contributing. More on this: Budget master: the ultimate guide to wedding financing without stress
    Due on Already passed
  2. Estimate the guest count Not a list yet, just an order of magnitude. It decides which venues are possible at all, and with that almost everything that follows. More on this: Guest list without stress: who may come and who not?
    Due on Already passed
  3. Sort out the legal formalities Ask the office responsible for you — the register office in England and Wales, the county clerk in much of the US — which documents it requires, how long they take to obtain and how early you can secure the appointment. Notice periods and paperwork differ by country and region; the number on the left is a planning suggestion, not a statutory period. More on this: Documents you need for a marriage license
    Due on Today
  4. View and book the venue Date and place pull everything else along: how many people fit, who is allowed to cook, how late the music may play. More on this: How do you find the wedding venue that fits your celebration?
    Due on
  5. Approach photographer, music and catering The three trades that are gone first for a Saturday in summer. Asking costs nothing; waiting costs you the choice. More on this: Enquiring with wedding vendors: what belongs in the message
    Due on
  6. Send the save-the-date Not an invitation yet, just advance warning — it matters most to everyone who has to travel or book time off. More on this: Save-the-date website: when it makes sense and what to include Your wedding website handles this
    Due on
  7. Choose the outfits Made-to-measure, alterations and a second fitting together take more time than the first appointment suggests. More on this: Finding a wedding dress: the order you decide in
    Due on
  8. Settle music and programme Band or DJ, ceremony music, first dance — and the question of how long the evening should actually run. More on this: Mood makers: how to plan music and entertainment for your wedding
    Due on
  9. Agree menu and drinks Tasting, drinks package, dietary requirements. Counted per head, this is the item that grows fastest with the guest list. More on this: How do you choose the caterer?
    Due on
  10. Finalise the guest list By name now, with addresses and a decision on plus-ones. Everything after this hangs on that list. More on this: Wedding plus-ones: who gets one and who does not
    Due on
  11. Send the stationery to print Design, proof, print and dispatch are four steps in sequence — and the proof is the one that always takes another round. More on this: Paper etiquette: the ultimate guide for wedding invitations
    Due on
  12. Choose the rings Making and engraving take weeks, not days. Leave it to the last month and you are buying from the display case.
    Due on
  13. Order flowers and decoration Seasonal flowers are a question of timing, not of taste. Find out early what is actually in bloom in your month. More on this: Floral dreams and deco magic: how to design your wedding location
    Due on
  14. Send the invitations The starting gun for everything to do with replies. From here the clock is running for your guests. More on this: When should we send the wedding invitations? Your wedding website handles this
    Due on
  15. Arrange travel, shuttles and rooms How guests get there, how they get away again, and where the ones who travelled are sleeping. More on this: How do you explain the way to the venue to your guests?
    Due on
  16. RSVP deadline The day you need answers by. Set it far enough ahead of the final head count that there is still time to chase. More on this: Wedding RSVP online: replies, menu choices and guest questions Your wedding website handles this
    Due on
  17. Trial hair and make-up The whole thing once through — ideally on the same weekday and at the same hour as the wedding. More on this: Wedding hair and make-up: the decisions that are actually pending
    Due on
  18. Chase the missing replies A share of your guests will never answer unprompted. That is not rudeness, it is statistics, which is why it gets its own date. More on this: Wedding guest list online: RSVP, allergies and export Your wedding website handles this
    Due on
  19. Agree speeches and programme Who speaks, for how long, and when. This one conversation is the difference between an evening with a programme and an evening made of programme. More on this: Wedding speech order: who speaks and when?
    Due on
  20. Confirm the final head count The number the bill is built on: caterer and venue usually want it two to three weeks ahead — and after that you pay for every head you named. More on this: Catering & menu planning: culinary highlights for your dream wedding
    Due on
  21. Build the seating plan Only once the replies are complete. Built earlier, it gets built twice. More on this: Strategy at the table: how to plan the perfect seating chart
    Due on
  22. Prepare final payments and tips Outstanding balances, payment methods and the envelopes for the day itself. Nobody wants to be hunting for those on the morning. More on this: Budget master: the ultimate guide to wedding financing without stress
    Due on
  23. Share the run sheet One page of times for suppliers, witnesses and family. On the day it replaces thirty questions. More on this: The perfect day: how to create your wedding timeline
    Due on
  24. The week before Packing, collecting confirmations, assembling the emergency kit — and either finishing or dropping whatever is still open. More on this: Rescue in need: the ultimate wedding emergency kit
    Due on
  25. Rehearsal and walk-through Go through once who stands where and when. Above all for everyone who has a job and has never done it before. More on this: The perfect day: how to create your wedding timeline
    Due on
  26. The day before Set-up, deliveries, decoration. And then nothing more — the evening before no longer belongs to the planning. More on this: Rescue in need: the ultimate wedding emergency kit
    Due on
  27. The wedding morning Styling, getting-ready photographs, travel. Allow more time than feels necessary: the morning is where a timeline tears first. More on this: The perfect day: how to create your wedding timeline
    Due on
  28. Afterwards: photos, thanks and paperwork Collecting the pictures, writing the thank-you cards, and the official errands a marriage brings with it. More on this: Changing your name after marriage: what to do, and in what order
    Due on

The pre-filled lead times are experience values and expressly not a standard: they come from no survey, they apply to no authority, and they know nothing about your suppliers. They are here so the list does not start empty. Overwrite every number as soon as you know the real one — your printer's turnaround is in their quote, not on this page.

Important

What this calculator is not

This is a planning tool, not legal advice. No figure in this list is a statutory deadline — including the one for the legal formalities. How early you can or must give notice of your marriage, which certificates are required, how long they take to obtain and whether a religious or humanist ceremony carries legal weight is decided by the law where you marry, and often by the individual office. Ask them, and put their answer in the field on the left.

In the open

How this calculator works

Your wedding date minus the number in the field beside it, and that is all. Twenty-eight subtractions, sorted by the result. Every line can be checked against a calendar.

Your date stays here A wedding date is personal data, and this one does not leave your browser. There is no form that gets submitted, no sign-up and no storage. Close the tab and it is gone — so write the list down or print it before you click on.
Experience, not a standard The lead times come from no survey and no statute. They are a starting point you overwrite as soon as you have the real turnaround or the real answer from your registrar.
Frequent questions

Questions about the timeline

No. No account, no e-mail address, no payment. The page calculates immediately and completely, and it does so on the twentieth visit too, without asking for anything in return.

No. The whole calculation runs in your browser, nothing is sent to a server and nothing is kept. A wedding date says a great deal about two people — so this is not a promise but a property of the code: there is no transmission here that could be switched off.

From planning experience, not from a survey and not from a statute. They are rough starting values so the list does not begin empty. As soon as you have a real turnaround or an answer from your registrar, that belongs in place of the starting value.

No, which is why this calculator states none. How early you can or must give notice, which documents are required and whether a religious ceremony carries legal weight follows the law where you marry — and sometimes the individual office. The step in the list reminds you to sort that out in time; the number for it comes from the authority.

No, just uncomfortable. Everything that falls into the past is marked as passed rather than hidden — which is exactly the information you need: those steps are now all live at once. Shorten the lead times to what is still possible for you and the order comes back.

Because articles are published on a schedule. A step only links what is readable today and exists in your language; everything else stays as text rather than leading to an error page. The links appear on their own as the articles fall due.
Read on

More on planning

Three articles from the magazine that pick up where the list stops.

What do we plan when? The 12-month wedding timeline What do we plan when? The 12-month wedding timeline
The perfect day: how to create your wedding timeline The perfect day: how to create your wedding timeline
Budget master: the ultimate guide to wedding financing without stress Budget master: the ultimate guide to wedding financing without stress
To the start page

The four deadlines nobody should manage by hand

Save-the-date, invitation, RSVP deadline and chasing sit near the top of the list — and they are exactly the four a spreadsheet fails at. On a wedding website your guests answer for themselves, and the number at the bottom is right without you touching it.

Create a wedding website for free

Creating and designing costs nothing. Sending invitations and collecting replies is part of a package.