Confused about planning and timelines

I would start booking these things sooner rather than later, due to the number of brides postponing until 2021. I would definitely recommend booking hair and makeup soon and getting your officiant.

We're also having an untraditional wedding and the first thing I did with the planning WW app was to delete all of the things that didn't apply for me/ us. It helped me focus on a more concise list.

Do you want a hair and makeup artist to come to your house? If so I’d recommend booking someone ASAP because they usually book up a year out. I’m not sure about officiant as we had my husbands uncle marry us. For attire I would look at the retailer you want to order from and see what their timeline is. Some bridesmaid dresses take only a couple weeks to come in and others take many months.

Since many weddings are being post poned till next year, locate vendors asap so you get your top pick. Browse the vendor tab and also Thumbtack.com


Start looking for attire soon too. You can go to a local bridal shop (David's is not your only option..browse Google Maps for your area) to see what looks good on everyone. Or do the try at home option that Cocomelody offers.

I would book your hair and makeup artist now! They will likely be booking up quickly with many 2020 brides having to reschedule for 2021. Same with an officiant. But you could also have a friend or family member become ordained online and have them marry you. I would start looking to bridesmaid dresses and suits now. If you have to order dresses, it could take a few months to get them in.

Here is my timeline. Hopefully it will help. I would recommend booking your hair and make up asap.

There are really great and free resources that list what to do at each month mark. And easily for you, you can mark it if you're not doing it! If you're visual print it out and cross off the "stuff" you aren't doing and then the list is less daunting and you will feel more accomplished.


But start with one of those lists to ensure vendor availability because 9 months will be here before you know it!

It's more stressful for me to know I have to make a decision than it is to actually make the decision, so it made sense for us to just get stuff out of the way. We had everything booked, including hair and makeup and bridal party outfits, about 7-8 months before the wedding. If you enjoy the planning process or are likely to second-guess your choices, it might be good to hold off on choosing details, but it's better to book services with people (vendors) sooner. So you should try to choose and sign contracts with a photographer, caterer, florist, hair and makeup artist, etc. ASAP, but you can wait to finalize your choices with each of them. All of this will depend on specific vendors, but from what I've read and experienced:
You can finalize specific flowers and a catering menu about 2 months ahead of the wedding and hair and makeup styles at any point. Bridal party outfits can probably be chosen as late as a month before the wedding, but four months is recommended.
Our officiant was a family friend who offered to perform our ceremony as soon as we got engaged, but that seems like something where you'd want to make sure you're comfortable with them, so it's better to start sooner than later. You can also look into a one day licence to perform marriages if you're interested in having someone you know, but who is not ordained perform your ceremony.

In the apps, if you are a person who wants to be able to look back at everything you've crossed off the list, you should delete all of the unnecessary items. If you only care about seeing what you still need to do, just mark the extra tasks as complete; it's WAY faster.