A UK wedding planning timeline, from 18 months out to the day after

Book the venue about 18 months before the wedding, the main suppliers at 12 months, and send save the dates 9 to 12 months ahead. Give notice of marriage at least 29 days before the ceremony (the legal minimum in England and Wales), send invitations about three months ahead, and close replies two weeks before your caterer needs final numbers.

Bridebook’s UK Wedding Report 2026 puts the average engagement at 23.8 months, so many couples have more time than this plan needs. The short plan is near the end. The legal steps are for England and Wales.

18 months or more: where do you start?

Start with three numbers, the budget, the guest count and the date, because the venue depends on all three. Then book the venue.

• Agree the budget, and who is giving what. Bridebook’s UK Wedding Report 2026 puts the average wedding at £20,604, and Hitched found in January 2026 that 56% of couples went over budget.
• Draft the guest list in two columns: the people you cannot marry without, and the people you would love to see. Bridebook’s 2026 report puts the UK average at 80 guests.
• Choose a season and a day. Bridebook’s 2026 report found that 47% of 2025 weddings fell on a Saturday, so a Thursday or a Friday is no longer unusual.
• Visit venues and book one. Ask whether it is licensed for ceremonies, whether it does its own catering, and when it needs final numbers.

12 months before: who do you book next?

At 12 months, book the people who can only be in one place on your date.

• The photographer and the videographer. Bridebook’s UK Wedding Report 2026 puts the average spend at £1,484 and £1,514.
• The caterer, if your venue does not cook. Bridebook found in 2026 that 71% of UK couples choose a venue with in-house catering.
• Whoever will marry you: a registrar from the register office for the venue’s district, or your minister or celebrant.
• The band or the DJ, and anyone else your day cannot do without.

9 months before: when do the save the dates go out?

Send save the dates 9 to 12 months before, and 12 to 15 months before for a wedding abroad or on a bank holiday weekend, as Bridebook’s 2026 planning timeline advises. Our guide to when to send save the dates has the lines to copy. In the same month:

• Ask the friends you want beside you at the front.
• Start on the outfits, because anything made to order takes months.
• Hold a block of rooms near the venue for your guests.

6 months before: what do you book now?

Six months out, book what finishes the look of the day. Give notice of marriage now, if you have not yet.

• Book the florist, the cake and the transport.
• Book a menu tasting, and ask the caterer how they want the dietary notes.
• Choose your invitation, paper or digital, and gather the details it must carry.
• Plan the ceremony: readings, music and who stands where.

When do you give notice of marriage?

In England and Wales, GOV.UK says in 2026 that you must give notice at least 29 days before the ceremony, and that the ceremony must take place within 12 months of it. So the window opens a year before the day and closes 29 days before it.

You give notice in person, usually by appointment at your local register office, and you must each have lived in that district for the past seven days. Council fee pages, such as Tower Hamlets, list the fee from 6 April 2026 as £46.50 per person, or £93 for a couple. The notice names the venue, so give it once the venue is certain: a new venue means a new notice.

Our advice: book the appointment as soon as you are inside the 12-month window, and give notice at least three months before the day. A Home Office review can make the notice period much longer. In Scotland, you give notice to the registrar for the district where you marry, so contact them early.

4 months before: what needs doing?

Four months out, invite the guests who must travel, and settle the details.

• Send invitations to guests abroad now, four to six months before the day.
• Ask your caterer for the date of final numbers, in writing.
• Book hair and make-up trials, and buy the rings.

3 months before: when do the invitations go out?

Send invitations about 12 weeks before the day. Guides disagree: Bridebook’s 2026 stationery guide says four to six months, and Debrett’s says that six weeks is the tradition but often not enough, and up to six months is now fine. Twelve weeks gives guests time to ask for leave, book a room and find a babysitter.

Set the reply date by working back from your caterer. Bridebook’s 2026 planning timeline warns that some caterers need up to four weeks’ notice. Put your reply date about two weeks before that, so you have time to chase. Our guide to when to send wedding invitations in the UK works through an example.

2 months before: what is left?

Two months out, the work turns to words: vows, speeches and the order of the day.

• Write your vows, or agree the words with whoever marries you.
• Agree who speaks, in what order, and for how long.
• Send each supplier the timings for the day.
• Book the final fittings.

The last month: what has to be final?

In the last month, close the replies, give the caterer the final numbers and every allergy in writing, and only then draw the seating plan.

• Chase the guests who have not replied, by phone if you must.
• Send the caterer each guest’s meal and every dietary note, in the guest’s own words, with their name.
• Draw the seating plan now, from the confirmed list. Debrett’s advises tables where every guest knows at least one other person.
• Give the venue a running order, and the phone number of one helper who is not you.

UK food businesses must tell customers when they use any of 14 major allergens (Food Standards Agency, 2026), so name each allergy. Our guide to RSVP meal choices and allergies has the question to ask.

The week of the wedding: what do you still do?

In the final week, hand over. Confirm the time and the address with every supplier, and give one trusted person the phone numbers and the running order. Then stop adding jobs. Nobody will notice the thing you did not do, and everybody will notice whether you slept.

What is left to do the day after?

The day after, rest. Then return what was hired, collect the cards and gifts, and note who gave what. Start the thank-you notes while you still remember who said what.

What if you have less than a year?

Then do the first year’s work in the first month: book the venue and the main suppliers in the same few weeks, and let the rest follow. Bridebook’s 2027 trend forecast (2026) says one in five UK couples marry within 12 months of the engagement.

Put the venue’s final-numbers date at the top of your plan: every later date works back from it. When the invitation comes round, here is what to include on a wedding invitation.

If you would like an engagement party before the planning starts, our note on how to plan an event gives the order of work for it, from the date to the thank-you notes.