Wedding checklist: what not to leave out

A wedding comes apart over loose details, not over a lack of ideas. This list orders what is usually worth having decided, written down or booked. A QR photo album is one box among the others: it is for the guests’ photos, and it does not stand in for the rest of the day.

Before you lock the date and the money

• A date, or a range of dates, and a plan if that day cannot happen.
• A rough guest count. Without that figure, the room and the menu are guessed.
• A budget in blocks: venue, food, music, photo and video, flowers, paper, clothes, transport and a remainder for surprises.
• Who follows each block. If you are two, split the chasing so it does not all sit in one inbox.

Ask in writing what each booking includes, until when you can change the headcount and what happens if the date moves. Keep contracts and receipts in a folder you can both open. This guide does not quote vendor prices: every venue and every city is different.

Guests, replies and where people sit

The guest list is the piece that moves the rest. Note allergies next to the name, not in a chat that disappears. Replies need a cutoff so you can pass a number to the caterer. The seating plan comes once that list is no longer changing every day.

The paper carries the invitation, the times and how to get there. If the ceremony and the meal are in different places, that should be readable at a glance. Say whether children are invited and whether you want to mention transport or a place to stay. A wrong map produces more phone calls than any other miss.

The day, hour by hour

• Times for the ceremony, photos, drinks, dinner, speeches and dancing, with a gap between blocks.
• A closed menu, including a plate for anyone who does not eat what the table eats.
• Music: what plays in each part, and what you do not want played.
• Who holds the rings, the readings, the flowers and the car keys at the end.
• A venue contact who will answer the phone that afternoon, and a spare number of yours.
• A small kit: a needle and thread, a painkiller, a charger and a copy of the timetable.

Read the order out loud once. If a speech runs long, the caterer and the music need to know which block gets shorter. Name someone who is not the couple to flag delays: the wedding day is a poor moment to be watching the clock.

Photos: the booking and the guests’ own

The photographer or the film, if you book them, sit in their own agreement: hours, delivery and whether they cover the getting ready. Separately, decide whether you want the photos friends take. A chat compresses them and mixes them with messages. A shared folder leaves out anyone who does not want another account.

MyEventQR is one way to collect those guest photos with a QR code, with no app and no account for the person uploading. Where to put the cards and what to say is in the guide to guest photos with a QR. Creating the trial takes a moment: sign-up and the QR. That trial is not the wedding album. If you are comparing tools, the criteria are in what to look for.

After the wedding

What remains is returning what you hired, paying what was due at the end and keeping the photographer’s album as agreed. If you opened an event for the guests’ photos, the period is not open-ended: after expiry there are 14 days to download, and then the files are deleted. Write that date down on the day, not once it has already passed.

Thanks can be a short note. You do not need a new design if you already have the addresses from the replies. What is worth not leaving for a year later is saving a copy of anything that only lives in an online service.