The 12-Month Indian Wedding Planning Checklist

A year sounds like a lot of time to plan a wedding. It isn't, once you count the weekends lost to festivals, work travel and family consultations. Twelve months is the timeline we recommend for a full Indian wedding of 200 guests or more, especially one that spans three or four functions. Here is how we break it down with the families we plan for.

12 to 9 months out: the big decisions

This is when you fix the things everything else depends on. Get these wrong, or leave them late, and every later decision gets harder.

• Dates and muhurat: consult your family pandit early and ask for two or three auspicious options. Peak dates in November, December and February are often booked by venues a year ahead.
• Budget: agree on an overall figure and who is contributing what. Decide early whether the two families are splitting costs by function or by category.
• Guest list, first draft: even a rough number, 150 or 400, decides the kind of venue you need.
• Venue and planner: book both. For a destination wedding, block rooms now.
• Style and scale: how many functions, and roughly how formal each one will be.

9 to 6 months out: lock in the key vendors

The most sought-after photographers, décor teams and caterers in North India book up quickly for peak season. By now you should be confirming:

• Photography and videography, including a pre-wedding shoot if you want one
• The caterer, if your venue allows outside catering, and a first menu discussion
• A décor concept and mood boards for each function
• Entertainment: DJ, live band, dhol, folk performers and a sangeet choreographer
• Bridal and groom's outfits, particularly anything custom; a heavily embroidered lehenga can take 12 to 16 weeks

This is also the right moment for a save-the-date, especially for guests travelling from abroad who need to plan leave and flights.

6 to 3 months out: details and design

With the main pieces in place, the work shifts to details. This is where a wedding starts to feel personal.

1. Finalise the guest list and collect addresses and phone numbers in one shared sheet.
2. Design and print invitations, and send them eight to ten weeks before the wedding, earlier for destination weddings.
3. Book mehendi artists, and make-up and hair for the bride and close family.
4. Arrange guest travel: train and flight blocks, airport and station transfers, and local transport.
5. Plan welcome hampers, room drops and return gifts.
6. Choose jewellery and accessories, and schedule the first outfit fittings.
7. Confirm the pandit and the list of puja samagri for every ritual.

Planner's tip: keep one master sheet for guests, rooms, travel and dietary needs, and give only two people edit access. Ten relatives editing ten different lists is how guests get missed at the airport.

3 months to 1 month out: confirm everything

This is the stretch where a good planner earns their fee. Every vendor gets a written brief and a timeline, and nothing is left to a phone call.

• A menu tasting with the caterer, with both families represented if possible
• A final décor walkthrough and sign-off on floral and lighting plans
• Sangeet rehearsals: start earlier than you think, and give the older relatives shorter routines
• RSVP follow-ups; expect to call a third of the list personally
• Rooming lists sent to hotels, with arrival times and special requests
• A function-wise running order drafted and shared with vendors
• Marriage registration paperwork, if you plan to register soon after

The final month and the final week

In the last four weeks, the aim is to stop making new decisions. Final fittings, the last vendor payments on their agreed schedules, and a detailed call sheet for the wedding days: who is where, at what time, with whose phone number.

In the final week we hold a coordination meeting with every vendor, confirm transport schedules down to the vehicle, pack emergency kits (safety pins, fashion tape, basic medicines, chargers, a spare dupatta), and hand the envelopes for shagun and tips to a trusted family member so the couple never has to think about them.

Then the couple steps back and lets the team run the show. The best thing you can do in the last 48 hours is sleep, eat properly and enjoy the people who have come to celebrate you.

And if you are reading this with less than a year to go, don't panic. Not every wedding gets twelve months. We have planned lovely weddings in four months, and a few in six weeks. A shorter timeline means fewer vendor choices and faster decisions, but it is entirely possible with a clear budget and a family willing to decide quickly.

If you would like a version of this checklist built around your own date, guest count and venue, get in touch with Shrim Events. We are happy to sketch out a timeline with you, even if you are only at the "we just got engaged" stage.