Indian wedding planning checklist

12 months or more before

• Sit down with both families and agree on a budget and who is paying for what.
• Decide which events you are hosting: Mehendi, Haldi, Sangeet, Wedding, Reception, and any family-specific ceremonies.
• Pick the date. Many families check an auspicious date (muhurat) with their priest before booking anything.
• Draft a rough guest count for each event. The Reception is usually much bigger than the Haldi.
• Book the venue or venues, and a planner if you are using one.

9 to 12 months before

• Book the caterer, photographer and videographer, decorator, DJ, mehendi artist and priest.
• Reserve hotel room blocks for out-of-town guests.
• Send Save the Dates, especially to guests travelling internationally. A digital Save the Date can go out before anything else is finalised.
• Start a single master guest list that both families can edit.

6 to 9 months before

• Order outfits. Lehengas and sherwanis often take months to make and alter.
• Build your wedding website with a page for each event: date, venue, dress code and timeline.
• Collect missing phone numbers and addresses for the guest list.
• Decide who is invited to which event.

3 to 4 months before

• Send invitations. Many families now send them on WhatsApp, with a link where guests can RSVP. See our WhatsApp invitation wording.
• Ask RSVP questions for each event: meal choice, plus-ones, arrival dates.
• Plan a livestream for family who cannot travel.

1 to 2 months before

• Chase missing RSVPs with reminders.
• Give each vendor the final headcount for their event, not the total for the whole wedding.
• Build a seating chart for each event that needs one.
• Write the timeline for each day and share it with vendors and family.
• Collect arrival and departure details for airport pickups.

The week of the wedding

• Send a reminder before each event with the timeline and seating.
• Print QR codes for the entrance so guests can find their seat on their phone.
• Hand the livestream phone and password to someone who is not the photographer.
• Name one cousin or friend as the contact for guest questions, so it is not you.

Frequently asked questions

Tools for this

• Guest listImport guests, group households, tag sides and relations, and plan every event’s list.See how it works →
• RSVPsCollect RSVPs per event, with your own questions, for every function of the wedding.See how it works →
• Wedding websiteOne website for every event, each with its own page, dress code, timeline and RSVP.See how it works →