Wedding Planning Guide - 40 Things To Do The Week Of Your Wedding
Months have been spent planning your big day! You are counting the last seven days now until your beautiful wedding. And now, all that is left is to walk down the aisle, right?
Well, wrong! There are still plenty of things left to do. The week before your wedding day will be hectic, with multiple last-minute checklists to take care of. Where do you start?
Bridalfusion team sat down with the best wedding planners in town to cook up a sure-shot wedding planning guide for soon-to-be brides. This wedding planning guide is full of details on things that need to be taken care of a week before your wedding day.
This ultimate wedding week checklist is divided into five major categories, which will ensure your wedding goes smoothly, as per your dreams.
- Finalizing your wedding day look
- Checking off items on your to-do list
- Putting together an emergency kit
- Practicing your wedding vows
- Relaxing and having fun
So, whether you have left these for the last minute, or these things have totally skipped your mind, this wedding planning guide will help you get things done in order, so there is no panicking at the last moment.
Finalizing your wedding day look
1. Try out everything
A week before the wedding, the first thing you need to do is pick up your wedding dress. Don’t just stop there, however!
Try out everything you have put your heart and soul into. Try on the entire ensemble, just to ensure there is nothing wrong with anything. Shoes, wedding jewelry, your tiara, gloves, everything! Finalize your wedding look at least seven days before. If there is something wrong, or you want to change something, you still have a few days to do so and not panic at the last moment.
Wedding planning guide experts emphasize brides practicing their walk down the aisle in their new shoes a week before their wedding. You are the bride; everyone is going to be looking at you!
2. Break-in Your Shoes
Your wedding shoes are most likely to be brand new. And what do new shoes mean? Blisters and pain!
Don’t let blisters ruin your day. Walk around the house in your wedding shoes. Wear them for short durations during the day for the entire week. This will break in your shoes, and you can test if they are actually comfortable or not.
3. Clean your wedding jewelry
Make sure your engagement ring is still shiny and bright, just like the sun. You would also want to make sure your entire wedding jewelry is, in fact, clean. If it is not, take your jewelry to your trusted jewelry store to get it professionally cleaned. Ensure it should be sparkly on your wedding day!
Checking-off items on your to-do list
4. Cross-off work a week before
Ensure you are not handling any big project or assignment at work at least a week before your wedding. Take care of that, get a break, so there is no stress on your d-day! There should not be any tasks floating around your head. Office work should be the last thing on your mind at this stage.
5. Meet your wedding planner and/or coordinator
If you are planning a huge wedding, you must have hired a wedding planner or a wedding coordinator. Have a final meeting with them to go over all the details again and look out for any last-minute changes.
6. Confirm pending RSVPs
If some friends or relatives have not sent out their RSVPs yet, now is the time to reach out to them. Talk to them to confirm whether they will be a part of your wedding. It might feel like a game of Tom and Jerry, but it is better to know a final number, rather than having guests just stand waiting in line for food that is not there for them!
Once you are sure of this number, deliver your hotel/venue head, wedding planner, and the caterer with the same before the wedding.
7. Finalize your seating chart
Once your RSVPs are in line and finally confirmed, sit down with your fiance and finalize all the seating arrangements. Make sure to send a copy of the final seating chart to the people who need it at the wedding. Your wedding planner, wedding photographer, and your designated bridesmaid will need it to ensure everything is organized.
8. Submit your final shots
Send off your final shot list to your wedding photographer, and designate a trusted friend or family member to regularly check in with the photographer on the wedding day.
9. Check up on your marriage license
Of course, you would not want to miss out on the legality of your wedding. Ensure that you are checking up with your marriage registration before you get married. Everything should be in order when it comes to documentation. Also, ensure that you are assigning someone to keep track of everything on your wedding day. Everything should be appropriately signed and should not be lost in the process.
10. Keep up with last-minute emails.
Your inbox should not be cluttered with all sorts of emails when there are only seven days left to your big day! There could be essential emails from either your vendors or guests. Be sure you read through them in peace and answer any critical emails filled with wedding-related questions. This will ensure you and your guests will have all the wedding fun!
11. Confirm your honeymoon bookings
Double-check on your honeymoon logistics and bookings. Check up with your airlines regarding your flight timings. If there are any changes or delays, you should keep up with them. Also, keep a check on your hotel bookings and other reservations that you have made.
12. Confirm with your vendors
Check-in with your wedding vendors via call or an email on a Monday before your big day! Make sure you are confirming all the necessary details and their arrival times. You should keep a check on your florists, bakers, caterers, and your wedding makeup and hairstylists.
13. Check on any pending payments
As any good wedding planning guide will tell you, you should check up with the pending payments, if there are any. Contact your vendors if any costs are pending. Also, check your contracts for payment deadlines, just to be extra sure.
14. Contact the hotel for an upgrade
Contact your hotel front desk to check in and ask for a last-minute upgrade if you plan to stay in a hotel during your wedding. The upgrade could either be free of cost or at a discounted rate. You should have for yourself a more extensive suite that you deserve! Usually, hotels do have these suites available for bridal parties. They often will whip up this magic for you.
15. Confirm who is giving a toast
If more than a few people are willing to read a little something in your honor, make sure you and your significant other check in with them to confirm. You can let them know your desired time frames, that you expect them to speak, so they are calm and ready in time for the toast.
16. Assign someone to collect wedding gifts and decor
Choose a family member to collect all the wedding gifts and decor items and take them home. You will always want to open all the gifts and keep them. Ensure they are safely escorted to your desired location with your trusted members. At the same time, you are busy taking care of yourself and your newly-wed spouse at the wedding after-party. Assign this task to someone you can trust to be responsible enough.
17. Organize all the wedding boxes
Put together a small box of the essential things you might need for your wedding day. Items like a guest book, toasting glasses, cake knife, and other necessary items related to your wedding and decor should be prepared in advance before your wedding day. Seek the help of your trusted family members to deliver these items to your wedding venue.
18. Prepare for your rehearsal dinner.
You should also ensure that your rehearsal dinner is being put together in the right way. If your family is in charge of putting it together, confirm with them all the necessary details. If you are in control, ensure you are giving the venue a call before the dinner to go over the essential details, timings, menu, etc., one last time.
19. Take care of gratuities
Prepare an envelope with some cash for tips that need to be given to the wedding vendors. According to our wedding planning guide experts, you do not want to be scrounging around for money during your wedding.
20. Printable place cards
You would know who will be a part of the wedding and who is not at this stage. Print out all the place cards and keep them intact with you in a small box. Deliver these place cards to your wedding venue with your family or friends and ask them to be put accordingly by a trusted member of your bridal party.
21. Have a social media guru
Got a friend or your cousin who is hooked on social media? Grab them to be a part of the inner bridal circle! Assign them to take care of all the social media handlings: testing out the right filter, posting the correct pictures and posts, encouraging guests to use your wedding hashtag, and whatnot!
22. Fill up the welcome goodies
Stuff your welcome goodies in a bag that needs to be handed out to your guests. Get these bags delivered to your wedding venue before your big day. This way, when your guests arrive, they have a package of excitement ready for them!
23. Pack up bridal party gifts
Thank your bridesmaids for putting up with you, even when you are in your bridezilla mode! Put up adorable gifts for them for their hard work and effort, wrapped with nice, personalized notes for each of them.
24. Put together a party list
Have a song that you want to be a part of your wedding day? Put it on your pen drive! Put together your favorite jams and give them to your DJ before the wedding, so they come prepared as well. This is a crucial step in your wedding planning guide!
25. Keep a check on your groom
Check-in with your soon-to-be husband on the status of their wedding preparations and whether they have picked up their tuxes or not. Make sure they are in order.
26. Have a small meeting with all of your bridesmaids
Check-in with your bridesmaids. Reach out to them if they have any last-minute queries or questions. Confirm with them when they are meeting you on the wedding day. Leave out an hour or two before your wedding day for a quick brunch or lunch with them.
27. Pack your wedding day essentials
Pack a bag with all your wedding day essentials. Remember to pack everything you will need during your wedding, the ensemble, jewelry, shoes, bridal dress, medications, lingerie, pajamas, and other items.
28. Pack for your honeymoon
If you plan to leave for the honeymoon destination within two days of your wedding day, make sure to pack your bags ahead of time. You will feel much more comfortable if packing is out of the question, especially right after the wedding. You will not have to worry about doing laundry or adding or forgetting anything at the last moment.
29. Clean your home
Things are most likely to get messy as you get closer to your wedding day. Take some time off to clean up your apartment. Tidy up the sheets, and the couch, make it a bit presentable so that you do not have to worry after the wedding. Coming back to a cozy and calm apartment is the best feeling.
30. Check the weather forecast
Keep track of all the changes in weather near you and your wedding venue. If something does happen, you should have a contingency plan as a backup. Try to use different weather apps to be accurate.
Putting together an emergency kit
31. Keep your emergency bag handy
Put together an emergency kit, specifically for the big day. You should always have access to band-aids, safety pins, a nail file, pain killers, a few tampons, a small sewing kit, extra makeup, and of course, your wedding lipstick shade to touch up later.
Practicing your wedding vows
32. Write down a note for your partner
One thing that you should never miss on this wedding planning guide is to write heartfelt words for your fiance. Scribble a few lovely words for your soon-to-be spouse for them to read on the morning of your wedding day. Let them know about your excitement and emotions for the lifetime that you both will be sharing. Let them know you love them.
33. Write down heartfelt vows
Take inspiration from the internet, your grandparents, your parents, or from the most romantic book you have ever read. Jot down those romantic words you mean to tell them at the altar. You can also be creative and make up your own vows that are personalized and heartfelt.
34. Practice your vows out loud
Whatever you have written so far, traditional, creative, or any form of vows, even if it’s in the form of a sweet poem, practice it ahead of time. Practice your vows in front of a mirror. Even when you silently read them over and over again, make sure you have read them out loud a few times. Have a steady and slow pace until you feel calm and confident while reading them.
Relaxing and Having Fun
35. Check up on your future in-laws
Get in touch with your (future) mother-in-law and father-in-law and other members of your spouse’s immediate family. See how they are doing, get to know them, answer any last-minute queries or questions they have. Chat with them, and ask them to act as liaisons to other guests at your wedding.
36. Get a manicure and pedicure
This will be even better if you do it with your bridesmaids or your mother/mother-in-law. Fit in a manicure and a pedicure session at least a day before your wedding. This way, your nails and your hands and feet are fresh and ready to shine!
37. Stay hydrated
Keep water close to you at all times. Try and have a gallon of water daily before your wedding. Wedding planning can drain you out, so staying hydrated is the key to tackle anything that comes your way.
38. Get a good sleep
Crawl into your bed a little earlier than usual, the entire week before your wedding. The more you rest, the better everything will feel. Once the wedding activities start, it will be hard to fit in a good night’s sleep.
39. Spend quality time with your soon-to-be spouse
Even if it is just a small coffee break, you should definitely spend at least a few hours with your fiance. Having some one-on-one time together with your partner is fruitful, just a few days before the wedding.
40. Final words - Relax and Breathe
You are almost there! This is the last aspect of this wedding planning guide. The day is coming together so beautifully, just the way you had planned. Relax, don’t forget to breathe. Treat yourself to some quality time with your loved ones, or a walk, or a spa, and a massage. Watch your favorite movie, have your comfort food, relax as much as you can, so you can be fresh for your big day.
