It’s only two more months to your big fat Indian wedding. Everything seems to be in place right from sending off your wedding invitations to purchasing wedding favors to rentals for cutlery, seating and transportation to hair stylists and Mehndi artists right up to selecting your wedding cake! So, what’s left to be done? Not much! There are a lot of small little things that need to be checked on. But, don’t worry! The major part of putting your wedding together has already been completed. Now, to just check on and confirm a couple of things we all tend to look past.

1. Now’s a good time to meet with your pastor, priest or pandit to decide on the program of your wedding ceremony. You’ll have to discuss the flow of events so that you and your spouse are not left dumb-founded during the rituals and ceremony.
2. It is time for your spouse to be and yourself to write down your wedding vows! This will take time and may see you drained out at the end of it all, trying to come up with those perfect words. But, if you happen to be a natural wordsmith, writing wedding vows and expressing your love will simply be a breeze!
3. You may want to schedule your marriage in court during this time. After all, the days leading up to your wedding will be very hectic. So plan ahead for a good date. You may also want to keep your attire, also known as a ROM dress (Registry of Marriage dress) ready for your court marriage.
4. Meet with your hairstylist to experiment with potential hairstyles for your wedding ceremony, reception and any other pre- or post-parties.
5. Now’s the time to set a date for your wedding rehearsal and dinner.
6. Visit your bridal studio and schedule your wedding dress trial; the final one will be left for the month of the wedding. Plus, the bridesmaids and the mother-of-the-bride who will be accompanying you can also have a fitting of their respective dresses.
7. Purchase your wedding guest book if you want to have one. Your partner and you will forever be able to sit back and enjoy this for years to come.
8. Continue with your beauty therapies and pampering. You are going to be a beautiful bride in less than 2 months now!
9. Get yourself a trial make-up run with your makeup artist. You don’t want to be clueless or disappointed on your wedding day after all!
10. If you have the time to spare, you may want to start shopping for your trousseau along with the help of your friends and family.

See! There are no major tasks to be completed just two months away from your wedding day. All that is required is an alert state of mind, so that you don’t forget to make confirmations and check on other minor but vital details. If you happen to be on track with the wedding planning you may find yourself looking out and shopping for furnishings for your new house! The approach to your wedding can be a very exciting time. So, now that most of the work has been done, it’s time you relax a bit more and catch up with your bridesmaids and friends over movies, coffee or a relaxing brunch!

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 Wake up! Your wedding is just 5 months down the line. Wedding ring shopping. Check! Bridal gown and Groom’s suit. Check! Caterers, photographers, musicians, location must all definitely be in check by now, it being just a few months away to your big day! Now that all the major bookings for your Great Indian Wedding have come into place, it’s time you and your partner get down to the finer details, which are not so tiresome! Let’s have a look at some of the smaller but very vital things to do as the countdown to your wedding begins!

1. Now is the time to send out your invitations and Save the Date cards if many of your guests will be coming from out of town. Check in with your printer and have the cards delivered as soon as possible.
2. Wedding favors! Don’t we all just love them! Get down to shopping for your wedding favor gifts. Think pretty candles or a box of candies held together in a box matching your wedding theme.
3. Is your beauty regime going as planned? If so, continue and add in some more pampering as the months are only drawing closer to your big day! If you’ve not made time for yourself, well it’s high time you did! Reminder: You DO want to look like a million bucks on your wedding day!
4. Check with your wedding planner about rentals that need to be looked into. For instance, if your caterer isn’t providing you with chairs, tables, tents and linen, it’s time to get down to booking them.
5. Also, you may want to check in with your wedding planner regarding modes of transportation for some of your guests, if not all. It’s also time to book the wedding car of your partner and your choice or if required horses for the arrival of the groom.
6. Check in with your out of town guests and arrange for a choice of accommodation for them. During the wedding and festive season, it may be difficult to secure places to stay.
7. And we can’t possibly fail to mention the booking of your wedding cake. Select a wedding cake with your spouse-to-be.
8. Check in with the location manager whether you can bring in your own alcohol so as to save on excess expenses. If this is not possible, talk about them about the possibility of bringing in the more expensive variety of alcohol such as champagne and a good brand of whisky and leaving the rest up to them (wine, vodka and other alcohol which is drunk less).
9. Book a mehandi artist along with your hair and make-up stylist.
10. Check in with your bride maids and organize a first trial if you already haven’t done so. Also make sure you have a bridal gown fitting.

Whew! There’s so much involved in putting together a wedding! But, once the above steps are accomplished, you and your partner can settle down into period of calm because the worst is over! Stay tuned for our next check list for 2-3 months down the line, which will help you accomplish the very last of your duties in putting together your big day.

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Planning an Indian wedding can be very exhilarating not to forget stressful, what with the many elaborate events that it comprises. As a bride-to-be, you in all probability must have never planned a wedding before, so the entire process must definitely be very daunting. 

Keep those worries away, because we’ve prepared a detailed wedding planning checklist of things to get done to make sure that all goes well on your wedding day. This article (part of a 4-part series) will help you with all the activities needed to be completed at least a year before your wedding takes place.

1 year away

So he’s popped the question and you’re all aglow! Now begins the preliminary planning stage for the big day. A lot of progress can be made once the wedding date is set. It’s also time to get connected with your wedding planner of choice. Once done, your partner and you will be spending a lot of time with your wedding planner and it goes without saying that the sooner you do it the better!

Set the tone of the wedding: Now is the time to decide whether you’ll want to have a formal, casual, destination of themed wedding. You both might also want to mutually decide on the religious ceremonies involved such as a church wedding, Pheras, and other pre-wedding functions & rituals like the mehndi or a cocktail party.

1. The next step will see you drawing up a tentative wedding guest list with your partner. Perhaps at this stage, having parents from both sides sit down with you’ll, will help to finalize the wedding guest list.
2. It’s time to set the budget for your wedding. You can leave the nitty-gritty of it all to your wedding planner. After all, the bride and groom are not really expected to plan their own wedding, rather they get help!
3. Now you must decide on your bridal party. You’ll be the best judge of who’s to be your Matron of Honor and brides maids. Have your partner select his groomsmen too.
4. Your wedding is still a year away. So make the best of this time by looking up photographers and videographers. In India, wedding photography of the artistic and natural kind has become quite the trend over posed and planned photography. If you have a photographer in mind that is based out of India, it’s time to contact them and finalize your queries.
5. Your partner and you need to keep your wedding theme in mind when deciding the invitation style. However, you don’t’ really need to get them printed at least four months before the actual day. Since the wedding date has been decided upon, you may also want to send ‘Save the Date’ cards to your friends who are out of India.
6. Start discussing the type of music you’d like to be played at your wedding. There are a good number of wonderful live bands in India itself who specialize in jazz and upbeat music.
7. You want to look like a princess at your wedding, don’t you? So it’s time to figure out make-up artists for yourself and your bridal party.

Now that both you and your partner have most of the information, the planning can actually begin. If you have a wedding planner, then your work is almost done! Stay tuned for the second part of this 4-part wedding checklist series, because you’re only getting closer to the big day!

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