How long does it really take to plan a wedding?

Most couples plan over twelve to eighteen months. That's not because a wedding takes eighteen months of work — it's because the suppliers you want are booked that far ahead, and because doing it in evenings and weekends stretches everything out.

The actual work is somewhere around 150 to 250 hours. That's a part-time job for a year, mostly done at 10pm when you're tired. Which is why it so often feels heavier than it looks on a checklist.

A realistic Dorset timeline

• 12–18 months out: Guest numbers and budget first, then venue and date. Book your registrar or celebrant as soon as the date is fixed — this is the thing people leave too late.
• 10–12 months: Photographer, caterer (if not in-house), band or DJ. The suppliers with one of them and one Saturday.
• 8–10 months: Florist, cake, stylist or hire, transport, accommodation blocks. Book hair and makeup trials.
• 6–8 months: Save the dates out. Outfits ordered — dresses often take 6–8 months plus alterations.
• 4–6 months: Menu tasting, order of the day, ceremony readings and music, stationery designed.
• 2–3 months: Invitations out, RSVPs chased, final numbers forming. Coordination handover happens here if you've booked one.
• 6 weeks: Final timeline written and sent to every supplier. Table plan drafted. Final balances scheduled.
• 2 weeks: Final numbers and dietaries to the caterer. Confirm access times. Print everything.
• The week of: Deliver anything that needs delivering, pack the boxes, and then genuinely stop.

Can you do it in six months?

Yes, and I've done several. You just have to be flexible about two things: the date and the supplier list. A Friday or a Sunday, or anything outside June–September, opens up enormously. Go in wanting a specific Saturday in August with a specific photographer and it gets hard.

Short timelines are actually less stressful in one way — there's no room for eight months of second-guessing. Decisions get made and stay made.

Three months?

Possible for a smaller day, particularly midweek or off-season. You'll be working with whoever's available rather than whoever's on your Pinterest board, and the legal notice period matters: in England and Wales you need to give notice at least 29 days before you marry, and both of you need to do it in person at your local register office.

Where the time actually goes

Not the fun bits. It goes on researching suppliers, comparing quotes, chasing replies, the guest list conversation you have four times, the table plan, and the final six weeks — which is genuinely the busiest part of the whole process. Everything that's been vague for a year has to become a precise instruction to fifteen different people.

That last stretch is exactly what wedding coordination covers, from £1,500. I take over around eight weeks out, write the timeline, talk to every supplier and run the day, so your final month looks like a hen do rather than a spreadsheet.

The honest advice

Book the big four early — venue, registrar or celebrant, photographer, caterer — then stop. Give yourself a few months where you aren't planning anything. Weddings expand to fill the time you give them, and being engaged is supposed to be lovely.