Guide
Wedding Vendor Checklist: Who to Book, and When
Which vendors to book first, the windows popular dates need, and the fields to write on every contract.
Book the venue first, then the people who need that date. After that, write one row per contract with what is included and what is still owed. The list below is the booking order. The fields under it are what to record so the row is useful on the wedding morning, not only on the day you signed.
| Order | Vendor | When to book | What the row must hold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Venue | As soon as the guest count and season are real | Date, rooms, curfew, what catering is included, balance due at signing and at the event |
| 2 | Officiant | Once the date exists; earlier on a popular Saturday | Who may legally sign, ceremony length, what you still owe |
| 3 | Caterer and bar | Right after the venue, or with the venue if food is in-house | Menu style, tasting date, staff, rentals they bring, final headcount deadline |
| 4 | Photographer, then video if you want it | While the date is still open on their calendar | Hours, second shooter, delivery date, balance |
| 5 | Florist | Several months out, before peak Saturdays fill | What is included, setup time, what you still owe |
| 6 | Music | With the florist window | Ceremony and reception, whether they emcee, overtime rate |
| 7 | Hair and makeup | Early enough for a trial | Trial date, party size, arrival time, balance |
| 8 | Rentals | After the floor plan exists | Item list, delivery window, pickup, damage terms |
| 9 | Transportation | A few months out if guests cannot park on site | Pickup points, capacity, overtime |
| 10 | Cake or dessert | Around a tasting half a year out, sooner if the baker is small | Delivery, setup, who cuts it |
| 11 | Stationery | Early if you want custom printing | Proof date, mail date, what is included |
Skip a row you will not hire. A courthouse ceremony with dinner at home does not need a band, a florist, and a shuttle. Add a row the moment a venue says it requires that vendor. Palisades Tahoe tells couples who book that venue that an outside planner is a requirement, not a nice-to-have. Your venue's rule belongs on the venue row before you promise family you will "just handle it."
Windows the guides actually give
Loverly says many popular venues fill up 12-18 months in advance, and tells couples to book the venue first. The same guide puts the florist at 6-8 months before the date, transportation at 4-6 months, a cake tasting about 6 months out, and stationery at 8-10 months so design, printing, and addressing have time.
Wedgewood Weddings starts its priority list with the officiant, then the venue, then caterer and bar, then photographer and videographer. On a popular day it recommends booking the officiant about 4-12 months in advance. Palisades Tahoe puts the venue at about 1.5 years to 1 year out, and the officiant at the same 4-12 months. Those windows agree with Loverly: the venue span is 12-18 months on Loverly and 1.5 years to 1 year on Palisades, and the officiant window is 4-12 months on both Wedgewood and Palisades.
Loverly's required set also includes a planner or a month-of coordinator, rentals, hair and makeup, and video. Treat the planner line as a decision, not a default. If the venue requires one, book it when you book the room. If it does not, you can cover the jobs yourselves and still keep this checklist.
National prices are context, not a quote. The Knot 2026 Real Weddings Study puts the overall average wedding cost at $34,200 from 10,474 US couples married in 2025. A photographer in your city can sit far from that average. Get the number from the contract, then write it on the row.
Who pays which contract is a separate choice. Settle it in the who-pays guide before a parent assumes a florist invoice is already theirs. The total you can spend comes first; the budget guide is the place to set that number before you tour a third venue.
Fields to write on every contract row
A name on a list is not a booking. For each vendor, record:
- Legal name on the contract, and the cell phone that works on Saturday
- Arrival window and the name of the person who will be on site
- What is included, in their words, not yours
- Deposit paid, balance still owed, and the date that balance is due
- Where the signed contract lives (folder, or the page in the wedding binder)
- The one question you still need answered
Palisades Tahoe tells couples to ask for contracts and to keep receipts. The receipt is how you prove a deposit. The balance line is how the point person knows which envelope to hand over at load-in. Tips are a different envelope; the tipping guide covers who usually gets one. Write the tip decision on the row so Saturday morning is not a debate.
Loverly also asks couples to read full photo galleries, not only highlight reels, and to schedule tastings before they lock a caterer. Put the tasting date on the caterer row. Put the trial date on the beauty row. A row with a phone number and a blank "still owed" line is the row that causes a surprise invoice.
A booking week (illustrative)
Priya and Chris have a Saturday thirteen months out in a mid-size city. These dates and amounts are made up.
Monday they tour two halls. Hall A includes tables and a curfew at 10 p.m. Hall B is empty and cheaper, and it requires a planner. They write both constraints on the venue rows before they fall in love with the photos. Wednesday they put a hold on Hall A and email three officiants. Friday they ask the photographer for a full gallery and a delivery date. They do not book the florist this week. That window, on Loverly's clock, is still later. The hold and the officiant emails are the week-one jobs.
Keep the balance visible
The Vendor payment tracker includes a digital ZIP with no physical goods, a separate blank workbook, a fictitious worked-example workbook, and pen-filled task pages in US Letter and A4. The Vendor payment tracker keeps the overdue balance visible while reconciling the receipts. It holds 100 vendors, 400 installments and 800 receipt entries. Print work pages on the Vendor payment tracker are pen-filled.
Open the workbook in an application that can read it, and keep one working master. A printed row and the master can drift if you mark a deposit in only one of them. Date the print when you hand it to the point person.
Where a vendor list stops
A checklist cannot tell you the Saturday rate in your city, and it cannot tell you whether a friend is allowed to sign the license. Ask the office that issues the license, and ask each vendor for the contract, before you treat a verbal yes as a booking. The average from a national study is a planning clue. The row you filled in is the number you can act on.
Questions and answers
Which vendors do we need to book, and when?
Lock the venue and the date first, then the officiant, food, and photo. Florist, music, beauty, transport, cake, and paper follow on the windows below. Record the balance still owed on every row.