Wedding planning guide: etiquette to ceremony

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Invitation wording

Guides

Looking for the whole path first? Open the 12-month checklist for the order of things, the dated timeline once you have a date, and the budget planner to split a total. Vows and speeches have their own hubs. The guides below cover the decisions those do not, like who hosts, what to say and how many favors to order. Tools that do the math live in the full planning tools list.

Your reading order by months to go

Enter the months you have left and tick any guide you have finished. The list reorders, most urgent first. Lead times are our planning assumptions, not rules, so move them in your head if your venue or family works differently.

Wedding menu card with a wax seal on blue ribbon beside a patterned plate, a detail from planning etiquette and ceremony guides — Photo: Olivie Strauss, Unsplash

Grouped list of guides by event

Each line is the one question that guide answers. Use the filter at the top of the page to show one event at a time.

Before the ceremony

Invitation wording, host by host: What do the eight lines of an invitation say, and who hosts?
Card wishes by relationship: What can a guest write in a card that sounds like them?

At the ceremony

Ceremony script builder: Which elements do you want, and how long will the ceremony run?
Readings with reading times: Which public-domain passages work, and how long does each take to read?
Planning a vow renewal: How big should a renewal be, and what do you decide first?

The night before

Rehearsal dinner basics: Who hosts, who is invited and what happens?

At the reception

Favor counts and costs: How many favors do you order, and what do they cost?
Guest book styles: Which style fits your guest count, and how many pages or cards do you need?

Which guide solves which stuck point

Table: Guides matched to stuck points

If you are stuck on	Open	Why it helps
Who pays and who hosts an invitation	Invitation wording	The wording changes with the host, line by line
A ceremony with no shape	Ceremony script	You tick the elements and the running time adds up
A reading nobody can pick	Readings	Each passage lists its reading time
A dinner nobody has claimed	Rehearsal dinner	It names the usual host and who gets invited
A pile of favors to buy	Favors	You enter guests and a spare count
A guest book that will not fit	Guest book ideas	The quantity calculator sizes it
Renewing vows after years together	Vow renewal	You enter guests and years married and get a timed outline

Send this page to someone

Copy this and paste it into a text or an email. It works as written. For your own order, use the buttons in the planner above.

I found a set of free wedding planning guides, one question per page, from the invitation wording to the guest book. Open the one you need first: https://bigdaydesk.com/wedding-guides/

Paper style card asking which wedding planning guide to read first, with a list ordered by months to go

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Questions people ask

What should I read first with six months to go?

With six months left, the planner on this page puts invitation wording first, then the ceremony script and the readings, then the rehearsal dinner and favors, and the guest book last. With two months left, the same list turns urgent. Invitations, the ceremony script and the readings all sit past their start-by month in our assumptions, so open those three today. Enter your own number of months and tick what is done to see your order.

Which guides cover etiquette, such as who hosts?

Two of them. The invitation wording guide covers who hosts and how the eight lines of an invitation read. The rehearsal dinner guide covers who hosts, who is invited and what happens. The other guides are about ceremony content and the reception extras. Custom varies by family, faith and region, so treat any guide as a starting point and follow your officiant or family where they differ.

How many guides are there and what does each one cover?

There are eight guides. Three come before the ceremony or help you prepare for it (invitation wording, card wishes, vow renewal), two shape the ceremony (the script builder and the readings), one covers the night before (the rehearsal dinner) and two cover the reception (favors and the guest book). Thank you notes are not covered yet. The grouped list below shows the question each one answers.

Can I send my reading order to a parent or a planner?

Yes. The planner writes your months-to-go and ticks into the page link, after the

Updated November 5, 2026 by bigdaydesk editorial