A 12-Month Wedding Planning Calendar
Looking for a Nigerian wedding planning checklist or want a ready-made plan you can use right away? You see, planning a wedding is stressful whether you’re the bride or groom, and if you’re doing it without the help of a wedding planner, you need a checklist to stay organized and sane because there’s so much to do before the wedding day. This post is your step by step wedding planning check-list of things to do, month-by-month. Read on.
Scroll down for the complete to-do list for Nigerian white wedding.
Any wedding planner will advice that keeping a planning checklist or to-do list of the things you need to do is crucial to ensure you get everything done before it’s too late. This post is your month by month wedding planning countdown calendar, in a to-do list format, to guide you through the steps to preparing for a Nigerian white wedding, down to every last detail.
Wedding Checklist: Immediately After Your Engagement
- Congrats, your guy has proposed! Have an engagement party
- Start making arrangements for your Nigerian traditional engagement ceremony. We created a special checklist to help you stay organized before and up to your Nigerian traditional wedding day
Nigerian Wedding Checklist: 10 to 12 Months to Wedding Day
- Pick a date for white wedding, as well as the court registry wedding
- Decide on the wedding location (what country, state?)
- Define the tone, style and colour combo for the white wedding
- Research wedding ideas for how the whole event will look and feel – take our pre-wedding quiz for couples, to help you compile ideas on styling your wedding unique
- Also: Checkout our Pinterest wedding lookbook boards for latest wedding styles and trends
- Start looking for suitable wedding venues and vendors
- Set an overall maximum amount you can afford to spend (budget)
- Set the maximum number of guests you want to invite and share the number equally between the couple, bride’s and groom’s families – see details of how to do that in this post that teaches how to know how many guests to invite to your white wedding
- Hire a wedding planner if you’re too busy to do the running around
- Take our 5-point test to find out whether you need a wedding planner or whether you have everything it takes to plan your white wedding successfully
- Agree on who pays for what, and who does what – between bride and groom (planning roles & responsibilities). It’s also time to ‘beg’ parents and close family for financial support or kind contributions
- Choose your attendants – bridesmaids & groomsmen – and inform them. [Ensure to get familiar with the things that bridesmaids are really supposed to do for a bride – read our essential Guide to Bridesmaid Duties and Responsibilities].
Wedding Checklist: 7 to 9 Months to Go
- Select and book wedding venue for the religious ceremony as well as the reception
- Book vendors (cake, caterer, venue decorator, photographer, videographer, invitation cards printer, wedding car hire+ drivers, makeup artist, hairstylist etc)
- Have an engagement photo-shoot
- Create a custom couples’ Wedding Site to announce wedding
- Shop for wedding rings for bride and groom – see pictures of assorted of trendy wedding rings, to get an idea of the bridal rings to buy
- Have the customary traditional wedding
- Book wedding party rentals, ushers & servers
- Book hotel accommodation for wedding night (to take off to your honeymoon) or as a bridal suite
- Reserve hotel rooms for out-of-town guests, and be sure to include the options, locations and price ranges in your wedding website or as a printed sheet to be placed inside each invitation card
- Research honeymoon destination and place
- Purchase your wedding gown, veil & lingerie, shape wear
- Have your bridesmaids purchase their dresses
- Book honeymoon accommodation & transport (& process visas, if necessary)
- Start shopping for trad wedding attire & logistics
- Shop for wedding favours/ souvenirs
- Have groom and groomsmen purchase their wedding suits
4 to 6 Months Before: Nigerian White Wedding Checklist
- Do all the customary Nigerian traditional engagement at the bride’s family house, as required
- Get the mothers and fathers shop for their attires
- Shop for bridal accessories (shoes, jewellery, headpiece, bouquet etc)
- Finalize venue decoration design details and wedding hall seating arrangement
- Purchase drinks and food (for in-house caterers)
- Have bridesmaids shop for their accessories
- Write out the wedding day itinerary and hand it over to your bridesmaids, groomsmen and vendors – so everyone knows the order of things and can help here and there
- Start addressing the invitation cards
- Confirm bridesmaids & groomsmen outfits & accessories are ready & fit well
- Have preview trial runs for wedding makeup and hairstyle – if you’d like to do it yourself, learn from our wedding makeup video tutorial, and also choose a style from our in-vogue wedding hair-styles
- Start wedding skin beauty and grooming (including skin treatments and weight loss plans)
- Appoint your wedding day chairman (Optional), wedding day assistants, food servers & ushers
Checklist: 1 to 3 Months to White Wedding Day
- Prepare and give a must-have photos posing list to your photographer, so that they know the important not-to-miss pictures to catch
- Send out the wedding invitation cards
- Prepare your bridal emergency kit & hand over to a bridesmaid
- Finalize details & delivery times with all vendors
- Finalize music playlist (& do-not-playlist) with DJ/music band
- Delegate remaining tasks, event coordination & wedding day tasks & itinerary – see our step by step article on how to coordinate your wedding like an expert
- Handover all vendor contact list, itinerary and balance payment to a trusty bridesmaid or family member
- Attend pre-wedding party (bridal shower/ bachelor party)
- Do a final wedding gown fitting & make any necessary alteration
- Confirm that venue lighting and sanitation are adequate for your big day
- Pack for honeymoon
- Confirm agreed deliverables and arrival times, with every single vendor & any last minute details
- Go over the essentials of a successful wedding reception so you don’t miss out anything – part 1 here | part 2 here
Checklist: 1 to 30 Days Before the Wedding Day
- By a month to the wedding, stop all wedding planning things (if you want to look pretty in photos), and ask your trusty bridesmaids and family members you handed over to regularly report to you the weekly/ daily state of things. Even if you don’t have close friends and relatives to hand over the rest of the wedding planning to, you can find a wedding planner at any time before the wedding – yes, they also do partial planning as well as the-day-of-wedding-coordination and those cost less.
- Relax, Go to bed early everyday and get a beauty treatment every now and then – massage/ facials/ workouts and also the wedding trial hair and makeup to see if what you have in mind would actually turn out good on you – not a good idea to do a hair/ makeup the first time on your wedding day (we’re tired of hearing grooms tell us how they hated their bride’s look on the wedding day)
- Arrange for an after-reception getaway car
- Attend pre-wedding photo sessions, at your photographer’s place or agreed location
- Get a manicure & pedicure 1-2 days before D-day
- 2 days before D-Day: Arrange all your wedding day wears, from the underwear, jewelry, shoes and so on – put them neatly in a closet ready for your big day
- Check in to a bridal suite (hotel) that is close to your wedding venue (if you can afford it) – it makes life easier to have you and all your bridesmaids in one place a day before the wedding
- On the D-day: RELAX, take a deep breath, eat well and get lots of water
- Ask the photographer & video coverage provider to be at your bridal suite 2 hours before wedding ceremony
- Have your makeup and hair done – if you can’t afford a makeup artist or just for fun, you can learn and do it yourself in this video. You may also want to see pictures of our in-vogue Nigerian wedding hairstyles, to help you choose a style
- On the D-day, dress up at least 2-3 hours before the wedding solemnization/ joining ceremony
- Leave for the wedding solemnization/ joining ceremony venue & marry the man of your dreams!
More Ways to Stay Organized While Planning Your Wedding
Our goal here is to make your planning a Nigerian wedding easier and fun. Besides this, wedding planning to-do list/ checklist, you need the other wedding planner templates to stay super-organized. You can download our 6-in-1 wedding planner-in-a-box kit from this page – it’s a free gift for our readers.
What Did I Miss in This Wedding Plan List?
So, that’s it for a checklist of everything you (a bride or groom) need to do before, and up to, the day of your white wedding in Nigeria. Please Facebook/ Tweet this article to your friends – sharing is caring.
Did I miss anything? If so, add it in the comments below. So, how do you plan to use this checklist to prepare for your Nigerian white wedding? Tell me in the comments below – don’t forget to tell me your planned wedding date?
About Stella Anokam
Thank you so much! Really helpful.. I’m no longer confused. Hayy 🙆
You;re welcome, Faith. I’m happy to be of help.
All the best, darling!
Thanks so much for this Stella. I’m glad I read this. Can’t afford a wedding planner, but with this I can now plan with my fiance, a few trusted friends and family members without being too stressed out on my day. Thanks for making this readily available
Awesome! Happy to hear that, Becca. Be sure to read our other posts intended to guide you self-plan your Nigerian wedding. >On that D-day, you’ll need someone else to co-ordinate everything, so you can relax and enjoy being the bride -so, also read our Ultimate Guide for Planning Your no-hassle, Wedding Day Coordination.
>You would also benefit from our guide on how to self-plan a classy wedding reception (click).
Hope those help. Feel free to read our other related wedding planning guides (some are linked and referenced within this article and every other).
You are simply amazing Stella. OK I am engaged to my fiance who isn’t NIGERIAN, he is white, so he is coming sometimes in May to do the introduction and have us do a court wedding, first question
(1) since he doesn’t know about our tradition and all that’s expected to be done and said on the introduction rites, (and he s coming down alone) what can be done,?so he doesn’t do or say something wrong on that day.
(2)after the introduction, can we do the court wedding without having paid the bride price?
(3)Can the bride price be paid on the day of introduction?
Forgot to mention am igbo, both parents are in Lagos.And if he goes back, he s due back again in August, I don’t want to do anything big, I just want to have a feel of the traditional setting decorate a venue take pictures with my different attires and have a little reception for a guest of 100people, any guide on how to pull this off and still have something classy. Help a sister Biko.
Hi Ugonna,
I’m glad to have you around – thanks for reading, and also for leaving a comment. Now onto your questions – see my reply below:
– (1) You said your husband-to-be does not know about our customs, and asked what can be done: I think you should familiarize him in advance with Igbo and Nigerian marriage customs and customary wedding rites. We wrote an a series of articles on exactly that, and have got great feedbacks from grooms at home and abroad who used that post to know everything there is to know before their Igbo traditional wedding, or meeting their inlaws for the first time.
==> get him to read this article and the 3 posts that make up rest of the series: Everything a non-Igbo Groom Needs to Know Before His Marriage Introduction or Traditional Wedding Day
Everything a non-Igbo Groom Needs to Know Before His Marriage Introduction or Traditional Wedding Day
=>Preparing to Meet Your Igbo Inlaws: Process Explained for Non-Igbo Grooms
=> What Happens During the Igba Nkwu – Grooms’ Guide
What Happens During the Igba Nkwu – Grooms’ GuidePreparing to Meet Your Igbo Inlaws: Process Explained for Non-Igbo Grooms
– (2) When to Do the Court Wedding: Yes, people do court wedding after the introduction (before payment of the bride price). It’s done, although that is the usual; but where the groom and maybe bride are coming from afar and do not have much time to spend, it is done to quicken things – but be sure to let your family know that in advance, and that he would do pay bride price soon after.
– (3) Yes, the bride price can be paid on same day of Introduction. Again, this is not usual but done when the couple or one of them is coming from afar and do not have a lot of time to spend or space things.
**You mentioned that your parents live in Lagos and that’s where you plan to have your trad wedding. My dear, that is also done these days. The number of guests (100) you’re planning for the reception (sort of, Igba Nkwu) is more than enough; there’s no rule about the number – most people even do it a parlour size. I suggest that you just make it a PARTY all the way, no casual thing – because 100 guests is big enough to make it classy. Hire a good photographer team (because it’s what speaks after the day is gone), hire an MC (or get a smooth-talking family member or friend to handle this), hire a DJ.
My sister had hers last year and she said she wanted it small and her Yoruba inlaws were more than 30 that travelled all the way – add that to our family and friends and you have about a hundred. So, we thought “this is already a party crowd, why not make it count”. So, we quickly changed plans that day – and hired a music band, canopies, and MC and a photographer – which were not in her initial plan or interest. And she loved it!
So, my dear, you’re already on the right track.
This is a very comprehensive wedding list. Thanks for making it readily available!
Thanks for the feedback, Jessica. I’m glad to know this post helped you.
Stella, I feel like I should get married now. you did a fine job opening my mind.
Hahaha, Atuba. I’m glad I did – getting married is a good thing na. We here love featuring weddings, and your own is now on the line.
Thanks for reading. Hope to see you around.
Hi, great article,what would be ur advice for some1 that has just 3 months to plan for a court wedding and reception,low budget about 500k, so can’t afford a planner?
Hi Eve,
Here are my tips:
1) To-Do List: Use the above wedding planning checklist, BUT do things in a quarter of the time (say, where you see 4 weeks, do yours in 1 week).
2) Low Budget Wedding Tips: Click here to see and follow our tips on how to save costs during wedding planning
3) Wedding Budget Examples: Click here to see an example of a N500k wedding budget – see if you can pick an idea from there (not compulsory) or customise it to suit you.
4) Start by breaking down how you want to spend that N500k. That breakdown should be your spending guide – and try to stick to it, in order to avoid overspending. CLICK HERE to see our step by step guide on how to do a wedding budget from scratch.
BONUS TIPS:
–Steps to organize a wow wedding reception
–21 steps to follow when planning a wedding
Hope the above tips help.
Hello Stella,thank you for this wonderful post. Please is it possible have my book launch on the same day of my wedding. Thank you
Thank you too, Okive – we love hearing feedback from our readers.
Absolutely! Yes, it’s possible to launch your book on your wedding day but there are pros and cons. Your wedding day could be a great opportunity because you’re going to have a huge crowd of people. But then that depends on whether your wedding crowd is the same type of people that would be interested in the topics in your book, and whether they are the kind of audience that would readily buy.
*On another note, you don’t want people to think that you’re using your wedding to ‘twist them’ into parting with money to you. You know how some Naija people can feel.
*On another thought, I’d say that you should launch before your wedding day, so that your launch day is targeted at selling some of your books and focusing publicity on your book alone. AND announce/ show the book to your wedding guests, as part of the programme – so that guests get an idea that you’re not there to sell but just to announce to them and let them know where the book is available in case they need to buy.
This was very helpful,thanks a lot. but what if you don’t have that much time to plan? i want to know how possible it is to plan within a short time of 6months. thanks again.
Hi Helen, thanks for reading our white wedding checklist. Now to answering your two questions:
Q. If you don’t have time to plan your wedding, here are 2 things you can do:
1) Hire someone else / an event planner who has the time to plan it for you, and do all the waka/ legwork.
2) OR Scale down your wedding to a more manageable size. Small weddings can be planned better in s short time – whether it’s a low-key weddings or one with few guests and low budget.
Q. Is it possible to plan a wedding in 6 months?
ANSWER: Absolutely. Yes, it is possible. You can use our above wedding planning checklist timeline, BUT then where you have 12 months, use 6 months; and where you have 4 weeks, use 2 weeks. The idea is to half all the suggested time durations for all activities.
*If you can start off by booking your venue, and then booking your most important vendors, you would have less to worry about. Also ensure to send out your invitations early.
Hi am yin am not igbo girl but my bf igbo i need to know about the tradetion about wedding.what is the firts step to do let say exampla am a igbo girl. What is the firts wedding 2nd is engage . after tradational wedding the brides need to take the groom him house ? And after wedding what is the nxt step
Dear Yin, you can find about everything you need to know about the steps involved in Igbo traditional marriage events here (click). Hope you know that in Nigeria, the man goes to marry the woman in her own people’s traditional wedding customs (not that man’s).
stella you re such a blessing. God bless you real good.
Thanks, Emeka. I’m glad that this post helped ease your wedding stress.
You’re simply the best! Thank You!!!
You’re welcome, Helen. Happy wedding-planning:)