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Wedding planning checklist
31 things to do for a wedding in Ireland, in the order you'll do them. Enter your date and each one gets a deadline, including the legal steps most checklists leave out.
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Pick a date and every task below gets its own deadline, including the legal ones. No date yet? The list still works as it is.
A year or more before
Agree a budget and who is paying for what
Everything else is easier once there is a number.
Write a first guest list
A rough number decides which venues are even possible.
Choose the venue and hold the date
The date and the place decide almost everything after them.
Book whoever is marrying you
A registrar, a religious solemniser or a secular one. Check they are on the Register of Solemnisers if the ceremony is to be legally binding.
Book the band or DJ
Nine to twelve months before
Book a videographer, if you want one
Start looking for the dress
Made-to-order dresses can take months to arrive, before alterations.
Send save-the-dates
Earlier still for guests who have to fly.
Book the florist
Six to nine months before
Book hair and make-up
Order the cake
Hold bedrooms for guests
Ask the venue for a block, and note the date it is released.
Book your marriage notification appointment
Legal stepContact your local Civil Registration Service. Appointments can be scarce, so book well ahead of the legal deadline below.
Sort cars or a coach
Three to six months before
Choose suits and bridesmaids' dresses
Order the invitations
Buy the wedding rings
Book the honeymoon, and check both passports
Give notice of your intention to marry
Legal stepThe law in Ireland: both of you must notify a Registrar at least 3 months before the wedding, whether the ceremony is civil, religious or secular. The fee is €200. If everything is in order you are given a Marriage Registration Form, which is your permission to marry.
Send the invitations
Put a reply-by date on them about five weeks before the wedding.
Choose the ceremony music and readings
One to three months before
Do the menu tasting and choose the wine
Chase the last replies
There are always a few.
The last month
Final dress and suit fittings
Give the venue final numbers and the table plan
Your venue sets its own deadline, so check the contract.
Send suppliers the plan for the day
Give the Marriage Registration Form to your solemniser
Legal stepThey need it before the ceremony. Straight afterwards it is signed by the two of you, your two witnesses and the solemniser.
Put final payments in labelled envelopes
Hand them to someone reliable who is not getting married that day.
After the day
Return the signed Marriage Registration Form
Legal stepAfter a religious or secular ceremony, the signed form must be given to a Registrar within 1 month so the marriage is registered. Any Civil Registration Service office will take it. A registrar who marries you keeps it on the day.
Send thank-you cards
The legal bit, in plain words
To marry in Ireland you must give a Registrar at least 3 months' notice. It applies to every kind of ceremony: civil, religious and secular. The fee is €200.
At that appointment, if everything is in order, you are given a Marriage Registration Form. It is your permission to marry: your solemniser needs it before the ceremony, and it is signed straight afterwards. After a religious or secular ceremony you return it to a Registrar within 1 month.
Source: Citizens Information: notification requirements for marriage, checked on 12 October 2026. Rules change, so confirm with your Civil Registration Service before relying on these dates.
Planning the day itself, hour by hour? That's a different job: use the wedding day timeline. Still need the place? Start with venues.
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