Guides

Day-of wedding coordinator checklist

A day-of wedding coordinator checklist from the handoff meeting to load-out: vendor confirmations, a run sheet timed from the ceremony, a page for every vendor, envelopes, the emergency kit and what to return after.

A day-of coordinator is not really hired for the day. They are hired for the six weeks before it, so that the day itself can look effortless.

This checklist is the order that work happens in, whether you coordinate thirty weddings a season or you are the organized friend who said yes once. Count everything from one fixed point: the ceremony time.

Six weeks out: the handoff meeting

Sit down with the couple and take over what they have already planned. Leave with everything in one place, not spread across their inbox.

• Every signed vendor: company, contact name, mobile number, arrival time and what they are delivering.
• The ceremony time, venue access time and the hard out at the end of the night.
• Final balances still owed, and who is paying each one on the day.
• The family photo list, the order of the processional and who is giving a toast.
• Anything the venue requires: insurance certificates, load-in doors, candle rules, a last-call time.

Four weeks out: confirm every vendor

Call or email each vendor with the date, venue address, your mobile number and the arrival time you have for them. Ask them to confirm it in writing.

Two weeks out: write the run sheet from the ceremony time

List every moment of the day with a start time, how many minutes it takes, where it happens and which vendor leads it. Write the times as minutes before or after the ceremony, so a change to the ceremony moves the whole day.

These made-up times only show the method. Use the times your vendors confirmed.

Free wedding day timeline builder: the whole day counted back from the ceremony, with a sheet for each vendor

One week out: send each vendor their own page

Vendors do not need the whole run sheet. They need their arrival time, their contact on the day, and only the moments they lead or are part of. Send each one their page a week before and again the day before.

• Check that every moment has a lead vendor.
• Check that nothing happens before the vendor who runs it has arrived.
• If portraits are planned at sunset, check the sunset time for that date and place.

The day before: envelopes and the kit

Make one envelope per vendor with any final balance and tip, labelled with the vendor, the amount, who hands it over and when. Most go out at the end of that vendor’s time on site.

Pack the emergency kit: safety pins, a sewing kit, stain remover, tape, scissors, a lighter, phone chargers, pain relief, bandages, snacks and water. Check the venue’s rules before packing anything with a flame.

On the day: run the sheet, not the room

• Arrive before the first vendor and walk the venue against the floor plan.
• Greet each vendor on arrival and check them off.
• Cue each moment a few minutes early: the processional, the entrance, toasts, cake, the last dance.
• Hand over envelopes as each vendor finishes.
• Stay through load-out and leave with the couple’s personal items.

After the wedding

• Return rented items and anything borrowed from family.
• Send the couple a short note with what went home with whom.
• Ask for a review while the day is fresh, and note what you would change for the next one.

The pocket version (save or screenshot)

Coordinating more than one wedding a season?

The Wedding Coordinator Edition is a spreadsheet for Excel or Google Sheets with a workspace tab for each of 20 clients: overview, your fee schedule, the client’s budget, tasks, vendors and a 35-row day-of run sheet with automatic end times. Type the event date once and 24 starter tasks get due dates counted in weeks before the event, and one dashboard shows who is overdue and who owes you a payment. It comes with a 12-month commercial license for your coordination business. It does not send invoices or take payments.

Coordinating one wedding for a friend? The Wedding Day Timeline for Vendors is the single-wedding version of the run sheet: 32 moments timed from the ceremony, a printable page per vendor and an envelopes tab.

Planners that do this for you

Wedding Coordinator Edition

$149.00One tab for every client and one dashboard for your whole season

Wedding Day Timeline for Vendors

$7.00Timed from the ceremony · vendor pages · contacts · envelopes

For wedding coordinators: see the real screens and ask for the free sample file

Wedding hair and makeup timeline

Updated 2026-11-05.