A Comprehensive Wedding Planning Checklist - including having us make your rings!

Wedding Ceremony locations are often a source for rocks, sand or wood that you may want to incorporate into your rings.  If you think it would be fun to carry a bit of the earth you married upon with you for the rest of your days, be sure to grab at least a cup of materials to send to us so that we can go through it for the best pieces/grains. The Customer below got married on Vik Beach in Iceland so he sent us sand to make his wedding ring.

Minter + Richter Customer Gathering Sand from Vik Beach in Iceland for his ring.

Icelandic Heart by Minter and Richter Designs

Double check that both wedding venue locations can hold the number of guests you'd like to invite. Before booking, find out if the venue requires you use only their approved vendors. If not, find out if there are any requirements for outside vendors.

Will you have a maid of honor and best man? What about bridesmaids and groomsmen? Flower girl? Ushers? Discuss what you want with your partner, then invite your nearest and dearest to join you and yours.  These are also good people to lean on to source materials for your wedding rings.  If they live near the spot you need beach sand from, hit them up for their first wedding party favor to you.  Have them go to the spot and ship us one cup of sand to the below address:

Minter + Richter Designs

2 Ainsley Street

Boston, MA 02122

Research wedding vendors.

We're talking entertainment, caterers, florists, photographers, everything. It's time to get an idea of who will help create your wedding day vision. Start compiling lists for outreach.

Decide who's hosting (and paying).

For any wedding, it's crucial to have the budget talk as early as possible. It's an old tradition for the groom's family to host the wedding. In fact, many young couples are contributing to their wedding budget, making it work in a way that's more equally-distributed.  Often couples will arrange for someone else to gift their wedding rings to them.  If you want us to invoice a third party, just let us know.  We are happy to do so.

Whether you're looking for your dream wedding dress, gown, or suit, pull several inspiration photos and bring them with you to your appointments. It'll help to focus your session.  What is the color theme of your wedding?  Do you think you will want to incorporate those same colors into your wedding rings? Purples and Greens and Blacks and Blues are all common colors for weddings that also look beautiful in rings.

DEEP PURPLE FJORD & VIKING NIGHT

Jade Sea

 The Pilot and the Flight Attendant

Your officiant can be a mutual friend of you and your spouse-to-be, a family member, or a religious figure. Whoever feels right to you and your fiance. Just make sure they're certified in the state you're getting married in.

If you end up doing a shoot, try a few locations and outfits for some variation. We know you'll both look great.  Don't forget to think about grabbing personal materials from this location to inlay into your wedding rings.

Couples often reserve rooms with different bed sizes, so guests have options. Once you secure your hotel blocks, you can easily share where-to-stay details on your wedding website or message all your guests with our free guest list manager.

Ask the photographer if you can provide a shot list so you capture every moment.  Ask to see their images of wedding rings they have taken in the past.  You want great shots of just the rings as well, so be sure they know how to shoot things other than people and dogs.

 Wooded Cove Wedding Rings on hands

Canva is a great site for this!

Discuss the structure of your wedding ceremony and any readings you'd like to include.

This may seem ahead of schedule, but the good ones always go early, so we recommend finalizing your entertainment now. Once you choose your music, you'll likely be tasked with coming up with a list of must-hear songs, another list of absolutely-do-not-play songs, and a list of nice-to-hear-but-not-necessary songs.

It's helpful to have multiple undergarments and shoes options so you're ready to try on any option.

Send printed invites or digital ones—the choice is yours! If you go printed, now's a good time to think about enclosure cards, RSVP cards, and any other wedding paper you might need.

Make sure to follow @minter_richterdesigns on Instagram and then DM us your handle and wedding hashtag so that we can tag you when we are making your rings.  It is fun to get to see them in advance.  Make your wedding hashtag as direct or as creative as you'd like—just try to make it easy to memorize so that your guests use it correctly throughout the weekend. While not necessary, a wedding hashtag is a great way to quickly find all of the photos your family and friends take.

You can go with different hair stylists and makeup artists or find someone who can do both. Ask about their availability to help with your bridal party, too.

Don't forget to bring your inspiration boards to your appointments.

You can go with different hair stylists and makeup artists or find someone who can do both. Ask about their availability to help with your bridal party, too. You should have a trial to help save time on the big day and settle on your hair and makeup look beforehand. It's a great way to figure out exactly what you want.

Try it on one last time to make sure you've found the one. Then before you leave, inquire about the fitting schedule and pricing for alteration (unless it's a perfect fit!).

Just like for caterers, you'll want to go to these appointments on an empty stomach, too. Don't forget to bring your inspiration board.

More and more couples are saving time (and $$!) by sending their save their dates online. 

Remind the wedding party to schedule their fittings, too (they sneak up on you). 

It's better to over-prepare for this sort of scenario. You and your fiance will have enough to worry about the day-of!

Look at each videographer's reel to see if their aesthetic appeals to you. Capturing footage at your wedding can be quite intimate, so meet with your favorites to find out if it's a good personality match, too.

Bouquets, boutonnieres and arrangements, oh my!

Remember: Your honeymoon is about what you will enjoy doing together most. It isn't about what pictures you'll be able to post on Instagram.

It's always a good idea to test the paper, printing, and colors before sending your invitations. 

Make sure there's a wedding cake delivery plan in place. Find out if your baker expects a tip upon delivery, too. 

Ask your stylist for any tips to prepare. Most recommend washing your hair the day before the wedding and avoiding any big hair decisions in the months leading up to it.

When you're booking, make sure they'll be available at your wedding location and find someone who makes you feel good. Look for a makeup artist who will start you off in a great mood.

Live music always adds a personal touch.

If you plan on going away right after the wedding, it's ideal to have all honeymoon flights and hotels booked by now. Be sure to ask the hotel if they offer any complimentary honeymoon package—you never know, they may at least put some champagne in your room!

You can order paper invitations for this event or send an evite by messaging all of the guests from your guest list. 

Just like the save the dates the general rule of thumb is one invitation per household. But order 10-15% more envelopes in case of addressing mistakes. You can export a file with all of your guests' addresses to hand off to your calligrapher or paper service.

A wedding weekend can include a welcome gathering of some kind, a rehearsal dinner, the ceremony and reception, and a farewell breakfast.  Don't forget you'll also need to organize any menus or decor for these events, too.

Shuttles, buses, limos... make sure they're all ready for the big day.

We recommend mailing your invites no later than six weeks before your wedding date. 

While this isn't a requirement, guests love to be surprised with snacks, activity recommendations, and a note from the couple when they check in to their hotel.

Shoes, jewelry, undergarments... now's the time to complete the look.

Don't forget: You have multiple fittings. So if it's not perfect today, it WILL be!

Make sure they know where to show up and when.

Couples frequently gift these at the rehearsal dinner. Sometimes the gift is something the wedding party can wear or use the day of the wedding.  At Minter and Richter Designs, we often make pendants for the bridesmaids out of one or more of the materials in the wedding rings.

Discuss how you'd like the ceremony to go and any passages, readings, or performances you'd like to be said. This is also good time to begin thinking about whether or not you and your partner would like to write your own vows.

If you need to remind guests to respond, we recommend waiting one to two weeks after your RSVP deadline to do so. 

While you're at it, consider showing guests your meal options on gorgeous menu cards that match your invitation suite.

While you can't really assign seats until you have most of your RSVPs, you can at least start thinking about the layout of the reception venue and generally where you'd like certain friends and family to be.

Think ceremony programs, menu cards, table numbers, escort cards, and place cards.

We know you'll look great.

Nothing beats a handwritten thank you. Make sure to complete them within 3 months of the big day.

Research the laws of the specific state where you're having your wedding before applying. Then go get it!

When it comes to this list, there's no such thing as too much information. In your wedding day timeline, include each vendor's ETA along with their contact information and assign family or wedding party members to help with certain tasks. Then print it out when finished and send it to all of your vendors.

Try to think of every variation you want, so that you reserve enough time on the big day.

Pro Tip: Leave some cash aside for vendors' tips and mark each bundle with who it's going to. A family member or someone in your wedding party can help take care of this for you.

Touch base with your wedding officiant and any other people involved in the service. You'll be able to make some changes during your rehearsal, too.

Our biggest and most heartfelt congratulations to you and yours! Cut up a rug for us.

It's all happening.

Ahhh... now you can breathe. You did it!

Thank you for letting us make your wedding rings.  And don't forget to tag us on Instagram on your wedding day.  It means so much to us to get to see our rings doing their job! #doyourjob