The Ultimate Wedding Checklist - What To Start Planning 4 Months Out

4 Month Wedding Checklist - Download it here!

Order invitations

• Number of invites
• Color, design, and theme

• Date and time
• Hair products to bring
• Veil and accessories
• Makeup to bring

• Perfume
• Flowers
• Room scents

Bride Having Her Hair Styled: Burgh Brides, Wedding Invitation Suite: Martha Stewart Weddings, Wedding Day Perfume: Idalia Photography

THE ULTIMATE WEDDING CHECKLIST - 4 Months Out

Every month, there are new things to mark off your wedding checklist. We have tried to combine fun activities with potentially stressful activities for a little balance ahead of your wedding day. This month, you’ll have to focus in on getting your invitations ordered, if you haven’t already, but you’ll also get to have a little fun with your hair and makeup. You’ll also think carefully about the scent you want to associate with your big day for many years to come.

Order Invitations

Your wedding invitations are extremely important. They tell guests everything they need to know about your wedding, they provide guests with a way to RSVP to your nuptials, and they are the first time your guests will get a taste of the tone and look of your event.

First, it’s important to make sure you include important information on your invites. The date, time, and location should be featured prominently on the invitation, in addition to your name and your partner’s name.

You absolutely must include a response card with its own envelope complete with return address and postage. In addition to stating whether or not they will be attending your wedding, this card can also include their choice of dinner and song requests. You can also include separate cards for the ceremony and reception, if they will be taking place at different locations, at different times, or if your guest list is different for each.

There are other items you may want to consider including in the envelope. Directions are a good idea, especially if your ceremony is located somewhere that can be difficult to find, like a garden that’s tucked away in the back of a larger property.

If you have many events that you're planning the night before and day after your wedding that all of your guests are invited to, you may want to include a weekend itinerary. That way guests know they are invited to a cocktail party on Friday night and brunch on Sunday morning.

If you have blocked off some rooms at a local hotel, make sure you include the information in your invitations so out-of-town guests know where to stay. If you’re providing transportation for your guests, you should include that as well.

It may also be a good idea to include a card with points of interest and things to do if you’re hosting a destination wedding, or you have a lot of guests coming in from out of town.

Wedding invitations give guests a taste of what’s to come, so make sure you choose invites that match the tone and theme of your event. Ordering professional invitations may cost a good chunk of change, but having them printed by someone else can bring you peace of mind. However, if you’re planning a wedding on a budget, you can create invitations fairly easily with design programs online and have them printed locally.

If you’re worried about cost or your impact on the environment, consider electronic invitations. Just make sure that you have a few invitations printed and sent in the mail to older family members who may miss an electronic invitation.

Make sure you order extras. There will inevitably be a few guests you may have forgotten, and you will definitely make a few mistakes and need the extra envelopes.

Key takeaways:

• Include the date, time, and location of your wedding, in addition to your name, your partner's name, and a response card with a return envelope.
• Consider also including directions, a weekend itinerary, local hotels, and a card with points of interest.
• Choose invites that match the tone and theme of your event.
• Consider electronic invitations if you want to save money or lessen your impact on the environment.
• Make sure you order extras in case of mistakes.

Schedule Your Hair and Makeup Trial

You don’t want to leave your wedding day look up to chance by winging your hair and makeup on the big day. Not only might you end up with a look you don’t love, it may also take longer than you expected, making you late for your own wedding!

Now is the perfect time to schedule your hair and make-up trial to make sure you get the exact look you want. It also ensures you have plenty of time to schedule a second trial, if your first one was a bust, and it gives your skin and hair time to recover from any new products that caused irritation.

Be prepared to talk with your hair and makeup artist about your everyday look, as it should inspire your wedding day look. For example, if you don’t wear a lot of makeup regularly, smearing on foundation probably isn’t a good idea. Likewise, if you wear your hair up all day, every day, you may be more comfortable with an updo.

It’s a good idea to bring the products you use regularly. Bring along hair products, as well as your makeup bag. Not only can your hair stylist and makeup artist use what you already have to create a more natural wedding day look, they can make recommendations for new products to get used to ahead of your big day.

Hopefully you followed our advice last month and have assembled all of the accessories you will be wearing on your big day. That’s especially important now because your hair accessories, including your veil, should be brought to your hair and makeup trial.

It’s important to know what you want. If there’s a specific look you’re going for, see if you can find a picture. However, you should also follow the recommendations of your beauty team. Chances are, they have been doing hair and makeup for years, so you should be willing to follow their lead when it’s appropriate.

Unhappy with how your look turned out? Make sure you are open and honest with your beauty team about what you don’t like and how you would like it fixed. They may offer to fix it right on the spot. If they don’t, make sure you schedule another trial ahead of your big day with them or someone else. Assuming they know how you would do it differently, without actually doing it, can leave you open to disappointment on your wedding day.

Key takeaways:

• Use your everyday look to inspire your wedding day look.
• Bring hair and makeup products you use on a regular basis.
• Make sure you bring your hair accessories and veil.
• Find pictures of styles and looks you love.
• Be open and honest with your beauty team about what you didn't like.
• Schedule another trial or choose a different stylist, if needed, to make sure you get the exact look you want ahead of your big day.

Consider Choosing a Wedding Scent

Our ultimate wedding checklist includes many, many items you already know you have to attend to, even if you weren’t quite sure when and how to get started until you looked at our wedding planner. However, we want to provide you with some other considerations you may not have thought of during the planning process, like wedding day scents.

Start with the scent you are going to wear on your wedding day. Smell is the strongest sense tied to memory, so choose wisely! You can wear a perfume you wear regularly, but it won’t leave you with strong memories of your wedding day. Instead, choose a special perfume to wear on your wedding day. Then, when you revisit that scent, you’ll remember how you felt on the most important day of your life.

Because smell is so closely tied to memories, you can create a truly memorable event for everyone, including you and your partner, by choosing other scents wisely. For example, including lily of the valley in your flower arrangements and bouquet will give off an intoxicating scent that will take you back to your wedding day every spring when the flowers bloom in your garden.

Really want to elevate the smells associated with your wedding day? Find a way to fill your wedding venue with the smell of your choice. Floral candles, oils, and wax melts are perfect for spring and summer weddings, while toasty cinnamon, pumpkin, and evergreen boughs are perfect for fall and winter weddings. If you choose to go this route, you’re in good company. Kate Middleton burned Jo Malone’s Orange Blossom as she walked down the aisle.

Key takeaways:

• Choose a special scent to wear on your wedding day.
• Choose blooms in your flower arrangements that give off an intoxicating scent.
• Use candles, oils, and wax melts to fill your ceremony and reception spaces with a beautiful aroma.