Planning Timeline
the Planning Timeline
A month by month plan for a multi day South Asian wedding in Atlanta, from the first family conversation to the last thank you card.
Start With The Families
Before any venue tour, sit down with both families and agree on three things. Which events you will hold, roughly how many guests each one will have, and which traditions must be in the ceremony. A Gujarati and Punjabi wedding, a Hindu and Christian wedding, or a Pakistani wedding with a walima a day later all lead to very different weekends. The plan gets easy once everyone has said out loud what matters to them.
Then ask the family priest, imam or granthi about dates. For many Hindu weddings the muhurat, the auspicious time, decides the day and sometimes the hour. Get it early, because it shapes every booking after.
The Order Of Things
Date, then venue, then the vendors who can only be in one place at a time.
Month By Month
| When | What To Do |
|---|---|
| 12 to 18 months | Agree on events and guest counts, get the muhurat, set a budget, tour venues |
| 10 to 12 months | Book the venue and hotel room blocks, then the photographer and filmmaker, decorator and caterer |
| 8 to 10 months | Book the priest, imam or gurdwara, DJ, dhol player, henna artist, and the horse or car for the baraat |
| 6 to 8 months | Order outfits from India or Pakistan or local designers, send save the dates, build the website |
| 4 to 6 months | Plan the sangeet performances, menus and tastings, transport and shuttles |
| 2 to 3 months | Send invitations, confirm the run of show for each event, walk the venue with your photographer |
| 4 to 6 weeks | Get the Georgia marriage license, confirm every vendor, send the family photo list |
| Final week | Final timeline to all vendors, outfit fittings, pack the ceremony items for the mandap |
Outfits made abroad can take months and need fittings, so start early if family will bring them back on a trip.
Building The Weekend
Most Atlanta South Asian weddings I see run across two or three days. A common shape looks like this.
- Day one, a haldi in the morning and a mehndi in the afternoon, with a sangeet at night.
- Day two, the baraat and ceremony in the morning or midday, and the reception at night.
- Day three, a walima or a farewell brunch for travelers.
Keep at least a few hours between events so families can rest, change and eat. If the bride is having bridal henna, give it a full day before the wedding to darken.
Room Blocks And Shuttles
A multi day wedding lives at the hotel. Book a room block early, put the elders on low floors near the event rooms, and plan shuttles if any event is at a different venue or temple. If the ceremony is at a temple and the reception at a hotel, check the drive between them at that time of day. Atlanta traffic is real.
The Last Two Weeks
- Two Weeks
Final Timeline
One document with every event, every room, every vendor arrival time, sent to all vendors.
- One Week
Family Photo List
Names and groupings for family photographs, with a cousin to round people up.
- Three Days
Pack The Mandap Items
Puja items, garlands, the mangalsutra, the coconut and kalash, labeled in one box.
- Wedding Eve
Rest
Eat, sleep, and hand your phone to someone else.
Budget By Event, Not By Vendor
A multi day wedding is easier to budget when you price each event on its own. Write down every event, its guest count, its room, its food and its decor, then add the vendors who touch it. A haldi at home for forty people costs very little. A sangeet in a ballroom for three hundred costs nearly as much as the reception. Seeing it event by event shows you where the money really goes and where you can trim without anyone noticing.
Talk with both families early about who pays for what. In many families the bride's side and the groom's side each host certain events, and the walima or reception may be the groom's family's to plan. Agree on it in writing, even informally, before you sign with a venue. It saves hard conversations later.
Leave room for the things couples forget. Outfit alterations, jewelry rental, the horse for the baraat, the dhol player, priest dakshina, welcome bags for out of town guests, shuttles from the hotel, and overtime when the dance floor will not empty. A cushion of ten to fifteen percent is a sensible starting point.
Guests Who Travel
Atlanta South Asian weddings often bring family from across the country and abroad. Make their trip easy and they will show up rested for every event.
- Set up a hotel room block early, near the main venue, and share the booking link on the wedding website.
- Post the full schedule, dress codes and addresses for every event online.
- Plan shuttles between the hotel and each event, especially for elders.
- Leave a welcome bag with water, snacks, the schedule and a local contact.
- Give international guests your date early so they can apply for visas in time.
Hartsfield Jackson is one of the busiest airports in the world and serves many direct flights, which makes Atlanta an easy weekend for family flying in. Traffic is the harder part, so give guests realistic drive times between events.
Questions Couples Ask
How far ahead should we book an Atlanta South Asian wedding?
Twelve to eighteen months is common for a large multi day wedding, because big ballrooms, popular priests and photographers on prime dates book early.
What should we book first?
The date and muhurat, then the venue, then the vendors who only do one wedding a day, like the photographer, the decorator and the caterer.
When is the best season?
Spring and fall are mild in Atlanta and popular. Summer is hot for outdoor events like the haldi and baraat. Winter is quieter and often easier to book.
How many events should we have?
As many as your families want and your guests can attend. Many Atlanta weddings run three or four events across two or three days.
When do we get the marriage license?
Within the weeks before the wedding, from a Georgia county probate court. See the marriage license page for the rules the state publishes.
Plan The Weekend
Send me your events and I will help you build a timeline that gives every one its light.