Wedding planning guides
Free, practical frameworks from the Lumière team — the same timelines, budgets, and checklists we build into the app. Read one, then bring it with you into your plan.
Start here
Budget & guest list
Guest count drives almost every number on your budget. These guides give you the percentage framework, the cost-per-head math, and a way to cut the list without a family argument.
Guide · 7 min read
The ultimate wedding budget breakdown
A category-by-category percentage framework for allocating your wedding budget — venue, catering, photography, and the line items most couples miss.
Read guideGuide · 8 min read
The wedding guest list guide
The A/B list method, cost-per-head math, plus-one and children policies, splitting the list across families, and how to track it.
Read guide
Timeline & checklists
What to do, and when. A 12-month plan, an hour-by-hour run of show for the day itself, and the kit that saves the morning when something goes sideways.
Guide · 10 min read
The complete wedding planning checklist
A 12-month task-by-task checklist from budget and venue to invitations, seating, and the day-of emergency kit.
Read guideGuide · 8 min read
The wedding timeline template
A 12-month planning timeline with every milestone — vendor bookings, tastings, dress fittings, and the day-of run of show.
Read guideGuide · 6 min read
Wedding day emergency kit
A complete packing list for beauty, wardrobe, health, tech, and logistics — plus who should carry it and when to pack.
Read guideGuide · 9 min read
Tips for planning a destination wedding
Choosing the location, marriage legality abroad, the budget lines couples miss, a 12-month timeline, guest etiquette, and local vs. imported vendors.
Read guide
Booking vendors
The questions that separate a good vendor from an expensive surprise — contracts, coverage, restrictions, and who is actually running your day.
Guide · 8 min read
Questions to ask your wedding venue
A tour checklist covering contract, capacity, catering, décor restrictions, and day-of logistics so you can compare venues fairly.
Read guideGuide · 7 min read
Questions to ask your wedding photographer
The essential questions to ask before booking — style, coverage, deliverables, timeline, backup gear, and contract terms.
Read guideGuide · 7 min read
Wedding planner vs coordinator
What a planner does that a coordinator doesn't, when each one starts, typical costs, and how to tell which one your wedding actually needs.
Read guide
Details & etiquette
Seating, wording, colors, and speeches: the decisions couples put off longest, with templates and formulas so you can make them quickly.
Guide · 6 min read
Wedding toast & speech guide
A 5-part structure for best man, maid of honor, and parent speeches, with example toasts and common mistakes to avoid.
Read guideGuide · 9 min read
How to make a wedding seating chart
Table shapes and capacity math, how to group guests, the hard cases (family tension, plus-ones, kids), and when to finalize.
Read guideGuide · 8 min read
Wedding invitation wording guide
Formal, semi-formal, and casual templates, hosting-line variations for every family situation, dress code phrasing, and RSVP wording.
Read guideGuide · 7 min read
How to choose your wedding colors
Build a palette from your venue, season, and style — the 3-color and 5-color formulas, example palettes, and what photographs badly.
Read guideGuide · 7 min read
Wedding registry ideas
What to register for by category, how many items to list, the right price mix, cash and honeymoon funds, and a month-by-month registry checklist.
Read guide
Comparisons
Honest comparisons of the tools and roles you are choosing between, judged on what they actually do.
Find your wedding style
Seven style pages with full color palettes, floral and tablescape notes, and a free moodboard PDF for each — candlelit romantic, enchanted garden, rustic country, bohemian, coastal, timeless ballroom, and moonlit noir.
Browse the wedding stylesLooking for vendors, not reading?
Our vendor directory lists venues, photographers, florists, and planners by market — free to browse, no account needed.
Browse the vendor directory