Final Wedding Prep Checklist

Managing event preparation time ahead of weddings has always been a challenge for mobile DJs & MCs. Many of us have experienced the struggle of working late nights on the week of events, running our deadlines to the max, getting things done just-in-time. I won’t say I have the perfect solution for you, but I might have a tool that that could help. Managing WHAT has to be done, is half of the battle and was solved for me a few years ago through the creation of a simple checklist.

What follows is a copy of my “Final Wedding Prep Checklist”. This list includes the items I generally start with when it comes to finalizing my prep for a wedding. This list is just a template file of course and is duplicated into every wedding event folder during the final few weeks leading up to that specific wedding. After it’s been copied into a wedding client’s event folder, I’ll modify the content to accurately reflect what needs to be produced for that wedding.

Final Wedding Prep Checklist

The added benefit to this item list is that I now have a general idea of how much time I need to allocate to final event prep for a specific wedding. As items are checked off of the list, I delete the time required for that item which, in turn, changes the “Total Estimated Prep Time Remaining” calculation at the bottom of the checklist. The closer that number moves to zero, the more excited I get!

This list of items and the prep time they require isn’t 100% accurate for every wedding I participate in, but it is an appropriate average (I am involved in a majority of my client’s wedding ceremonies). It provides me with an easy method to ensure everything gets done and how much time these things will take me. It also serves as a very good reminder of the value I offer through my wedding DJ & MC services.

If you’d like your own working copy of this file, please download the Pages version here (Mac only) or the Microsoft Word version here (Windows & Mac).

How do you manage final event prep organization? Do you have better/similar method? Would you share it? Or will this information transform how you plan for your events?

Leave a comment below or contact me here.

Thanks for reading!

~ Dave




4 thoughts on “Final Wedding Prep Checklist”

    1. Thank you for your comment Stephen. I certainly didn’t write this post with that interpretation intended (although MANY people today have made similar comments), but you’re absolutely right, it further goes to teach us how valuable we are to our clients events. I don’t think this list is something that’ll serve as a very good “selling tool” but it’s good to keep in mind for sure!

      Thank you for reading.

  1. This is awesome Dave! We were talking this weekend during our show about having a more detailed checklist. This is great because it shows how much time goes into preparing a show. Many people ask how much we charge for x hours on the weekend and explaining that each event is different but that most weddings with ceremony included can be a 15 hour day with more than twice those hours in prep helps people understand what we do and the investment attached.

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