Congrats on your engagement! …And on your new wedding planning project. Don’t let the stress of planning a wedding sap the joy from your engagement. Grist’s wedding planning template helps you manage dozens of details, from creating a guest list that makes everyone happy (🤞), to comparing opaque venue pricing, to keeping track of every vendor’s ✨unique✨ pay schedule.

The template has been crash-tested by two members of our team who planned their own weddings with the help of this thorough template. Because Grist is flexible, the wedding planner can be customized to fit any wedding — maybe your wedding is between two brides, or you’re hiring aerial silk performers (send invites to support@getgrist.com). Whatever your wedding looks like, this template can be customized to meet your moment. The base template includes:

  • Guest list, RSVP tracking, and thank you list tracking
  • Venue and other vendor comparison details
  • Cost estimating and comparisons before you commit to anything
  • Budgeting dashboards to keep your wedding on budget
  • A wedding timeline and bridal party role assignments

Guest List, RSVP and Thank You List

Guest list dashboard: See guest count totals and details in one easy-to-use dashboard.
See guest count totals and details in one easy-to-use dashboard.

Keep track of guest details, invitations, and responses in the Guest List dashboard, which you can find in the dashboard list on the left-side menu.

Landing on the right number of guests can be tricky, so segment your list into rounds of invites. Details of guest counts by group and RSVPs are summarized at the top.

Any guests whose addresses are missing will highlight in pink. They will also be highlighted in the same color on the Thank You List dashboard where you can track gifts by guest. Simply select a guest and enter their gift in the card on the right. If you have not thanked a guest who has given you a gift, the “Thank You Sent?” cell highlights in red.

Thank you list dashboard: Make sure everyone who sent a gift receives a heartfelt thank you.
Make sure everyone who sent a gift receives a heartfelt thank you.

Wedding venues and vendors

Venue shopping can be overwhelming. Each venue has different pricing and packages, and it’s hard to compare that (almost) all-inclusive catering hall to the cute garden rental. Track all these details and more in the venues dashboard to make it easy to compare venues, rate them, and add notes.

Venue shopping dashboard: Easily compare wedding venues, packages, and costs.
Easily compare wedding venues, packages, and costs.

You can instantly see the impact of your target guest count in the Venue Costs table at the bottom. You can change your target guest count per venue given space limitations and per-person costs.

Once you’ve chosen a vendor, check the “Contract Signed?” checkbox to lock-in that expense.

There are also dashboards for other major vendors such as bridal salons, wedding coordinators, and more. In the Bridal Salons dashboard, you can keep track of appointments and any complimentary experience details.

Bridal salon dashboard: Keep track of your bridal salon appointments (and extra goodies) in one place.
Keep track of your bridal salon appointments (and extra goodies) in one place.

Estimating and tracking wedding costs

The Costs dashboard adds up all the candidate venue costs in the top-left table, and the non-venue costs listed on the right. The total will give you an estimate of your total wedding costs before contracting to vendors. In this dashboard, you may edit your target guest list per venue in the bottom left card.

Wedding cost estimator: Estimates all your costs by easily comparing venues and additional vendors.
Estimates all your costs by easily comparing venues and additional vendors.

As you start signing contracts and making purchases, add them to the Purchases & Contracts dashboard.

The dashboard includes a comparison to a budget. The Budget Breakdown table on the left is for your reference. It automatically calculates an estimated cost range based on the total budget your entered in the field above. The range is based on industry standards. For example, in the screenshot below for a $46,000 wedding (nice), you can expect to spend between $2,300-$4,600 on the bride and groom’s attire. The notes below the budget breakdown itemize what’s included in that budget line item.

As you make payments, you can add those purchases to the Payments & Purchases table to the right of the budget. Each purchase has a category associated with the budget breakdown. As you approach the budget limit, the “Amount Spent” column goes from green to yellow to red. Payments that are still due are highlighted in red in the bottom-right card.

Purchases & contracts dashboard: Budget and purchases tracking to stay on budget.
Budget and purchases tracking to stay on budget.

Wedding timeline and bridal party

When the big day finally arrives, plan a timeline to guide events and avoid any unexpected stumbles. On the Wedding Day dashboard, you can draft your timeline and keep track of who is responsible for which items or tasks.

Wedding timeline page: Plan your wedding day and make sure everyone in the bridal party knows their role.
Plan your wedding day and make sure everyone in the bridal party knows their role.

As you plan your wedding, some family members and friends will need to see parts of this spreadsheet. For example, your bridal party will need to see the wedding timeline, and your immediate family may wish to review the guest list. Your loved ones are your wedding team, ready to help on your special day. To share this template with your wedding team, learn more about free team sharing.

By the way, if you want to limit who can see or edit what (for example, perhaps mom should be able to edit guests’ addresses but not add new guests), access rules could save the day.