The final walk-through with your clients can be fun, informative, and sometimes stressful. The walk through is the last time you are in the wedding reception venue with your clients before the big day. It is a chance to iron out all of the last minute details, get all questions answered, and get all important parties on the same page.

Who Is Involved?

A final walk-through should definitely include the couple, venue coordinator, catering manager, and the wedding planner. Sometimes additional vendors like to come as well, especially if they have not worked at the venue. I have had entertainment companies (band, DJ, etc.), rental companies, and decor companies also attend the final walk-through.

How to Prepare?

As the wedding planner, you want to go into the final walk-through ready to run the meeting. This is really a time to polish the planning you have been working on for the length of your contract with your clients.

To prepare, I do the following:

• Make sure your client paperwork is all organized. Whether it is a binder, online, or some other way, make sure it is all there and ready to go.
• Finalize as much of the wedding day timeline and floor as possible prior to the meeting.
• Bring a list all of the questions that still need to be answered.

What to Bring?

To make sure you are totally prepared for any question that might arise, make sure to have the following:

• Current floor plan or diagram with extra copies printed for everyone who will be attending the meeting.
• List of set-up tasks you will be managing on the wedding day (escort cards, favors, decor details, etc.)
• Current wedding day timeline with extra copies printed for everyone who will be attending the meeting.
• Measuring tape in case something needs to be measured for the room layout.
• Copies of all contracts for review if needed

What to Cover?

This is the last chance to get all of your questions answered and make sure your clients feel good about everything.

In the final walk-through for a wedding, I cover the following:

• Finalize floor plan – Talk about ceremony and reception set-up, flow, etc.
• Finalize the wedding day timeline – At this point, you probably have a pretty solid timeline in place, but this is a good time to review it with everyone and ensure there are no changes.
• Planner set-up list – This is the list I work off of for all set-up tasks. There is a great list included in the Wedding Planners Toolbox available via The Planners Lounge.
• Final review of all rented items – Since you are likely adjusting table settings and rental amounts based on the final RSVP count, it is a good idea to review and make sure that you have all the appropriate rental items on order. You may need to add or reduce based on guest count.
• Review and finalize who is responsible for taking things at the end of the evening such as gifts, extra alcohol, couples personal items, etc.

The final walk-through is essential to getting all important parties on the same page and being ready for the wedding day!

This is a guest post from Amber Peterson. Amber is the owner of Cheers Wedding Planning & Design and Cheers Consulting Group in western Washington. She has a Masters Degree in Integrated Marketing Communications and consults with wedding professionals about their marketing and business challenges. Amber is also the co-founder of the Skagit Wedding Society.

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