DIY wedding rentals checklist.

When the venue is a yard, the rentals are the wedding: tent, tables, chairs, dinnerware, power and restrooms, arriving in loads and leaving the same way. This is the whole job in five phases. Tick items off as you go, then print it for the week of the wedding.

Phase 1: Book first (six or more months out, sooner for peak season)

The tent, with a rain decision. Size it to the guest count plus the dance floor, and decide sidewalls now, not in the forecast week. Tables and chairs for the final count, plus a few spare. Chairs for the ceremony and the meal, unless your crew is moving them between the two. Dinnerware, glassware and serving pieces. Counted per guest, with breakage spares. This is the line that runs out first. The restroom trailer. One house bathroom stops being enough somewhere around fifty guests and a six-hour party. A quiet generator, if the house power is not up to it. Catering warmers, lights, sound and a fridge add up past a backyard circuit fast. Dance floor, lighting and sound. String lights are decor and safety in one line: the yard has to be readable after dark. Linens. One per table plus two spare for the spill that will happen.

Phase 2: Set the windows (two months out)

A delivery window for every load, in writing. Tent and floor first, usually the day before; the rest can follow. A pickup window, usually the day after. Confirm what happens to anything left out overnight. A named person to receive each load. Not the couple, if it can be helped. Someone with the list, a phone and time to count. Permits and insurance squared away. Yard, noise and parking rules differ by town; the rental company usually knows the local shape. The power plan on paper. What plugs into what, where the cords run, and where they get taped down out of the walkways.

Phase 3: Lock the counts (two weeks out)

Rental counts reset from the final guest list. Chairs, dinnerware sets, glasses and linens all follow the RSVP count, not the invitation count. Ice and cooler space planned. Around a pound of ice per guest for a full day, and somewhere for it to live. The crew schedule written down. Who sets up, at what time, and who tears down. Volunteers plan better with a time and a job than with a general plea. The yard measured once more. Tent, dance floor, tables, a walkway and a buffer for the truck. Tape measures settle arguments that eyeballs start. Neighbors told. Date, hours, and where cars will go. A short note now is worth a lot on the night.

Phase 4: Receive and set up (the day before, and the morning)

Count every load as it lands. Chairs, tables, linens, dinnerware: against the rental list, out loud, before the truck leaves. Glassware and dinnerware inspected. Chips and shortages are a phone call on Friday, not a discovery on Saturday. Cords run and taped, lights tested after dark. The test matters: a yard that reads fine at noon can be a maze at nine. Restrooms stocked and checked. Paper, soap, a small bin, and a light that works. The run sheet printed and posted. Times, names and the delivery and pickup windows, where the crew can see it.

Phase 5: The morning after (returns)

Count everything again, before the pickup. Linens shaken out and counted, dinnerware stacked, chairs folded. Short counts charged to you are the classic last bill. Walk the yard with the driver. Every item accounted for together, and anything damaged said out loud on the spot. Borrowed things home. Coolers, games, the cake stand: back to their owners the same day, washed. Leftovers settled. Food frozen or shared, ice dumped where it will not drown a garden bed.

Keep the whole wedding in one file

This checklist is one tab of the DIY Wedding Planner Spreadsheet. The full workbook adds the budget and payments ledger, the guest list with meal counts, seating, the vendors list, a checklist dated from your wedding date, and the printable day-of run sheet, with the rentals tab holding every load, window and name in one place.

Excel and Google Sheets editions, each built and tested natively
A filled example wedding, and a narrated walkthrough video
Rentals and DIY Logistics tab: inventory, delivery and pickup windows, who receives each load, who brings and makes what, the crew schedule

$19.99 (list $29.99)

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