A checklist built for more than one event
A South Asian wedding in Canada is a series of events, each with its own venue, guest list, menu, decor, outfits and deadlines. This checklist treats them that way. Wedding-wide tasks — the budget, the photographer, the invitations, the marriage licence — exist once. Event tasks — confirm the venue, set the guest count, give the caterer final quantities, do the seating plan, write the run-of-show, confirm setup and teardown — exist once per event, dated from that event's own day.
Dependencies are explicit. The guest count feeds the catering quantities, the quantities feed the seating plan and the final venue payment; choosing an event leads to identifying vendors, requesting quotes, approving one, and booking — and a booking made on GigSona updates the checklist from real state.
Tradition-specific tasks, attached to the right event
Templates are starting points, never rules. Traditions vary by region, community and family, and every suggested event or task can be removed. What each template adds beyond the generic list:
Sikh — book the gurdwara and confirm its requirements early (gurdwaras differ on who may have an Anand Karaj and on dress, head covering and photography); confirm the granthi and the kirtani jatha; plan the langar; prepare the rumalla sahib and offerings; arrange the palla, siropas and the milni list; brief guests on gurdwara etiquette.
Hindu — Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali — book the pandit and fix the muhurat before any venue is told a time; book the mandap and get the venue's written permission for the havan; gather the samagri from the pandit's list; have the mangalsutra or thaali ready. Gujarati weddings add the garba band and dandiya sticks; Bengali weddings add the tattva trays and the bou bhaat.
Jain — its own ceremony, not a Hindu variant: the mangal pheras and granthi bandhan, usually in the daytime, with the mandap, muhurat and samagri tasks, plus a written dietary brief to every caterer — strictly vegetarian, without root vegetables.
Muslim — Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian — book the imam or qazi and confirm whether they can sign a legal Canadian marriage; prepare the nikah nama alongside the provincial licence; agree the mahr; confirm the witnesses and the wali; decide seating; settle who hosts the walima and at what scale; confirm halal catering and prayer space at every venue.
South Asian Christian — book the church and meet the priest or pastor early, because many parishes require marriage preparation or documents months ahead; choose readings and music within the church's rules; add a roce, haldi or blessing evening if your family holds one.
Sri Lankan Sinhalese — fix the auspicious time with the astrologer first, then book the poruwa build and whoever conducts the rituals; plan the homecoming. Sri Lankan Tamil — a separate template: a Hindu ceremony close to Tamil Nadu practice with Sri Lankan variation. The two are distinct traditions and are never merged.
Indo-Caribbean — plan the matikor night for each family, book the tassa group for the appearances you want, and organise the cook night as a real event with its own guests. This is a tradition of its own, not a variant of Indian practice.
Fusion or interfaith — choose two or more templates. Generic tasks merge into one; each ceremony keeps its own list.
The planning stages
Tasks sit in eleven stages: 18+ months, 12 to 18, 9 to 12, 6 to 9, 3 to 6, 1 to 3 months, the final month, the final two weeks, the final week, event day, and after the wedding. A stage comes from the task's timing rule, not from your date — so starting late does not delete the early stages; it shows them as needing attention, with the practical version of each task. Wedding-wide tasks count down from the wedding date; each event's tasks count down from that event's date, which matters when the mehndi is on Thursday and the reception on Sunday.
Outfits, per person, per event
Choose the outfit, order it, book tailoring, do the fittings, match the jewellery, choose the shoes, gather the accessories, pick it up, press it, pack it with everything it needs, and know who is dressing where on the day — for each person, for each event. Partner one and partner two are there by default; add parents, siblings, a wedding party or any group with the label your family uses. Custom orders from abroad take months and arrive needing alterations, which is why the outfit steps start eight months out.
Vendor planning that connects to real vendors
Every vendor task carries its category. From the task you go straight to that category on GigSona, filtered to the event's city — photographers and videographers, DJs and MCs, dhol players and live musicians, decor, mandap and rentals, caterers, hair, makeup and mehndi artists, pandits, granthis, imams and officiants, planners and coordinators, limousines, baraat horses and shuttles. When you book through GigSona, the task closes from the booking itself. A vendor booked elsewhere is marked handled outside GigSona — shown truthfully, never as a booking.
Who does what
Assign any task to a person — a partner, a parent, a cousin, the planner. The wedding-week runbook and the day-of delegation tasks exist because the couple should not be the ones chasing the decorator on the morning of the ceremony.
Starting late
Many couples start with six months or less. The checklist does not pretend otherwise: tasks that would have been due already appear at the top as needing attention, with what to do now — ask venues about weekday dates and cancellations, send digital invitations and follow with printed ones, buy off the rack from a boutique with in-house alterations rather than ordering from abroad. Nothing is hidden, and nothing is dated in the past to make the list look complete.
How this checklist was written
The generic timeline follows what Canadian vendors and venues actually require — deposits, load-in windows, final-count deadlines, provincial marriage-licence rules. The tradition-specific tasks were compiled from community and academic sources for each tradition and reviewed for cultural wording; where sources were thin (Bangladeshi Muslim, Indian Muslim regional practice, Punjabi Hindu, South Asian Christian) the template was kept deliberately minimal rather than filled from vendor blogs. Nothing here is religious authority. Your gurdwara, temple, mosque, church, priest and family decide the rituals; the checklist makes sure the logistics around them are not forgotten.
Related guides and tools
South Asian wedding checklist — common questions
How far in advance should a South Asian wedding be planned?
Eighteen months is comfortable for a multi-event wedding on a peak weekend in a large Canadian city, because banquet halls, gurdwaras, temples and popular photographers book that far out. Twelve months works with flexibility on dates and vendors. Less than six months is done every year — the checklist keeps every task and marks the missed ones urgent with the practical version of each.
Does the checklist work if we have not set a date?
Yes. Without a date you get the full sequence in planning order — what comes first, what depends on what — with no invented deadlines. Add the date later and every task gets its due date.
We are combining two traditions. Will we get duplicate tasks?
No. Every task has one identity. Choosing Sikh and Punjabi Hindu gives you one 'book a photographer', one 'send invitations', one reception seating plan — and both the Anand Karaj's tasks and the mandap ceremony's tasks, each attached to its own event.
What does 'handled outside GigSona' mean?
You booked that vendor elsewhere. The task is marked handled so your checklist is truthful, but it is not shown as a GigSona booking — only a booking confirmed through GigSona is. If you book through GigSona, the task closes from that real state, not from a box you tick.
Can we add our own events and tasks?
Yes. Add any event — a chunni ceremony, a kangan, a bou bhaat, a cook night — and add tasks to it or to the whole wedding. Suggested tasks you do not need can be dismissed and stay dismissed.
Is this checklist Sikh, Hindu or Muslim?
It is whichever you choose, and it can be several. Templates for Sikh, Punjabi Hindu, Gujarati Hindu, Tamil Hindu, Telugu Hindu, Bengali Hindu, Pakistani Muslim, Bangladeshi Muslim, Indian Muslim, Jain, South Asian Christian, Sri Lankan Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil and Indo-Caribbean weddings each suggest events and tradition-specific tasks. Where public sources are thin, the template stays minimal and says so; your gurdwara, pandit, imam, priest or family sets the ritual detail.
Can family members use it?
You can print it, copy a summary, or send a summary over WhatsApp. Tasks can be assigned to a person. Shared accounts and real-time editing by several people are not part of this version.
Is it free?
Yes, without an account. A free account keeps the checklist long-term and connects it to your GigSona quotes and bookings.
Ready to cost it? Open the budget calculator — it already knows your events.