Whether you’re totally Type-A and outstandingly organized by nature–or your desk is a jumble of paperwork, hair-ties, coffee mugs, and (hopefully) your iPad–planning a wedding is intimidating. Refine your organization and scheduling skills and your engagement will be effortless, even if you feel pressed for time. Thanks to the magic of the internet, you have all of the perfect planning products (with two-day shipping) at your fingertips.
The Wedding Planner Checklist | $8
Planning your big day is a lot easier if you meticulously schedule EVERYTHING up front. Everything? Everything! What’s “everything”?...
Good question. Once the excitement of your engagement has set in, many brides-to-be share in the same terrifying revelation: we don’t know how to plan a wedding. If the big day is approaching quickly, be sure to check out our ebook, How to Plan your Wedding in Six Months or Less, for a panic-free planning process.
This checklist is also a great way to develop a timeline and become familiar with what to expect and when to expect it. The list is fluid and helps you manage your matrimonial dreams without micromanaging your plans or making too many assumptions. The suggested time frames are broad–making it perfectly personalizable for even the quickest engagement timelines!
Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the planning process and outline, make sure to sit with the future Mr.You to delegate duties and thoroughly discuss all the important dates, deadlines, and decisions associated with arranging your big day. One thorough scheduling sesh will save you both tons of stress as you make your way to the altar.
Once the details are hammered out, make sure that all the important dates and deadlines make their way to a calendar for both of you. You don’t need anything fancy. This calendar is cute, durable, and gives you plenty of space to schedule everything necessary for your nuptials. Plus, it’s cheap!
Develop a shared system and schedule now for a successfully stress-free short engagement. Most of our pre-wedding jitters are nothing more than uncertainty. If you and your hubby-to-be are on the same page with a shared schedule, there will be no question about what needs to be done, who needs to do it, or when it will happen. The calendar will know it all. Make sure your calendars match. Hang your calendars somewhere visible. Refer to your calendars. Update your calendars. Become one with your calendars.
Surprise! It turns out that one of the most useful tools for planning like a pro is…a planner. The simpler the planner, the better the plan. The straight forward format, whole-month overviews, and designated pages to add details to specific days, make this the perfect planner to help tackle a timeline full of tastings and tours during your planning process.
A superb scheduling system will help you keep your engagement–related engagements and be decisive! If you’re dreaming of a fairy-tale wedding, think of indecision as the poison apple... or evil sea witch... or whatever Jafar was. Indecision is a villain. Brides-to-be can’t afford to deal with decision making drama... especially when we’re on a deadline. Assign due dates to decisions, pencil them in your planner, and voilà: choosing your venue, menu, or DJ are no longer life-and-death decisions, but simple assignments due by 4:30 next Tuesday.
If Lisa Frank taught us anything, it’s that staying organized is way easier when things are colorful. Not only are these felt tipped Flair Pens my absolute favorite way to produce pretty penmanship, but they also come in every color of the rainbow! Write your work appointments in red, decision deadlines in green, and appointments with vendors in violet. Go wild! Color coding your schedule is a great way to keep track of all of your prenuptial plans without meticulously reading every tiny detail of every single day.
I highly recommend using your iPad or PC when laying the groundwork for your wedding. Using your phone to peruse Pinterest is one thing, but a separate device for official wedding communications and bridal business protects us from burning out before the big day. Planning comes with lots of paperwork: piles of vendors’ lists and estimates, business cards, Starbucks receipts with random ideas for centerpieces and color-palettes scribbled on the back–it can be overwhelming.
With space for your iPad and phone, plus plenty of places for planning paperwork, this portfolio is the perfect way to pull your planning process together.
It’s easy to let planning take over your phone, desk, coffee table, kitchen counters, the passenger seats of your car... basically, your entire existence. Sticking to a schedule and staying organized is the best way to keep you on-track and stress free as you gracefully glide (or like me, take off your heels and run!) toward your big day.