Does wedding planning make you want to pull your hair out?!?! Envisioning your wedding is one thing, but to organize all your thoughts, ideas, costs, details, timelines, transportation, hotels, menu selection, and all the other little specifics that take place can be very overwhelming. Trust me, we get it!
Luckily you’re talking to a pro at organizing details so I thought I would share some ideas for you to start your wedding planning off right…So that you don’t pull out your beautiful hair 😉
- Buy a wedding binder. This binder should include tabs organized by each vendor and in each tab you should have contracts, payment receipts, and detailed notes on the planning or photos of your vision. Consider adding a pocket pouch under each tab to hold payment receipts.
- Add a calendar to your wedding binder. The calendar should start the month you get engaged and go all the way to your wedding date. In this calendar, you will indicate payment due dates, when to sign up for your food/cake tasting, when to schedule appointments with your vendors to finalize details, when you need to start working on projects for your vendors such as timelines, or even when you plan to go dress shopping for your wedding gown or for the bridesmaids. And if you’re not good at making your own timeline, y can take advantage of those pre-made timelines The Knot or Pinterest as well!
When my brides book at Arrowhead, I give them a planning booklet that shows what they need to prepare for and by when. All of the details in this booklet are great things to add to your calendar! Here is a snap shot of the planning timeline:
If a vendor does not include something like this, I would ask them what the next steps are and write that in your calendar. This will help you get everything done in a timely basis (if not ahead of time) without feeling overwhelmed.
- Create an Excel spreadsheet. This spread sheet should include your guest list, addresses, and budget. It is helpful to ask for an estimate from the venue so you can understand how the service and tax fees generate. Once you understand those numbers and calculations, you can create your own budget sheet and add purchased items for your wedding as you go along to help keep you on budget.
- Delegate, delegate, delegate. Planning a wedding can never be done by one person alone especially while trying to balance doing well at your job and having a social life. There are obviously some tasks that will be really important for to keep, but give some of the other tasks to a bridesmaid, mom, your partner, or anyone who is willing to help take some stress off your hands. Trust us, it is 100% worth your sanity!
- Start early. You definitely want to take time to enjoy being engaged however you don’t want to let too much time pass you by before you start planning. The biggest piece to finalize earlier on in the engagement is the venue and date. After that is done, everything will start falling together as long as you keep yourself on a steady planning schedule [aka follow your planning calendar:)]. Even if the task doesn’t seem very important earlier on, such as wedding party gifts, decor signs, cake toppers, etc., you will feel a weight lifted off your shoulders once you realize you don’t have to stress about those details a week before your wedding.
And Last but not least, remember to enjoy your wedding planning! If you ever find yourself not enjoying it, take a step away and come back to it later. This is supposed to be the best time of your life so enjoy every step of the way the best you can 🙂
Xoxo,
Your Arrowhead Wedding Specialist