It’s my favorite day of the week! Happy Wednesday from East Texas! Can you believe it is already the month of MAY?! What. I love this month!!! And I will now love it more forever because of what is coming at the end of the month!
We are now 24 days from saying “I do” and my heart simply cannot handle the excitement! I’m starting to like this whole 2 weddings thing and knowing we get to countdown and celebrate twice!
On this Wednesday, I am sharing my best organization strategies for any fellow brides out there! Planning a wedding is a big task, and now planning two… well you can just imagine! I am also excited to introduce you to someone very special, my wedding coordinator! Keep reading to meet one of many people helping to make the magic happen!
I have a bit of type-A in me, and I love organizing things in my planner and making to-do lists. The same goes for the wedding planning process – so for anyone beginning this journey, here are my best wedding planning tips!
Staying organized in Wedding Planning
1. Purchase a wedding specific planner
Right after Drew and I were engaged, I bought this wedding planner from Erin Condren. I love that it is wedding specific because it includes a variety of resources such as a monthly check-list, note pages for things such as cake tastings, catering, etc. It also has checklists for vendors, wedding-gifts, photo lists, and seating arrangements. I like that all of my notes for the wedding are in one central location, and that planner has been with me to every meeting or consultation throughout this journey! If you don’t buy a wedding planner, I do suggest you at least get a separate exclusive planner from your general life planner for the wedding planning process. Erin Condren products are some of my favorites because of the quality and size of her planners, and you can also personalize them!
2. Keep a record of contracts, bids, itemized lists, etc.
I have each of my vendor contracts and bills printed and organized in sheet protectors in this portfolio folder I purchased from Amazon. This helps me to stay organized, and is a valuable resource to refer back to when there is any question regarding a vendor contract. I quickly realized searching for contracts or bills through my email inbox was overwhelming, and some vendors like to use paper notes/copies anyway. I love that this portfolio has front pockets to store business cards, and keeps everything together and neat with the three ring binder feature. I also take this portfolio with me to meetings, and will sometimes leave it in my car just in case, unless I know it will for sure be needed!
3. Create a wedding email
This was an idea I received from a fellow bride, and my goodness it is the best idea! I made an evanswedding email, and it saved my life! I love that all wedding related emails are sent to one central location, ensuring I don’t miss anything! Much of the wedding planning process is back and forth over email, and having one dedicated wedding email helps to keep you organized and not mix everyday life and work with wedding planning! Plus, every time I see new mail pop up for that specific account my heart just gets happy!
4. Private Pinterest boards for inspiration!
I’ve had an active wedding inspiration Pinterest board since I first created a Pinterest account in high school! I’ve known for many years what kind of wedding I wanted, and over the years that vision has grown and evolved into what I am now planning! When I began the planning process I went back through that original board and then began re-pinning things that I wanted to incorporate into our wedding. I organized it all by creating separate boards for cakes, flowers, dresses, photo ideas, etc. Of course they are all currently private, but they are an extremely helpful resource to share inspiration and ideas when meeting with vendors – especially my florist!
5. Utilize an online planning tool resources such as The Knot or Wedding Wire
I created our wedding website through The Knot, so I have used their online planning tool to keep track of my to-do’s and timeline. This timeline and to-do list is a lot more in-depth than the one in my Erin Condren planner, and has been extremely helpful in making sure I don’t forget any small details! I love that there is a countdown and a timeline laid out for you to follow to make sure everything is done with plenty of time leading up to your wedding. I’ve read great things about the Wedding Wire planner tool as well!
Another helpful suggestions, that I’m sure comes naturally to most is to take lots of pictures throughout the wedding planning process! When meeting with vendors, choosing your dress, flowers, reception design, etc. I refer back to pictures on my camera roll over and over again to remind myself of details we have picked! If you save them to a wedding album on your phone they are easy to access for planning needs!
Now it’s time to meet my wedding coordinator!
Drum roll please….
Say hello to the Wedding Architect himself…
Mr. Ricardo Tomas!
I have known Ricardo since I was about 10 years old, and it has always been the dream to have him as my wedding coordinator! He is a dear family friend who just so happens to be such a talented, detail oriented, creative, incredible wedding planner! I am so excited to work with him to design and bring to life the wedding of my dreams in August! He has also been so helpful in the rescheduling process as we moved our big celebration from May to August. I love love this dear friend and could not imagine anyone better to bring my wedding dreams to life!
I hope these ideas are helpful to any fellow bride beginning the wedding planning process, or perhaps is too facing the daunting task of postponement and could use a little extra organization to help in that process!
Now that we have a few more unexpected months of wedding planning, I’d love to know of any of your best tips for staying organized in the comments below!
24 and 108 days to go!
xx,
Madison
