How To Stay Organised When Planning Your Wedding

Today we look at how to stay organised when planning your wedding. Whether you’re naturally an organised person or not it IS possible to be organised. This in turn will help to keep stress under control, which has got to be a good thing, right?!Stressed

Email

Avoid clogging up your normal email account with lots of wedding stuff by having a dedicated email address. You go to bridal shows and inevitably give out your email address to potential vendors who then follow up. For one vendor that’s not too bad. But times that by the number of times you give out your email and you could quickly find your inbox heaving!

As well as helping you to stay organised when planning your wedding you can then use it afterwards for those times when you need to give an email address but you don’t want to give out your normal one.

Research & Decide

Do some research, ask married friends what they would have done differently. They will also be able to give you tips and tricks. Read magazines, trawl Instagram and Pinterest for ideas, make up a mood board either digitally or hard copy. At the end of the day decide what you want as a couple. Whilst it’s helpful to hear other people’s views don’t forget that it’s YOUR wedding and should reflect your personalities.

Spreadsheets

These are handy for keeping track of things such as your budget, guest list, to do list etc. Have a special Wedding folder on your computer. I’ve put together some useful documents. Please feel free to contact me if you would like me to email them to you.

Guest List Spreadsheet

Budget Tracker Spreadsheet

Photography Checklist

 

Calendar, Planner, Lists & Timeline

Timelines are also essential for keeping you on track with helping you to stay organised when planning your wedding. A designated calendar or planner will stop wedding stuff getting lost on your normal diary system. Having a planner that you can keep lists in is great for keeping your head straight. Had a thought and don’t want to forget to do something? Note it straight down in your planner on the relevant list. That way you won’t be stressing that you’ll forget something vital.

You can subscribe to my mailing list at the bottom of this page and receive a digital copy of my Handy Wedding Organiser. Alternatively please email me your address and I’ll send out a hard copy to you.

One Task At A Time

Focus on one task at a time. It’s easy to get overwhelmed if you’re trying to juggle three or four things at once.

Legal Paperwork

Have at least one section in your planner for the legal paperwork. From registering the banns to contracts or terms and conditions with vendors, keep all paperwork together in one place. Going abroad for either the wedding or the honeymoon? Check your passports and any necessary visas and inoculations required as soon as you know where you’re going. Add appointments or reminders to get shots into your diary system.

Vendors and Budgets

Start with a budget and stick to it. In a previous post we looked at How To Have A Budget Wedding & Mistakes To Avoid Even if your wedding isn’t going to be a budget wedding particularly, there’s still some useful info in the post. It’s ok to negotiate with large vendors but remember that the small businesses are working on tighter margins. It’s fine to tell a vendor what your top line is for budget, some small businesses may be able to accommodate you, but ask nicely! Bear in mind that asking a small business to give a big discount is the equivalent of your boss asking if it’s ok to pay you for 40 hours when you’ve actually worked 80. You probably wouldn’t be too impressed and you’d feel undervalued.

Make sure you do all your research on vendors, don’t rush into the first ones you see. However, don’t dither and leave decisions too late otherwise the vendors you want could get booked up.

Teamwork, Delegation & DIY

Work as a team with your fiancé and don’t be afraid to get someone else to look over contracts. It’s sometimes helpful for someone else to check that you haven’t forgotten anything.

DIY some things, but with caution! Only do the things you can do well and don’t take on too much. If someone offers to help with projects only allow it if you’re going to get good results. The personal touch is great, but you don’t want it to look like everything was done in a rush. Making one item look good is relatively easy, but making 100 look good takes time and dedication – and wastage! Stay organised when planning your wedding DIY and have designated boxes for each project.

Get the BMs, MOB, MOG and family involved in helping – delegate where possible! But only to people you trust, note it on your planner so that you can keep and eye on things.

Time Out & Date Nights

Don’t make every single waking moment about your wedding. Take time out together, have regular date nights. What happens after the wedding if you haven’t taken time out together during the planning? Keep up other interests and friendships during the planning so that it’s not such an anti-climax afterwards.

Take a week or at least a few days off before the wedding. Trying to clear your desk at work and sorting out the last minute details of the wedding is a recipe for disaster! Even the most level headed bride or groom is likely to turn into a bridezilla or groomzilla if they’re juggling too many things.

Table Plan

Leave the seating arrangements until after you’ve had all your RSVPs. For the stationery I like to set up the table plan layout as soon as possible after the RSVP deadline. However, I leave the printing and making up of it till as late as possible. Nine times out of ten there’s a change to the table plan last minute. People drop out for various reasons, relationships change etc.

Table Plan by LilguyDesigns from £70.00

On The Day Help

Consider having a wedding planner for on the day help. This can be worthwhile investment. You can hand all the details over to a professional and let them handle the stress!

If you have your wedding celebration here at Great Betley Farmhouse on the day co-ordination is included in the price. I have a diploma in wedding planning and will liaise with your vendors.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.