How to get and stay organised for your wedding day.
Planning your wedding will be one of if not the biggest event you will ever plan, its also the most special day of your life and you want it to be absolutely perfect. That’s a lot of pressure! So you want to make sure you are as organised you can be from the outset and throughout your wedding planning. In this post today I’ll give you some of my top tips on how to get and stay organised throughout your wedding planning journey.
Talk and Brainstorm together
Its super important that you both sit down and spend some time discussing what you both want for your wedding, even if your partner says they’re not fussed they just want you to be happy…trust me there is something they are wanting, so get that out of them!
Spend some time going through the big decisions first on what you would both want from that supplier, so your venue, caterer, photographer and florist. All the items you are going to spend a lot of money on, these are the decisions you need to make together before you start researching suppliers or venues. There’s no point looking at massive country house venue and setting your heart on it when your partner wants a barn. You may have to make a compromise on some things but take the time to research what you both like and speak to those suppliers and find out what works best for you both and your budget.
Email address
One of my biggest tips to stay organised with your wedding planning (and what I do for my clients pretty much straight away) is setting up a wedding email address! Most of my clients are busy professionals and wedding related emails going into their personal/work inbox would just get lost within the day and they could miss an important supplier email or even an invoice. I always suggest heading to any free email provider (gmail,outlook etc) and set up an address.
Spreadsheets
Being a wedding planner I am a lover of spreadsheets! As soon as new couple sign up to work with me I automatically have a couple of spreadsheets ready and raring to go so that we can keep on top of their planning and stay on track throughout. I start off with a budget tracker so that we can keep on top of estimated and actual costs and also track when payments need to be made once we have confirmed those suppliers. I also have a master guest list that keeps track of guests who are attending. This is then gets built upon through out the planning process when we can add food choices, dietary requirements and table number. It’s a great working document! I then also have a supplier details sheet and seating plan that we build on later in the process. Spreadsheets are great ways to keep track of details like these without crossing out multiple pages and using tippex on your planning notebook, just simply open up and edit. The best bit is that you don’t need to print it off until 2 weeks before the wedding when everything will all be finalised 😊
If you like the sound of these spreadsheets you can grab my versions from my etsy page here.
Checklist
If you are planning your wedding alone and not working with a planner, there are lots of different resources you can use online to help you keep track of planning such as planning checklists. These checklists give you month by month tasks that you should complete in order to make sure everything is completed by your wedding date.
Pinterest is a great way of gaining inspiration for your wedding, you can build boards for each element and part of your day and literally build your dream wedding! But please be aware that Pinterest images are for inspiration try not to get too carried away wanting exactly what is on your Pinterest board, by all means take the photos to your suppliers and let the photos be the inspiration. When you speak to your suppliers and provide them with the inspiration of what you would like , you never know you may come out with something even better!
Delegate
If you find yourself getting stressed with the planning and finding it difficult to juggle your home/social life with wedding planning, try delegating some of your tasks! Perhaps you want to add some DIY elements to your wedding, why not ask a close family member or a bridesmaid to see if they can source what you need for you. Or if you are really struggling with your planning and just want some advice or help, reach out to a wedding planner or an on the day coordinator who will be able you at whatever stage of your planning you are at, work with you to fix any kinks, sort out your schedule and be there on the day to run everything so you don’t have to worry about a thing and can enjoy your day fully!
2 weeks
You should aim to have everything that needed to be sent to you prior to the wedding day in the 2 weeks before the wedding. So your on the day stationery, bridesmaid dresses and accessories etc and anything you are providing yourself. Then its a good idea to make a list of everything that needs to be taken with you to the wedding and make sure this is printed off and put in a safe place so that when you pack everything up a couple of days before you know everything you need will be with you.
If you don’t have a planner or coordinator also make sure that at this time 2 weeks before the wedding you send all of your supplier a timeline of the day and contact details of the main contact on the day so they can check in with them when they arrive. Make sure you also send your caterers a final table plan, finished list of dietary requirements and final guest numbers so that they have up to date details and can start prepping for your wedding.
What are your top tips for staying organised?
X
