Weddingbee

An organized bride certainly needs her share of secret weapons - and there is certainly no shortage of bridal armory available via many outlets. I wanted to share with you the key pieces that I have been using over the past year to help keep things in check. Some are software programs and some are of the paper variety, as I prefer to use a blend of the old and new when it comes to organization. I could probably do a solo post on each of these items - but it’s really the combination of them that makes them so awesome.

iDo Wedding Software
http://www.elmsoftware.com
I purchased this software within 2 months of our engagement and haven’t really looked back. When choosing a piece of software, I was looking for ease of use, portability and cost effectiveness - this had it all. Honestly, I haven’t found an online wedding planning tool that is as comprehensive - and I’ve tried them all: The Knot, WedShare, Martha’s Wedding Planning Tools, My Wedding Hero, and Wedding Wire (there’s more - but I won’t list them all). I prefer iDo out of all of them - I just wish it were on the web.

Image via Elm Software
So clean, so Web 2.0 - I love it!

It’s allowed me to enter all our guests’ information, put together parties for invitations for ALL of our events including all three bridal showers (with a secret code to mark unknown invites), track our RSVPs as they come in, put together our seating chart, track guest hotel and flight information, track gifts and the thank yous we need to write and put together our timeline of events. I know, it’s a lot to take in, but they make it so easy!

Russel + Hazel Wedding Organizer
http://www.russelandhazel.com
Okay, so this puppy is at the pricier end of wedding planning binders - and it’s really not the chic, adorable binder that really makes this a dealkiller. You could totally re-create this amazing binder on the cheap with the help of the incredible Anne Chertoff, wedding planner extraordinaire, and her free download-able planning templates found here.

Image via Russel + Hazel
This is the binder pattern I chose - black and white, of course!

While these free templates really make this binder an organizational winner, the tools Russel and Hazel have put together for the adorable Wedding Organizer are 100% perfection. I love the pocket dividers, the coordinating post-it notes and the whiteboard interior (for quick planning sketches) of the rubber-banded binder it all fits in. It might be costly, but isn’t the wedding planning binder a keepsake as well?

Perfect Table Plan
http://www.perfecttableplan.com/
When a few of us Bees got a free copy of the Perfect Table Plan software to try out, I was a bit skeptical - I was in love with iDo’s seating tools already. However, when I tried it out, I realized that this software had a few awesome features that iDo’s did not. First off, you can plug in the seating preferences for all the attendees so that they can sit next to (or avoid sitting next to) other guests. Then with a magical click of the Auto Assign button, the software uses your preferences to magically seat people where they think will work best. Nice, eh?

Image via Perfect Table Plan
A sample shot of the Table Assignment screen.

Since I had already done most of the pre-seating work, I will most likely not use this software to do the actual seating, as the import feature is not the easiest to use. BUT - this tool became invaluable when I began to create our table layout for our catering manager. It allows you to set the size of the venue, the size, shape and number of tables, and it creates a base layout for you. Then you can play around with colors and other shapes to get it looking perfect. The preliminary table layout that I created is shown below.

Obviously ours is much bigger - I printed it to PDF for easy emailing.

Cost Plus Desk in a Box
http://www.costplus.com
After Miss Sundae’s awesome Cost Plus find, I had to go check out what I could find in my beloved black and white damask print. I discovered this adorable Desk in a Box set and I immediately snapped it up. While it may not seem wedding related, I had been searching for a recipe box or card box that would allow us to keep our 4″ x 6″ RSVP postcards organized - much like Mindy Weiss’ adorable set (sadly, created only for 3″ x 5″ cards).

Image via Cost Plus
I chose the black and white damask set in the back.

This certainly fit the bill and it now sits next to my R+H Binder atop my desk - now dubbed wedding planning central. In the large box in the back, I have the Yes cards on the left and the No cards on the right. They are organized by the invitation code created by iDo. I keep pens in the front cup and paper clips in the small side box. When I don’t feel like entering in the RSVPs into the software immediately, I turn the un-entered cards on their side and clip them together. When I’m ready to enter them in, I grab and go!

While I’m sure you could easily plan an entire wedding without the above-mentioned tools, they have become invaluable for me. They are time-savers and most importantly, sanity-savers.

Have you discovered any sanity-saving wedding planning tools?    

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