It actually took me a couple months after getting engaged before I made our wedding binder. I know Mrs. CB was shocked it took so long! Making tome-like binders that have everything you could ever want to know about a show is sort of my job, so there was no doubt that I’d do it myself. It’s a pretty easy DIY, as projects go, but it is one of the most important. And, this way you don’t have to go with the very pink ones the bookstores sell, where you aren’t going to use half the tabs.
First, I found a nice plain, kraft-paper covered binder. I chose this rather than a plastic one because I could decorate it more easily. Then, I got out one of my sets of alphabet stamps and a blue ink pad:
The way I like to set up my binders is with rather general dividers (‘schedule’, ‘clothes’, ‘misc’, ‘ceremony’) and then use sticky tabs to further subdivide. If I used a new divider each time instead of a tab stuck to the piece of paper I’m trying to file, the binder would get very unwieldy very quickly. I don’t need a ‘DJ’ divider, so his invoice is just filed under ‘misc’ with a tab saying DJ stuck to it. Under calendar/timeline I have a monthly calendar, and when I do our timeline it’ll be placed in the same section with its own tab.
Photographer gets its own divider because we’ll have contracts, inspiration photos, a shot list, and all those things. I’m not certain ‘Flowers’ needed their own tab, but I got excited. I do have a ‘Misc’ and one blank one. Also, it is good to remember that you can re-name things! I think ‘Flowers’ might be the first to go if I find I need more. To keep tabs handy, I found a pack of my favourites (Post-it Durable Filing Tabs) and stuck them in to the binder with double-sided tape. Then I will never be without! Those particular tabs are sticker and thicker than the ones you used to use to mark up textbooks, so they last longer and don’t pull off when you use them to turn the pages.
Because the dividers I bought are clear plastic, the very first thing you see when you open the binder is our calendar. I just printed out blank calendar pages (from here) for the months leading up to the wedding, and one after. I can write appointments and reminders down whenever I think about it now. For instance, the other day I remembered the postage rate hike that always happens in January. On an arbitrary date in December, I wrote down ‘buy permanent stamps!’ to remind myself to do that to save some pennies. I also highlighted our ‘monthaversary’ on every month, just because I could. 
The divider I’m most looking forward to filling out (and the one that will use up the post of my beloved tabs) is the DIY projects divider. I plan on printing out instructions for each DIY project I want to do, so I’ve got a hard copy in case the website goes down, the interwebs explode, or the great world-wide unplugging happens. In the photos of the tabs, you can also see that I’ve binder-clipped a pad of paper to the back of the binder, so I’ve got a supply of blank paper on hand, too.
One of the things that was drilled into my head as a stage management student at university was that if you were to be hit by a bus, someone else would have to call the show, from your paperwork. Incidentally, being hit by a bus is one of the only reasons you cannot show up for work when you work in theatre. Being dead is another one, but people will still be mad you’re not there. 
So, from years of being asked if my work would pass the “bus test,” I tend to be pretty thorough with my record-keeping. This is definitely not a bad thing when dealing with something like planning a wedding!
I think putting something like this together yourself is fun, and you don’t have to stick with the colour schemes and categories of the binders in Chapters. I really recommend the calendar printouts, and putting holidays in there, too! That way you don’t try to schedule a dress fitting on Easter Sunday or something like that!
How are you staying organized for the wedding? Strictly online, on paper, or are you using a little bit of both?
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