Weddingbee Blog

Planning a wedding is arguably one big, long test of organization and time management. Staying on top of things is KEY, or the whole process can get really overwhelming and out of hand if you aren’t keeping track of everything. Soon enough, you could have something like this on your hands:

Image via Teachers at Risk

Yikes. Anyone else get anxiety looking at that picture?!

Here are my tips for staying organized while planning your wedding:

1. Get yourself a binder and some dividers, and make your own wedding organizer. Fill it as you go with inspiration photos, vendor contracts, business cards, and anything else you get that you need to keep track of.

2. Do most of your communication through email so there is written documentation of everything. You can print it out and put it in your binder! I use the backs of scratch paper for printing to help counteract waste.

3. Find a calendaring system that works for you. I used a simple dated spreadsheet in Google Docs to track appointments, or you can use Google Calendar. I moved to my physical day planner that stays in my purse and that I have access to 24/7. (I don’t have a fancy cell phone with calendaring capabilities.) It is hard to pull up Google Docs when you are standing in the middle of a bridal salon and need to set up a follow-up appointment. A couple of years ago I splurged on a fancy-schmancy Coach day planner. I dug it out of the closet and swung by a local store to get a 2011 refill for it.

Image via del7piero / Ebay

4. Have an individual document (either on the computer or on paper) to track wedding financials. Here is what is included in ours:

• Each group contributing to the wedding financially (if you have multiple parties paying), showing their total contribution, anything they have paid so far, and the balance left over
• Each vendor showing total cost, amount paid, balance, and whether there are any refundable deposits (e.g., our venue has one)
• Miscellaneous money-related items to take note of (e.g., amount of cash needed on hand the day of the wedding for vendor tips)

5. This may sound silly, but having a planner and binder won’t do you any good unless you USE it. So make sure to keep them handy and update them as you go, and that way you won’t miss a meeting or (worse) a payment! Follow these tips and you get to feel the sweet relief of knowing all your wedding plans are organized and at your fingertips anytime.

What are your tips for staying organized?