Bellow are the following categories
Wedding organization planner or binder
RED FLAGS Beware of vendors that are late, rude, unprofessional, don’t work with you, don’t have contract or set rules, taking no or small deposits, don’t have a paper trail(invoices, quotes or receipts). Every vendor should have clear cut contracts or expectations that are on paper.
Wedding Organizer, Planner or Binder
Being organized is an essential part of wedding planning. IMO one must have for your wedding planning is a wedding planner or binder. You can make your own in a 3 ring binder, modify a regular planner or notebook or purchase a wedding planner. No matter what you choose here is what your planner should have:
- A decent cover-your wedding organizer is going to be your go to book for the next few months. Make sure it can hold up. I prefer something with a plastic or laminated cover. Bonus if you can zip it up or if it has an elastic to keep it shut.
- Pages for notes and a pen- Have a space to jot down notes is essential. Whether for notes, to do lists or doodles. That way you wont write down something on scrap paper and loose or misplace it.
- Pockets to hold business cards, color samples, pens
- Page Pockets or the ability to insert pages. You need the ability to save quotes, contracts, pamphlets and other marketing material you receive from vendors.
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Planning Skills & tools
-bridal shows, open houses, navigating consultations, talking with vendors, contracts and
Master timeline
Here is my master timeline for everything you may need to do on your wedding planning journey. Now keep in mind that all of these items are not going to apply to everyone. I have every detail for every type of bride so if it does not apply to your don't worry! Print or save the PDF
The Budget
This is the part a lot of brides dread but you must talk about the budget! Below you will find the customizable Excel budget I created. You can use that or create your own. Whichever your chose putting the numbers on paper and making sure they add up is the most important part.
- First start off with how much you have to spend and where it is coming from. I know it is hard to say how much you can spend without knowing how much it costs. Every wedding is different but if you know how much is on hand you can look for vendors accordingly. There tends to be 3 levels of vendors: Budget/amateurs, midline is what most people use and all of their pricing is similar and high end. High end vendors create the weddings you see on Pinterest and Insta. They will make your visions come to life and the price tag WILL REFFLECT IT!
| wedding_budget.xlsx |
Building a Wedding Website
Building a wedding website is a great way to communicate with your guests. On many wedding websites you can post all of your wedding info, pics, important links things like hotels and resort info, your wedding registry and some even let guests rsvp. When building a website make it simple and functional so it is easy to navigate for your guests. Be sure to include all of the information included on your rsvp. You can use this space to give your guests specific information about your wedding and answer common questions. Information like parking, dress code, wedding day timeline, weather, kids policy can go on your site.Here a few sites that you can use. Theknot.com, zola.com, weddingwire.com or you can just make a FB event page.
Guest list
Make your list I recommend using this excel spreadsheet so you can keep track of guests, addresses and rsvp’s. When looking at how many people you would like at your wedding first make a list of everyone you would like at your wedding. You may be surprised at how many or how few there are. Next take into consideration how many guest your possible venue holds. Once you decide on how many people you can invite revise your list to add or remove who you need to. Remember it is your wedding at the end of the day you aren’t obligated to invite the people you don’t want to.
| guest_list_template.xlsx |
rsvp's
Wedding Day Timeline
Family drama
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