How to keep your wedding plans organized

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

Keep your wedding plans organized with these tips to put everything in order

Planning a wedding is a uniquely chaotic time in a couple’s life. There’s a long list of things to take care of and the list of follow-ups will only get longer. The process of planning a celebration in honor of your marriage ought to be fun, but it can easily spin off into the stressful zone.

The more you keep your wedding plans organized, the happier you’ll be and the smoother the big day will run. For the organizationally challenged, this is easier said than done. Make use of advice, wedding websites, ceremony and reception planners and wedding worksheets.

Follow these simple tips to stay ahead of the game and enjoy the process of planning your wedding!

Start today

Getting engaged is a huge step that deserves some serious celebration, but beware. Some couples settle into a state of being engaged and procrastinate planning. The longer you put it off, the more of a chore it starts to feel like.

If you’re ready to say ?I do?, there’s nothing to be gained by putting of the planning stage. Schedule the date a year ahead if you want! The more you do in the months immediately following your engagement, the more deals you’ll find and the less you’ll have to do as the celebration approaches. This means you’ll actually have the time and head space to enjoy anticipating all that lies ahead.

Build a binder

Creating a wedding binder is one of the most effective ways to keep your wedding plans organized. When you have one place to keep everything ? phone numbers, quotes, color swatches ? then nothing gets lost in the shuffle and no details can fall through the cracks! Basically, the binder is a paper wedding planner – the tool you’ll use to store and track to-do lists, deadlines, budget and all notes in between.

Get one with at least a 2? spine so you have plenty of room. You’ll also need dividers with pockets for business cards, brochures, samples, contracts, receipts ? everything.

Divide your binder into general categories that include everything from venue, flowers and photography, to your vision/inspiration and basics like timelines and checklists. As you update, add in the newest information and throw out anything that’s no longer relevant to avoid confusion.

Make a date

Choose a set time at least once a week to sit down with your spouse and anyone helping with the planning. This is when you touch base, cross off what was accomplished the previous week and decide on who’s doing what for the week ahead. Doing this cuts down on redundancy and keeps everyone on the same page.

Delegate

You may not mean to take everything on yourself, but unless you share tasks this can easily happen. Involve your partner in both the fun and tough decisions and divide up the tasks evenly. Most couples have more fun on the big day if they feel like they’ve planned and created it together.

Be willing to compromise a little

There are bound to be a few topics of contention. Don’t put these off! If you’re having trouble agreeing on a cake flavor, keep taste testing until you find one that wows both of you. Putting off a big decision can throw off your progress and create tension as other decisions come up.

Go the distance

The key to keep your wedding plans organized is follow through. Once you get things rolling, don’t slack off or leave contracts lying around. It may seem tedious in the moment, but staying on schedule, writing down numbers and spelling out every important detail in vendor contracts minimizes the possibility of your photographer showing up in jeans.

It’s a fact of life that a few small things go wrong at almost every wedding. There are so many moving parts, it’s impossible to stay in control and you shouldn’t have to. Release the reigns on the big day and enjoy the results of all your hard work.