Cuddleshrub Nuptials, Part 2: Organization! Checklist, anyone?

I don’t know about you, but once that ring went on my finger, it was game ON!  We jumped right into guest lists, venues, photographers, DJs…the list goes on, and it quickly becomes A LOT to keep track of!  So, while some may call this a “nerd” move, I just call it smart – as the thoughts, ideas and decisions piled up, I immediately began to organize myself in hopes of this process moving smoothly right up until the walk down the aisle.  So, here are the 3 things that I’ve relied on so far to stay sane and (hopefully) not become a bridezilla:

1.   Get yourself a wedding binder.  Get your "back to school" on and hit up the stationary section of your Walmart, arming yourself with at least a heavy duty binder (it's got to make it at least a year!), dividers with tabs and labels and a hole punch (er?), if you don’t already have one (check out mine – it was $4. It can only punch 1 page at a time, but this isn’t a legal deposition you’re binding, so it will work!).  Within this binder you will keep track of anything and everything related to planning your wedding: contracts, receipts, emails, ideas, information, guest lists, addresses, etc.)  Important sections to “divide” out in your binder include, but are not limited to:

• Guest List
• Venue
• DJ
• Photographer
• Flowers
• Dress
• Hair/Makeup
• Groomswear (if you're leery about handing this duty over to the dudes...)
• Marriage License info
• Rings
• Honeymoon

            Those are just a handful – it’s your wedding, and your binder, so whatever is important to 

            you, that’s what goes in the binder! 

Yup, I even crafted a fun cover page. Like I said - NERD.

2.   Checklist!  I Pinterested the hell out of this until I found one I liked – and then I STILL adapted it to fit my needs!  I needed something to tell me where in my wedding planning I should be when – as in, what should I do right away?  What should be done 9 months out?  6 months out?  And so on… Here are some links to the checklist I settled on, plus some others I liked:

• OvenLovinBlog.com checklist
• DesignedByBH.com checklist
• DocStoc.com checklist

I finally settled on this one I pinned from Pinterest - even though I couldn't seem to get it to come up by clicking to the link.  SO, I actually ended up using it as a template to create my own.  Check it out:

My attempt at uploading a printable doc - closest I got was JPEG of it.

I kept the basics, but switched out things I wasn’t having in my wedding for other things I thought was important.  Some of these, the ones that get closer to the wedding, I still don't know if we'll do, but figured I'd leave them on here so I don't forget to at least think of them and decided if they're important! Again, your wedding, your checklist!  I basically just retyped it in Microsoft Word into a few different columns, using a square bullet point (in our wedding color purple, of course!) as my “check box.”  It’s ridiculous how good it feels to check off each box!

3.     Microsoft Excel – Guest Lists & Addresses.  I’m a self-taught Excel user, but I managed to come up with an Excel chart to keep track of my guests and their addresses.  I separated into several different columns, so that I can check off when I’ve sent their Save The Date, their invitation and then later, their RSVP responses.  Keep this saved on your computer, as you will likely update it a few times as you add more people… You can also program it to tally up your guest list total, and your “yays” and “nays”.  I also made a corresponding chart with everyone’s addresses, so they’re all in one spot.  Plus, when I printed labels for our STDs, I could just copy and paste the address from the chart to the label templates! 

Hoping I get lots of "ready to party"s!

 

4.    Bonus Tip – when in doubt, take a sec to remember this is supposed to be fun!  I think us     brides can forget that sometimes.  Enjoy this ride, it’s the only time you’re going to do it!

 

That’s it!  I mean, there’s obbbbbviously more, like countless phone calls to Mom and my bridesmaids to bounce off ideas, and glasses of wine to calm my frayed nerves after a 2 hour internet search for photographers…but I sort of feel like these are givens, as in things I do while just getting through life.  With these 3 resources in place, I’m feeling really good about our progress… I have so many checked boxes on my checklist so far! :)  Anything special YOU’RE doing to stay organized and avoid the deep, dark hole of crazy??  Share with me!!  I mean, I still have to get through a little over 6 more months of planning, I’ll take any help I can get!