For many brides-to-be, their wedding is the biggest event they’ve had to plan. Sure, there have been birthdays and holiday parties, but nothing compares to all the details that come together to make a wedding celebration. Whether you’re going all out with hundreds of guests and a sit-down dinner or a small affair with just family and a few friends and cake, there are a lot of things to think about and plan for the big day – dress, flowers, invitations, food, etc. Making sure you get everything covered can be stressful, but good organization tools can alleviate some of the anxiety and allow you to enjoy the fun of planning for your big day.
Here at Legacy Stables & Events, we’ve had the honor of working with many couples to help plan their wedding. Our experience in event planning has taught us some tips that we feel can help you make sure your process is headache-free.
- Create one central place to keep your wedding planning information. Your mom probably had a physical organizer, complete with calendars, pages for lists and folders for papers and documents. Some brides still like to use the organizer, not only because it is tactile and you can pull things out and see them when needed, but also because it becomes a keepsake after the wedding is over. However, you can also go digital with your wedding planning organization. Create a Google Drive to store all your lists, research, and budget. You can even keep contracts from vendors, as many are now digital anyway, and if not it’s easy to scan it in.
- Make a timeline and everything having to do with your wedding on one calendar. Whether it’s a meeting with a vendor, a deadline for payment or a tour of event venues, there are a lot of important dates to remember during wedding planning. Keeping a calendar is important, and if it’s on your phone you can link it to your Google drive as well.
- Keep a list of all vendor information. Lists are critical in wedding planning. You’ll be making lists of things to buy for the bridesmaid gifts, guest lists, and lists of thank you notes to write. But one important one that many people overlook is a list of all vendors for the big day. You may think you don’t need this because you have contracts for everyone, but having a list with all pertinent information is much easier to look things up in a rush than to shuffle through a bunch of paper contracts or search online. Make sure the list includes the service being provided, the company name, contact person and their phone number and email address, payment dates and balance due, as well as any requirements for the day of the wedding.
- Make a digital address book. Your mother might have had a book filled with addresses and phone numbers of all her friends and family, but these days our phones have contact information at our fingertips. Unfortunately, it’s mostly phone numbers and sometimes emails. Your wedding is one time when you’ll be sending invitations through the mail (and hopefully thank you notes after the event). Digital address books, such as Postable.com, make it easy for people to submit their address without you having to ask each person individually.
- Create a wedding website. You don’t need to know how to code to make a nice-looking website, and the benefits are countless. Putting your wedding online provides an easy way for guests to learn useful information about the event, details on recommended hotels, links to some of your favorite area restaurants, and of course, a link to your registry. It might take a little time upfront, but it saves you the hassle of having to answer everyone’s questions when the big day approaches and you have other tasks to accomplish.
Planning your wedding should be an exciting time. By taking advantage of all the great organizational tools available, you can enjoy the fun things without getting bogged down in the details. And remember, when you schedule your wedding with Legacy Stables & Events, we’re here to help make sure things go smoothly. We work with you every step of the way, answering your questions and providing information and services as needed.
To learn more about how Legacy Stables & Events can help make your wedding day magical, call today to schedule a tour and meet with our talented staff.
Photo Credit: @hannahcasonweddings
