Organization

I’m interrupting the regularly scheduled photography complaints to write about something that might be a little more useful to other people: organizing your wedding planning! There’s so many things to keep track of, but I happen to be an incredibly Type A person who gets a sick thrill from a carefully organized binder, so I have loved this element of planning my wedding. In case you haven't, I'm here to share the strategies that work for me, after the jump.

I use two main objects to keep myself organized:

Excel To Do Lists

I keep two major to-do lists on Excel.

Personal screen shot

This one is a modified version of Mrs. Meerkat’s awesome to-do list, altered to fit my wedding and engagement timeline. This shows the longterm plans- ie, have florist booked by April, order dress by June. It’s just telling me when I need to have big things accomplished. I populated it with the use of my trusty Mindy Weiss book, and the Knot’s scary checklists.

I use this one for more specific to do lists:

Another personal screen shot

Whereas  the previous list will tell me “Order dress by June,” this one tells me, “Visit Pronovias store in February, visit Kleinfeld in March, find your shoes by April, etc.” It’s the day-to-day part of getting the big stuff done.  Normal people might not need both. But like I said, I love organization. And fancy Excel docs.

If you like Powerpoint, a great system can be found here, from Weddingbee's Mrs. Daffodil.

Wedding Binder

I think everyone keeps some form of this. Mine includes a printed out calendar for writing in appointments, and then divided sections for the following:

·         Ceremony

·         Venue

·         Photography

·         Flower

·         Music

·         Bridal Party

The sections include any relevant research, signed contract copies, inspiration photos, etc.

(Plus I picked really pretty colored dividers)

Miscellaneous Organization

I keep a small (and also really pretty) spiral notebook with me, so I can take notes if vendors call or I meet with them. It’s helpful also to have on hand if random ideas come to mind and I want to write them down.

And my last organization tool, and one of the best things I’ve discovered, is Delicious. Delicious is a free bookmarking service offered by Yahoo, that allows you to tag your favorites and access them through the Delicious site from any computer.  It’s pretty great and has saved me from huge link lists saved in Gmail drafts, to be accessed from various computers. 

So there you have it! Lots of tips for getting organized.