If you\u2019re anything like me you have a system of staying organized and reminding yourself of what you need to do, that while defying all forms of logic and common sense, seems to miraculously work for you.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not like me you\u2019re probably one of those types who abide religiously by the teachings of some efficiency guru and you probably aren\u2019t even reading this.\u00a0 While a bizarre hodge-podge of Post-it Notes, Outlook reminders, text messages, emails, notes and calendars on your phone, scribbles on scraps of paper and the backs of envelopes and notebooks may somehow keep your family fed, the bills paid on-time and all of the work tasks unexplainably on-track; take it from someone who\u2019s been there and done that, you need good, simple organization if you\u2019re planning your own wedding.<\/p>\n
When I was getting ready for my wedding, I scoffed at the idea of wedding organization!\u00a0 You see, at the time, quite a few moons ago, I was doing a lot of event planning in my career.\u00a0 \u201cI plan, market and run multiple conventions every year,\u201d I thought, \u201cI can make a wedding happen.\u00a0 It\u2019s not even going to be a big wedding.\u00a0 No Sweat.\u201d\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Uh-huh.\u00a0 Let me tell you, it matters not how many conferences, conventions, meetings, fairs, carnivals or other dog and pony shows you\u2019ve planned; planning a wedding is nothing like any of it.\u00a0 First of all there\u2019s a very unique culture amongst those who provide wedding services.\u00a0 What may seem as simple as calling someone up, booking them, and maybe having to sign a contract; can be much more involved.\u00a0 Secondly, believe it or not, when you\u2019re doing something for yourself it becomes personal and you will care much more about what you are doing than you think you will.\u00a0 Third, your soon-to-be spouse is involved.\u00a0 Hey!\u00a0 Guys out there \u2013 yeah you \u2013 did you get that?\u00a0 YOUR SOON-TO-BE SPOUSE IS INVOLVED!\u00a0 That means two people\u2019s way of doing things and if you\u2019re the groom and something goes wrong, yep, you guessed it, the blame\u2019s going to be on you.\u00a0 Just sayin\u2019.<\/p>\n
But seriously, staying organized when you\u2019re planning a wedding is very important if you want it to go off without a hassle and you want to stay sane.\u00a0 One day my then-fianc\u00e9e came home with this huge wedding planning binder full of pockets and envelopes and folders that she no doubt paid a good fifty bucks for.\u00a0 It was handy.\u00a0 It kept all of our stuff in one place, but I could have accomplished the same thing with a ten dollar trip to a stationery store except for one thing; the wedding planning checklist that it contained.\u00a0\u00a0 That one document was the most important thing that kept us organized for our wedding.\u00a0 Did we need everything on it? No, of course not, and it didn\u2019t actually have everything we needed, but it was a start and it got us thinking.\u00a0 We just crossed off what we didn\u2019t need, added what we thought of that was unique to us and not on the checklist and it became our roadmap for wedding planning.\u00a0 It was simple.\u00a0 One single document with all the important stuff we needed to do in one place and it worked for both of us.<\/p>\n