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Staying organized while planning a wedding is no small feat. According to a survey by Zola, 47 percent of engaged and newlywed couples say the process was so stressful they considered eloping or getting married at city hall.
But brides and grooms can use a few smart organization strategies that may help them plan their wedding without losing too much sleep.
Go Paperless
Though many wedding vendors still use paper contracts, wedding planning binders are outdated. A better way to keep track of contracts, invoices, and other important paper documents is by storing them on Google Drive or iCloud.
This way you'll be able to access the files from your smartphone when you need them. If you don't have a scanner at home, you can upload papers using a mobile app like Scanbot or Genius Scan.
Find Inspiration on Pinterest
Pinterest can be a treasure trove of ideas for invitations, cake design, table centerpieces, and other wedding needs. A survey commissioned by Pinterest noted that its user base conducts 378 million wedding-related searches on the website each year.
Wedding planners suggest that instead of pinning a ton of photos to a master board, curate your favorite photos by creating boards for each wedding category — like hair and makeup, flower arrangements, and specialty cocktails. By having your photos organized and selecting no more than six photos for each category, you'll be better prepared to present your ideas to vendors.
Many of the images shared around on Pinterest are either from high-end events or styled photo shoots, where it could be cost-prohibitive to replicate, so consider looking at the individual attributes of the images to closer match your budget.
Gathering Addresses
Rather than spending hours texting and calling wedding guests to get their mailing addresses, you can save yourself time by using Postable.com. The website will create a customized link that you can email to your guests that allows them to add their mailing information directly into a digital address book.
The site will also let you export the addresses to Excel, which is a nice feature considering several wedding invitation companies require couples to provide addresses in an electronic spreadsheet.
Create an Email Address for a Wedding
You will send and receive an unbelievable number of emails about your wedding day during the planning process. So create a special account that's strictly designated for wedding planning, like email correspondence with vendors.
You can take this one step further and create specific folders in this email account related to your wedding vendors and design elements, so you can file and find all communication quickly.
Creating a Seating Chart
Deciding where everyone is going to sit can be overwhelming, especially when planning a large wedding. One way to simplify the process is by creating a seating plan online, such as on Prismm.com.
The website offers a free seating arrangement tool that lets you choose from a wide range of table arrangements or upload a customized floor plan. In addition to assigning seats, the site lets you log each guest's meal information, giving you a seating chart that you can then provide to your caterer.
Keep Track of Inventory
After months of planning, your wedding day is finally here. It's a joyous occasion, but there are still a lot of moving pieces that must be assembled to make everything run smoothly.
Rachel Slauer, a wedding and event planner in Atlanta, suggests creating a "day-of inventory checklist that shows what supplies you need to bring to your wedding and who is responsible for each item" such as wedding programs, photo booth props, and other essentials. She offers an inventory list on her website.
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