Wedding Planning Secrets from a Pro

14 Apr 2010 1 Comment

by Amy VanMeter Events in Life, Uncategorized, Wedding, wedding advice, wedding planning, wedding tips Tags: Virginia weddings, Wedding, wedding advice, wedding planning, wedding tips

As soon as most brides become engaged, if not before, they hop on the planning express at full-speed.  But, you must manage your efforts carefully or you’ll burn out halfway through the planning process.  Wedding planning is project management – plain & simple.  And the key to keeping your sanity when managing your wedding is organization.  And, as any professional planner will tell you, organization is all about the lists.  So pause, enjoy the moment and plan the process before you begin the actual planning.

The purpose of list making is to keep you organized and on track.   But don’t get so bogged down in making lists that it becomes a chore.  There are four essential lists that should be created before beginning the planning of any event: time line, planning checklist, budget & guest list.

The first task is creating your planning time line.  Give yourself a workable planning period.  The biggest mistake some brides make is thinking that a shorter engagement will be less stressful.  Wrong — the busiest parts of the planning process are the beginning and the end, with a lull in the middle that I call the recovery period.  With an abbreviated time frame, you cut out that middle.  And, you’re likely to need that time to recoup after the seemingly endless hours of research, appointments & decision-making.  Another important factor to consider when setting your time line are your other obligations: work, school, etc.  I recommend at least a 6-month planning period.  If you are considering a peak month like: May, June or October give yourself 9-12 months to ensure site and vendor availability.

After setting your planning time line, you’re ready to create your planning checklists.  You may put these in either monthly or weekly format. This list should include all of your planning tasks broken down by due date. These “to-do” lists can be in either list or calendar format.  It can be helpful to also include reminders of task due dates on your checklist.

You may not have thought of a budget as a list but it is exactly that: a prioritized and categorized list of all spending areas for your event.  The budget can be as detailed as you like but a basic budget should include at minimum: budgeted and percentage columns.  I like to include actual and difference columns as well.  The best result is a balance budget that doesn’t exceed 100%.

You can’t have a party without guests so creating a guest list is essential.  Your guest count will affect every aspect of your budget.  Organizing your guest list can be simplified if you have all parties put their lists into two categories: must invite & hope to invite. Compile all ‘must invite’ into one list and the ‘hope to invite’ into a second list.  Essentially your creating an “A-list” and a “B-list.”  Your budget will determine who makes the final guest list.  if you put the guest list into a spreadsheet from the beginning it makes it easier to track rsvp’s and to create table assigments later.

It may seem like a lot of work putting together these lists.  But you’ll be glad that you did as you move ahead in the planning process. Make sure to keep your lists updated and you’ll see that your are staying on schedule and less stressed.  It feels great to mark items off those lists knowing that you that much closer to your wedding day.

Other lists to consider to keep you on track while planning your wedding:

• Vendor criteria & questions
• Vendor contacts & payment list
• Family to-do lists
• Bridal party to-do lists
• Photography list
• Music list
• Table assignments
• Wedding week itinerary (includes ceremony & reception time line)
• Wedding day inventory list (list of decor & personal items for day of)

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