For those planning your own wedding...

Congratulations! Wedding wire vendors has helped alot. Social media hashtags has helped me as well for local vendors. Like hair stylists or makeup or dress stores that arent on weddingwire. I have been planning a wedding in a different state so the stuggle has been real. My venue had a day or coordinator which is great they pretty much run the show.. wedding planning for me has been pretty simple.

Hi Alexandra,

Congrats on booking your venue! So exciting! I'm also planning my own and I've honestly just been sticking with the Planning Tools that WeddingWire provides. It's been a great help. Especially with the Checklist tool. It breaks down everything you should get done and what time frame it needs to be done it. Also the budget tool is very helpful to keep track. Wishing you the best of luck.

Happy Planning!

I am sorry to hear you are feeling stressed, Alexandra. Taking it all on by yourself can be hectic. Keep in mind that it is okay to take breaks from planning so you can come back with a clear head. During this process Pinterest has been my best friend, I myself have been loving the wedding wire app and desktop site. It is great for budget and payment tracking. Their checklist seems to have a nice timeline to help keep you on track. Which is important to me because my ADHD leads me to jump around from one thing to another. I would recommend making a wedding binder to have something tangible where you can place all paperwork and inspo. If you have any interest in seeing the one I put together I can post a pic. For me organization has been key. I also suggest checking out Jamie Wolfer on YouTube for great tips and ideas to help DIY brides!

Check out Jamie Wolfer (YouTube). Lots of great information. If you don’t already use a daily planner, I highly recommend it. I particularly recommend one with both a monthly calendar and daily task pages (Lux makes a good one). But I’m sure there are good wedding specific planners if you only need one for wedding planning.

I made a poster board for my planning! Everything is color coded by the time frame I should focus on it (we are currently 16 months out. blue things are 12+ months out, green is 9-11 months, yellow is 5-8 months, and pink is 0-4 months). It makes it easy for me to visualize and focus on what specifically needs to be done rather than wrap my head around all of it at once.


(I'm sure more post its will be added as I go)

I find writing things down on paper really helps me focus my thoughts. I bought a planner book and am really finding it helpful to focus what I still need to do. It also comes with budget tips and other additional helpful info. I flipped through quite a few books and binders before deciding on the one that fit best with how I plan and think.

The best advice I got was to create a detailed timeline of wedding day (and I went a step further and made another for day before with rehearsal dinner). This is what the professional wedding planners do. Example: 12:00pm - florist arrives to begin setup, Florist Contact: Joy Jones 555-555-5555. When you book your vendors ask each their expected time of arrival, how long they need to setup, cell phone contact. Towards the end of your planning, all vendors get the same timeline. Venues will ask who are your vendors (cake, florist, DJ) and when to have the doors unlocked, etc. The timeline will give them The Who, what, when and where. Plus, if something weird happens, such as the DJ arrives and is locked out, they know who to call at the venue rather than bug you 👍 it was a life saver for me!! ❤️❤️❤️

Don’t spend money on a book. There are countless articles online and you can access the free wedding planning template on Google Sheets from any device. Put together a 3 ring binder from Target with pockets to store contracts, business cards, paint chips, fabric swatches. etc

I got this book on amazon for $25 and it has almost everything you need

Congratulations! I know what you mean I was in the same boat and with all the costs in planning a wedding don't have it in the budget for a planner, I've been looking at the forums on here a lot and also purchased this planner off etsy which is great as it tells you what you should do 9-12 months before, 6-9 months etc and it has been very helpful plus it will be a nice keepsake

https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/534532570/luxury-wedding-planner-book-engagement?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=wedding+planner&ref=sr_gallery-1-12&organic_search_click=1&bes=1

Wedding wire has been great for looking for vendors and easily messaging them to get pricing and availability information. I also started using Zola to get a jump on a wedding website and registry. Also if you are, like me, a person that needs to have everything written down in one place you should get a wedding planner book! I got mine from Erincondren.com and it’s amazing! It comes with monthly planners as well as timelines for when certain things need to be done, spaces to keep track of budget and guest lists. Everything you need for planning is right in this book, would totally recommend! Plus it’s really pretty and you can customize the cover to put your names on it and your wedding date

Having done all my wedding planning myself, my number one recommendation would be to not get bogged down in the details you never considered important. There’s likely a good reason you didn’t consider them to be important!
Never thought about a string quartet for your ceremony or a live band for your reception? It’s probably not something you need, nor want.
You didn’t think about a seating chart, favors or a day-of gift for your partner? Maybe they’re all unnecessary! At the start of planning, I was panicking looking at the to-do lists on WW and elsewhere. I had to remind myself that other people’s wedding plans don’t have anything to do with mine and that is perfectly fine. A simple backyard wedding can be just as much fun (or more!) as a super formal one. Oh, and write EVERYTHING down. You’ll thank yourself later when you’re not scouting through 6 month old emails trying to remember when your florist needed your final payment!

I bought a book but never used it! Wedding timelines like here on WW and the knot have been much more helpful. It's also useful to create your own checklist that includes other things that would be more catered to your ideas of a wedding. Does your reception include a day of coordinator? They are also useful references to use when planning your wedding.

You got this! I have planned and re-planned my wedding this June multiple times due to COVID while working full time and attending graduate school... It's not easy but do-able. Make sure you ask FH for help for some small things you trust him with (lol).