6 Wedding Tasks to Delegate Without Losing Control
If the thought of someone else stepping in your wedding planning process makes you nervous, we recommend delegating these small, manageable tasks:
Photo: Marissa Moss Photography
When it comes to the wedding planning process, friends and family members want to make themselves useful. Chances are, you have everyone from your next door neighbor to your second cousin asking how they can help. It can be tempting—particularly for brides who like to be in control of every little detail—to turn them away with a quick “thanks so much, but I’ve got this.” But even the most organized bride-to-be could use a helping hand, so let them help out!
If the thought of someone else stepping in makes you nervous, we recommend delegating these wedding tasks:
Stuffing and Stamping Envelopes
This is one of the more mindless planning tasks—but it certainly needs to get done! Enlist the help of a few willing friends or family members and make it fun with some good music or a TV marathon. You’d be surprised how quickly it can be done with several hands on deck.
Tracking RSVPs
Ask someone to record all of the “accepts” and “regrets” and organize them in a spreadsheet. Having them organized in an online guest book tool can be very helpful when it comes to planning your seating charts and coordinating meal preferences with the caterer.
Delivering Welcome Bags
If you’ve created welcome bags for out-of-town guests, they will need to be dropped off at the correct hotels, houses, or wherever else guests may be staying. This may seem like a completely doable task now, but—trust us—when you’re running around wrapping up last-minute details, you’ll be grateful to have this errand off your plate. Just make sure you provide them with a list of addresses, along with the number of bags that need to be delivered to each location.
Organizing the Place Cards and Alphabetizing the Escort Cards
Last-minute seating changes can leave you with a stack of shuffled place cards and unalphabetized escort cards. This is where a friend or family member with good attention to detail can step in and save the day. Provide a final copy of your seating chart and ask him or her to section off the place cards according to table. You may also ask them to put the escort cards in alphabetical order and to double check that all the table assignments are correct.
Assisting the Photographer with Detail Shots
Your wedding photographer will likely plan to arrive while you are getting ready—and at that point, you’ll be feeling excited and distracted. He or she will probably want to start off with some detail shots: the hanging gown, bridal shoes, rings, jewelry, and other accessories, stationery products, and any special or sentimental accents. It can be very helpful to have a point person to round up these items, show the photographer where they’re located, and put them back in the proper place once they’re shot. Go ahead and delegate this one—you will be too busy to do it yourself!
Rounding Up Family Members for Photos
In the post-ceremony excitement, guests have a tendency to momentarily scatter about. If you’re trying to get family portraits done efficiently, the last thing you want to have to do is run around tracking people down. And you certainly wouldn’t want anyone close to you to be left out of the picture! Ask someone in your family to be responsible for making sure everyone knows when and where they should be for photos, and then ensuring that all parties stick around until the photographer has gotten the shots he or she needs. This seemingly small consideration will make the whole process run much more smoothly.
