Wedding Organization: Spreadsheets
Guys, we’re getting married in three weeks!! Ahhh!! It’s so crazy that the wedding is so soon, but I feel like I have been doing a pretty good job of staying organized and planning ahead so that the week leading up to it won’t be too terribly crazy.
Some things I have been working on that will take away a lot of last-minute stress is organizing and communicating with vendors. It is one of the less-enjoyable parts of wedding planning, but having a lot organized is making me feel a lot more ready and relaxed as the wedding approaches. One of the best things I did (especially with having a morning wedding) is make a timeline of the day. No matter when your wedding is in the day, I think that a timeline can help immensely with time management and getting things done. I took a template from this site and edited it to reflect my day. Having a timeline allowed me to plan some “introvert time” here and there for Brady and I and it puts my planning heart at ease.
I made my master timeline, but made several other documents to help me communicate well to others. For my photographer, I put together a “shot list”, a list of important people (family and wedding party), and gave him a copy of the timeline for the day so that he will have a good idea of where to be and when. For the music during our ceremony, we have a good friend playing and singing. I made him an outline of when he should show up, gave him a timeline of the ceremony, and attached youtube videos so that he would have a good idea of how we want the songs to sound. For the day-of coordinators, I gave them a timeline of the day, a master list, and contact information for all of our vendors.
The last list I plan to make will be an exit strategy. Since Brady and I are leaving our friends and family to clean up, I will compile a sheet of what goes where. I have heard so many stories of confused families not realizing where things should go after the wedding. Do you want the centerpieces to go to your own house? Would you like the decorations to go home with your parents? Cleaning up after a wedding can turn into a frenzy, and communicating well with those who love you enough to help tear down the event for you will save them a major headache!
Feeling overwhelmed? Pinterest is a great tool! I found almost all of the lists/spreadsheets I needed (and more!) there. It was so much easier to copy something another person had already put together than to completely come up with things on my own!
