Getting (and staying) organized is the most important thing to do when you start planning a wedding.
Without proper organization, you’ll likely redo a lot of work, miss out on great deals, lose important information, and ultimately create more work for yourself.
Creating a planning timeline is an easy thing you can do to ensure you stay organized. A well-crafted planning timeline will have specific items, due dates, assignees so nothing gets missed.
Here’s how to create yours.
Get a great planning checklist. You’ll want something that encompasses everything, has rough due dates and fits on one page so you can reference it easily. Download ours here.
Figure out how much time you have. Will you have 12 months? 18 months? Or maybe even 9? There’s no wrong answer here, you just need to know how much time you have to get everything done.
Start scouting dates. Once you figure out a rough time of year or month you want to get married, get a list of ideal dates together. Don’t get caught up too much on the date specifically, just make sure it’s an ideal time for you and your partner get tie the knot.
Break it down in pieces. Get your venue and vendors squared away ASAP, but then try to do 1-3 things a week. Once you have your big vendors booked, give yourself planning breaks every few weeks.
Plot due dates on your calendar or create a timeline in Excel. Note dates you will be unable to get things done and plan accordingly. Giving yourself due dates for everything makes it less likely anything will fall through the cracks. Plus, if you’re working on something each week, planning will be much easier.
Start planning the decor early (but not too early). Get a mood board together of every aspect of the wedding and start sourcing your items. If you’re the type of person who changes their mind often, wait to do this until about 3 months before your wedding.
Don’t forget to refer to your budget, checklist, and timeline often. Remember to add tasks and takeaway ones where needed.
Stay on top of your finances and continue to save when you can.
Also–assign tasks to your fiance, friends, and anyone else on your planning team. Before you know it, you’ll be a planning machine!
